…like a shipyard-owner scuttled by Pacific Quay?

These damned ferries are a gift that never stops giving to the opposition parties and their accomplices in BBC Scotland.

Headline story again and another petulant outburst by the man ultimately responsible for all that happened, is uncritically embraced by the goons at Pacific Quay:

Former Ferguson boss Jim McColl has claimed ministers wasted £200m by rejecting an offer to end the impasse over two CalMac ferries.

Mr McColl revealed details of a proposal he made in 2019 to split the cost of finishing the ships, and limit the government’s contribution to £50m.

Instead the shipyard was nationalised and the bill for completing the vessels has since risen by about £240m.

The government said Mr McColl’s proposal breached EU state aid rules.

Mr McColl gave details of the offer, including legal advice that it was compliant with EU rules, in his latest submission to an inquiry by MSPs on Holyrood’s public audit committee.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-63792386

Unusually here, I’m not going to get into all the legal arguments. The waters are now too muddy for anyone to make convincing sense.

So, I’m going to step back and look at the central events.

• First, late design changes required an overrun and an increase in costs.
• Two, the Scottish Government accepted these delays and negotiated the new costs.
• Third, despite these being utterly typical of capital projects based on new technologies, such as the destroyers, the aircraft carriers, the tanks, Cross Rail and HS2, the opposition parties saw a cynical opportunity to exploit the situation.
• Finally, the self-important billionaire-owner didn’t like criticism directed at him and turned on his former colleagues in the project with a view to blaming them. The opposition party’s drooled excitedly.

Readers will add further sophistication and insights, I feel sure.