The Heralds, trains and boats, propaganda saga staggers on. To put it all in perspective:
From the Guardian last November:
Warrior armoured vehicle – £430m wasted
A long planned upgrade to the Warrior armoured vehicle was scrapped in March, after £430m had been spent on an attempt to upgrade the weapon and turret of the vehicle. Lacking a stabilised gun, the Warrior could not fire while moving, identified as a major problem as long ago as during the first Gulf war.
The procurement programme began in 2009 and a contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2011. But despite spending over half of the allocated budget of £800m, no manufacturing contract was ever awarded. When scrapped the upgrade had a planned in-service date of 2024 – seven years late. T
HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carriers – £2.5bn overspend
The cost of building two largest ships in the history of the Royal Navy soared from an initial estimate of £3.9bn – when the project was commissioned under Labour in 2007 – to £6.4bn. A “pain sharing” agreement had to be signed by the MoD in 2013 with contractors – BAE Systems, Babcock and Thales – in which the total budget was first increased to £6bn, before ending up at £6.4bn.
But in procuring the carriers – both of which have now been accepted into service – the MoD had to make cuts. The original plan was to equip both vessels with catapult launchers for aircraft, but they were abandoned on grounds of cost, leaving the new UK ships lagging behind capabilities boasted by the US and China.
A further £10.5bn has been set aside to equip the carriers with F35 Lightning II jets from Lockheed Martin, although approved budget has increased four times since 2017, by a total of £1.4bn.
Meanwhile, a related Crowsnest radar system for the carriers and allied ships is 29 months late because, the National Audit Office said, “neither the department nor industry understood the complexities of delivering the capability”.
Dreadnought nuclear submarines – seven years delay
Britain’s £31bn replacement for its ageing Vanguard class Trident nuclear submarines has been plagued by delay since first approved in 2007. The first submarine was initially due to come into service in 2024, then 2028, and now the “early 2030s” according to the MoD.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/03/mod-procurement-disasters-delays-and-overspends
And, all six of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 Destroyers will be at least SEVEN years late, to be repaired fully. Just repaired, remember.
Talking-up Scotland 
To sum up the current and ever spiralling decline of
Delusional UK
” Britannia Rules the Waves ”
And as the whole bloody show is a pantomime
” Oh no it doesn,t ”
” Oh yes it does ”
“Oh it doesn’t”
Why ?
Because
” The Waves Rule Britannia”
For the avoidance of doubt
The word Wave relates to Events, Events my dear fellow
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The way the unionist media in Scotland behaves reminds me of the scene in Catch 22, when one of Yossarian’s colleagues throws a woman out of a window and kills her (“She’s just a whore.”) When the Military Police arrive and Yossarian tries to tell them they place him under arrest because he is AWOL.
No matter how egregiously Westminster behaves, if the Scottish Government, a Scottish Council a Scottish public body is claimed to have been in some way at fault, it and those involved in it must be excoriated (‘heads must roll’) for all eternity. This is the ‘Ah, but ….’ strategy:
Westminster has wasted £11b. Ah, but, a man in Dingwall has been waiting three days for a doctor’s appointment because his bunion’s loupin. That Humza Yusaf must resign.
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“Do-aithris” is Scottish Gaelic for the following:
1. unutterable, inexpressible, unspeakable
2. indescribable, beyond words
(You are free to use one Scottish word or a bilingual statement? 😉
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Ewen
And the word Tory, has its origins in Irish Gaelic
It means Robber.Rouge and criminal
The Irish indeed do have a knack of getting things correct when it comes to
Descriptive words
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A put down heard in Stornoway 45 years ago as glasses were collected to go for another round, after a lively discussion.
“Ach see you, your mother wis a tory”
he then turned and quickly walked to the bar. leaving the recipient spluttering and open mouthed in astonishment.
I have borrowed and used the same to great effect several times.
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Aye, “eye-watering” compared to what right enough, that’s 150 million a year, chicken feed.
Further perspective on “Staggering” is Richard Murphy’s explanation of Sunak’s voluntary 11Bn gift to commercial banks, at least there is a tangible public benefit https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2022/06/11/yesterdays-thread/ to ferries.
CalMac was being starved of investment since before devolution – You need only glance at the launch dates of the vessels to realise replacements should have been scheduled long before the current SG administration took office, sooner or later it was going to catch up and become a bigger problem.
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It is the obvious rehashing of old stories to try and breath life into the moribund Herald, that gives away the dearth of its journalistic standards, and as a result, a declining readership.
I am sure even the SiU supporters who probably have a “group membership package” with the Herald, expect a lot better than this.
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The Scottish Government has invested in Port Glasgow, the local industry and population.
They have also invested in The Uig and Ardrossan harbours renovations will cost around £30 million each. The new facilities for their new ferries will include storage for LNG.
And Ferguson Marine will not only benefit from the investment in the yard, the apprentices and having an experienced workforce, they now have a head start in building LNG ships in the UK.
A report from 2019
http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/asia/lng-powered-ships-account-60-new-orders-2025-korean-study
“LNG-powered ships to account for 60% of new orders by 2025: Korean study”
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I mean’t to do a
“They have also invested in…”
and then start a new line
“The Uig and Ardrossan harbours, etc”
Hope it will make sense now.
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This is the twilight years of the Herald and Hootsmon.
I bought the Scotsman for twenty year, when it was a reliable newspaper (of record).
I still buy the Herald, though I mostly read the NYTimes for news.
It is important for everyone in Scotland to have an honest, impartial press after independence.
I have no idea how that can be achieved.
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Ignore The Herald headline, and forget about the comparisons with UK projects with delays and mounting costs.
This is nothing like that.
There is a UK Government report, published in January 2019, called
“Maritime 2050: navigating the future
The government’s vision and ambitions for the future of the British maritime sector”
A download is available.
http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maritime-2050-navigating-the-future
On page 24 of 338, under a subheading – “Towards zero emission shipping”
Paragraph 43 says –
“Air pollution is a significant risk to human health in the UK, and as the volume in global trade increases, shipping may represent a growing source of GHGs (Greenhouse Gases) Regulation has historically been predominantly at the international level with important milestones in recent years the agreement of a global sulphur cap to be implemented by 2020 and the adoption in 2018 of the Initial IMO (International Maritime Organisation) strategy on reducing GHG emissions from ships by at least 50% by 2050. These and other developments are sending a string signal to the sector of a global transition in zero emission shipping”
Paragraph 44 says
“By 2050, the UK will actively drive the drive to zero emission shipping in its waters, moving faster than competitor countries and international standards to capitalise on economic benefits and be seen as a role model in the field. Close collaboration between industry, government and different parts of the supply chain, will enable lessons to be learned from other sectors, ensuring new regulation is appropriate and helping maritime companies realise the benefits of research and investment. Ultimately this will lead to the development and swift uptake of clean technologies”
Scotland is leading the way.
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Put your three posts into one coherent piece for reposting and email to me at talkingupreminders@gmail.com?
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Will do.
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O/T–
The Torygraf, reporting on Sweat-free Andy Pandy, desperate to be a “Prince of the Blood” again (Nosferatu?), requiring to “find a role”, states that— reports “he will relocate to Scotland are wide of the mark”!
Whew– close escape fur grannies!
This, after Prince Eddie was also thought to have refused “exile” to the Jock-infested North .
He had been turned down as Duc D’Edimbourg (after Phil the Greek departed)— perhaps because he couldn’t find the place on a map.
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