From Trade Winds yesterday: The chief executive officer of Greece’s Attica Group and the port master of Piraeus lost their jobs after the callous treatment of a passenger that caused him to drown on Tuesday. Attica’s management board accepted the resignation of Spyridon Paschalis, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Just a few hours later, Greek shipping minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis — who has been in hot water over the incident that media have described as “cold-blooded murder” — announced the sacking of the port master of Piraeus and another senior coastguard official. In its statement, Attica acknowledged that … Continue reading Ferry News in the last 7 days: Ferry crew kill would-be passenger in Greece and Ferrymageddon in Seattle

Portsmouth North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Penny Mordaunt, the current Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. Today, Penny tells us: A SENIOR Tory has claimed Scots are suffering from “Victorian diseases” after a recent visit north of the Border. Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons Leader, hit out at the SNP’s record in government as she claimed there were rat-infested streets in Scotland’s biggest city. https://www.thenational.scot/news/23774224.scottish-cities-full-rats-victorian-diseases-claims-senior-tory-mp/?ref=ebbn&nid=1457&u=373de6c7573215d01eab2a2993b269b0&date=070923 In May 2023, we could read: Portsmouth and Fareham councils called to more than 2,000 rodent infestations in 2022 … Continue reading Massive increase in rat infestations and rickets in Penny Mordaunt’s seat

In the BBC report you won’t find a single reference to the fact that Network Rail is an “arm’s length” public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders or that the Minister responsible at the time was Grant Shapps. Indeed you won’t find this information in any of the MSM reports. Nor, will you see this from 2020: The horrifying train wreck near Stonehaven, Scotland, last week, was the result of the dilapidated condition of Britain’s rail infrastructure. Starved for decades of essential maintenance funding, the railways have been transformed by successive governments into state-subsidised cash cows for private corporations. Network Rail’s … Continue reading High Court Latest – Buck stops with Grant Shapps – Tory maintenance cuts directly to blame for Stonehaven rail deaths

From SNP Media today: Marking four weeks until polling day in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, SNP candidate Katy Loudon has said that “only the SNP will stand against Labour weakness and Tory cuts at Westminster.” On a visit to the Blantyre Thistle Credit Union to speak to staff and customers about the impact of Westminster’s cost of living crisis, Katy Loudon praised the First Minister’s actions to tackle poverty, but warned with both Labour and the Tories committed to imposing austerity and a damaging Brexit upon Scotland, neither can be trusted to stand up for communities in Scotland. Commenting, SNP … Continue reading Rutherglen & Hamilton West candidate points to Labour weakness in protecting locals

Listen to the above to see clear evidence that the Scottish First Minister was alert to the threat being loudly forecast by the World Health Organisation in the first few weeks of 2020 and that the UK Tories, no doubted backed by the Scottish Tories, were reluctant to listen. What could/did the Scottish Government have done on its own? It did close schools quicker than in England. Police Scotland did use emergency powers to close licensed premises earlier. It could not close events like football or rugby matches. It could not, of course, close the border. It could not, on … Continue reading Covid deaths – The Scottish Government wanted to act quicker and did avoid nearly 2 000 more deaths

In a 360 word report, BBC Scotland finds no space to tell you that Network Rail is responsible to the UK Government only, for ‘national security reasons’ like ports and airports. Network Rail is an “arm’s length” public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways. Network Rail’s main customers are the private train operating companies (TOCs), [such as Scotrail] responsible for passenger transport, and freight operating companies (FOCs), who provide train services on the infrastructure that the company owns and maintains.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Rail The deaths are NOT due to any action or inaction by ScotRail or the Scottish Government. Why … Continue reading Stonehaven deaths are the responsibility only of the UK Government-run Network Rail and cost-cutting but you’d never know

From Redfield and Winton for 2-4 September: SNP – 39% Con – 16% Lab – 30 SNP lead 9% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Scottish_Parliament_election The SNP figure is up from 33% and 36% in the previous two R&W polls in early July and early August and the lead over Labour has increased from 3% and 4%. Labour is down from 32% in the previous poll and static compared to the July poll’s 30%. Con support is down from 19% and 21%. Conclusions: Labour is going nowhere and unlikely to make much progress by 2026 as Yousaf recovers and grows in reputation with range of … Continue reading SNP pulling away from Labour on Holyrood opinion polling

The Herald’s Martin Williams self-described ‘leading journalist on the issue‘ of ferry reliability even has his own newsletter dedicated to fuelling the fake ferry fiasco but when you click on the links you get under the heading SCOTLAND’s FERRIES, one story on bicycles, one on 20 minute neighbourhoods and a fight in Falkirk, one story on trains and two on air travel. Impressive start, eh? Anyhow, it’s all about the ‘breakdowns of its ageing fleet.’ There’s a problem or two here. They’re not ageing nor are they breaking down much compared to other comparable fleets. Ageing first: In terms of … Continue reading The myth of Scotland’s aging ferries and ‘Scotland’s leading you up the creek journalist on the issue’