The ‘Green minister spent our money wastefully‘ theme is being thoroughly milked as BBC Scotland keeps it going for another day, today.
Well down the page after the Tories have had their platformed rant, they do tell some of the facts but by then the damage is done.
The facts, clarified here THREE WEEKS AGO:
BBC Scotland is reporting this today [May 13] as:
Green minister Lorna Slater criticised for using private ferry
The report leads off with an extended set of 12 statements from the Tories and Labour before the locals in the form of a representative of the Community Trust getting a 4 statement edited word in and, only at the end of quite a long report, does the Scottish Government spokesperson explain why it was a sensible thing to do.
The BBC Scotland section on the Community Trust statement is:
Steve Robertson from the island’s community trust described the row as “a storm in a teacup” but confirmed that the CalMac ferry service did not meet the island’s needs.
He said: “Lorna Slater is coming over to do a very important meeting to try and move things forward for the community.
“It makes people feel disappointed that that’s the story when for us a taxi charter boat is a normal part of island life. We have to use these to make the island anything like sustainable.
“She can take the ferry service if she wants to have the meeting on the ferry and fit in with the very narrow options to spend time on Rum.”https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65570607
The fuller Community Trust statement, shedding light on the whole ‘non-issue’, is in the Oban Times:
The Isle of Rum Community Trust development officer, Steve Robertson, told the BBC this was “a storm in a teacup”.
“Lorna Slater is coming over to do a very important meeting to try and move things forward for the community.
“It makes people feel disappointed that that’s the story when for us a taxi charter boat is a normal part of island life. We have to use these to make the island anything like sustainable.
“She can take the ferry service if she wants to have the meeting on the ferry and fit in with the very narrow options to spend time on Rum.”
The Isle of Rum Commuity Trust added on Twitter: “Sometimes charter boats have to get used because the ferry timetable can’t accommodate everyone’s needs, no matter how much we would like it too.
“A good example of this is the school boat which brings the Eigg, Muck and Rum island teens home for the weekend. School times and ferry times don’t work together.
“Further, what do want a ferry service for? Ourselves, as islanders? Tourists? Or visiting officials? Lorna Slater came and gave her time to listen to the islanders and their issues.
“The fact that she came on a charter boat is pretty much a non issue when Highland Council, NatureScot, Mowi, even CalMac use them too. It’s not much different to using a taxi rather than the bus when the bus timetable doesn’t work for you.”https://www.obantimes.co.uk/2023/05/12/a-rum-do-island-trust-defends-ministers-ferry-hire/?fbclid=IwAR1yPQMSJ4J3eebkzEQaIjUNXRRQssJMe4NOebBkobF1L3u9CewO4MueflU
Remind me. Which is the party that helps small businesses?
BBC bias?
4.3.3 There may be occasions when the omission of views or other material could jeopardise impartiality. There is no view on any subject which must be excluded as a matter of principle, but we should make reasoned decisions, applying consistent editorial judgement, about whether to include or omit perspectives.https://www.bbc.com/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality/guidelines/
Why were the Community Council’s comments edited down?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Why were the community councils comments edited out ? the answer to that is that BBC Scotland wanted the truth edited out so that they could create what the Isle of Rum community trust development officer called “ a non issue “ BBC Scotland do this as a political act because they are working on behalf of those who want to stop Scottish independence and the vast majority of those who want to stop Scottish independence are English people who don’t live in Scotland .
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Spotted this being platformed as the BIG news story for Scotland yesterday https://archive.ph/r9TnC and allowed myself a low groan…
Key to this is not that “She was criticised at the time for using a private hire instead of a government-owned CalMac service” but by whom ?
It wasn’t the Rum community, nor an SG committee, hence the bemusement of all but BBC Scotland and the Tories what the fuss was about.
But Graham Simpson is never one to let a good turn go un-stoned, so presumably thought the old FOI trick of “they’re hiding this from you…” might revive the dead donkey.
BBC Scotland naturally seized the opportunity to recycle their previous garbage to ensure what they didn’t want as “news” was off the page.
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MISERABLE SCURRILOUS BBC
LIE LIE LIE
WHY IS THIS CHANNEL PUBLICLY FUNDED
LYING TO SUBSCRIBERS IS SURELY ILLEGAL AND ACTION AGAINST THEM SHOULD BE SCOTTISH PUBLICLY FUNDED
TO DEFEND SCOTTISH WAY OF LIFE
NOT A DICTATE FROM “AFAR”
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Last night STV News went with this story too – but only mentioned the cost of the hire , never explained the reasons behind the use of a private charter .
Strangely no one thought to compare this £1200 hire with Liz Truss’s £500,000 flight to Australia . Funny that !
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Tories spend8mg £Billions on private flights and Air Force jets. £50Billion on the military. The hypocrisy is staggering. £6Billion on the BBC. Half goes on the estate. Keeping up non functioning building etc. Corrupt ‘reporting’ worldwide,
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