Why are we measuring ferry costs over strange periods of time such as eight months and five and a half years? What are we and the Cons up to?

over an 8 month period last year. The overall sum from a freedom of information request by the Scottish Conservatives is the highest annual spend on record.

The above story, another Reporting Scotland special not being reported elsewhere, is another feed from opposition parties and echoes the Herald’s front page:

CalMac’s spend on unplanned maintenance of the ageing ferry fleet has more than trebled in five-and-a-half years, it can be revealed.

These random measures – 8 months and 5 and a half years – as opposed to normal annual changes, tell you straight off, it’s worth looking at them carefully. The smell is powerful.

Here’s a key part in the Herald’s shuffling of the data:

Unplanned maintenance costs will fluctuate from year to year. Why have the Cons and the media not presented them in a simple line graph, adjusted for inflation, going back over twenty years, so that we can get a clearer and more accurate picture of trends?

Would that tell a different story? One that does not fit the ‘ferry fiasco’ narrative? I suspect so.

9 thoughts on “Why are we measuring ferry costs over strange periods of time such as eight months and five and a half years? What are we and the Cons up to?”

  1. I suspect Martin Williams of the Herald / Scottish Conservatives are pissed off that the Glen Sannox is now doing her sea trials and hope to take the shine off that somehow.

    Always pissing down in the Heralds office..

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  2. “Why have the Cons and the media not presented them in a simple line graph”

    I know why…because that would spoil their combined propaganda and their clear agenda in trying to bring down the SNP…..do I win a prize ?

    Tories in Scotland (and elsewhere) Pot Kettle Black…..Dross your HQ needs you….they have spent billions on aircraft carriers that are well knackered…..over to you Dross & your colleagues at Holyrood as apparently your combined expertise in having the ability to oversee (no pun intended via pronunciation) success in maritime endeavours, which you say the SNP have failed at, will help your Tory HQ to stop wasting more tax payers money (billions) in their lack of success in their inability to get their ships to set sail…..Confucius says : the boat (aircraft carrier) has to at least set sail and go somewhere before the boat (aircraft carrier) can indeed come in ….#AnotherToryFail

    Breaking news….that’s it…in Scotland anyway…..that’s for sure….way broken…

    NMRN

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  3. Just the opposition resorting to “Gee Whiz” statistics when they don’t have a case by choosing a time scale and values that support their objectives.

    Beware of anything at all that uses percentages, next time you see headlines stating that approximately 20% of industrial injuries happen on Mondays and Fridays, the first and last days of the working week, really think about.

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  4. Saw this Tweet on Twitter by ‘Get a Grip’ Twitter a/c

    “British politics has been reduced to mainly very rich self-interested unprincipled ideologically extreme opportunists lying to & misleading the small minority of swing voters who decide elections, via the highly partisan news media owned or funded by self-interested billionaires”

    I cannot argue with that…but…..

    “British politics” ?…..Scottish politics says….Haud my Beer……but then who cares about Scotland and it’s politics when your main and only focus in on all things British related via politics…..and I assume we, Scotland, are part of the collective “British politics” via this tweet…..but what part of politics in Scotland are actually connected to the comment made via the content of that tweet ?

    As usually it is very much a case that for Scotland we are always subjected to the abundant ” lying to & misleading (of) the small minority of swing voters who decide elections”….,..”via the highly partisan news media owned or funded by self-interested billionaires” ….which then results in….

    Negatives associated to Britain/UK = British (to include Scotland)

    Positives associated to Britain/UK = British (that excludes Scotland)

    All negatives and no positives associated with Scotland = Scottish only with no culpability noted via their ‘Britain’ (courtesy of “highly partisan news media” and also all Pro UK parties in opposition to the SNP and independence)……

    NMRN

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  5. HMS James Cook’s choice headline for the ‘What the papers say” pastiche, it boosts Martin Williams’ readership…

    Given the source is the Tories, it’s in a likelihood diversion over David Duguid…..

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  6. Out of curiosity, I went to read Able Seaman Goldstein’s article “Cost of unplanned CalMac ferry fleet repairs trebles in five years” https://archive.ph/SIjDs hoping to find clues as to when the FOI was submitted, since my suspicions were the exercise was abandoned when convoluted times were the only way to make the schtick work – Perhaps someone smarter can find clues.

    It was probably abandoned on a shelf, but with Duguid needing ‘smoke’ and sea trials beginning on the Sannox, it was pulled from the shelf and recycled via Martin Williams as it fitted his ‘Ferry stories’ profile…

    What I did find amusing were the comments to the article, it was all SG’s fault even though they were not party to the contract, even the “Islanders abandoned” gambit was taken out for an airing…

    It’s quite a slick HYS operation, much as HMS James Cook, any who dispute their take is rubbished as Nicola fans, and yes somebody actually brought up WW2…

    The propaganda game used to be subtle, even clever, but since 2014 it’s become increasingly obvious as orchestrated…

    Ca 2,500 years ago Aesop wrote the ‘fable’ of “the boy who cried wolf”, what on earth would he make of today’s wall to wall propaganda..

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  7. So……..the Tories and their unionist partners, Labour and libs, waste public money on FAI’s (no mention of this in “our” media). A very very quick online check on Calmac end of year report, YES, end of year report (which is how you measure a company’s performance) came up with this ( I asked my 13 yr old son to do it for me, so a child can do a basic online search, but our highly paid self righteous Wasteminster governments in and in waiting COULD NOT…..why would anybody want to vote for these people to take control of Scotland ……..I know I wouldn’t!!!!!!!https://www.calmac.co.uk/media/8076/CALMAC-FERRIES-LIMITED-STRATEGIC-REPORT-DIRECTORS-REPORT–FINANCIAL-STATEMENTS-FOR-THE-YEAR-ENDED-31-MARCH-2022/pdf/CFL_Annual_Rep_Fully_Signed_small.pdf?m=1671638725177

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