Professor John Robertson OBA Today, try searching for Scotland and ferries and you’ll be flooded, unlike the MV Glen Sannox‘s slightly damp steering gear, with a surge of reports, several directly ‘accusing’ or ‘shaming’, the SNP for the kind of minor repair that is often required in the teething stages of new ship. Try narrowing your search to the period from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007, Labour and the Lib Dem’s time in power and you’ll find very little indeed. You will find one (only) story of delays, due to repairs lasting 6 months, on 22 April 2003, … Continue reading How ferries under Labour from 1997 to 2007 were never bad news and never politicised

By Professor John Robertson OBE From BBC Cornwall, yesterday: Final preparations are under way for the Scillonian III ferry to start sailing to the Isles of Scilly next month on what could be her last season. The vessel came into service in 1977 and has made more than 10,000 trips to the islands. Senior managers at the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) have said the ferry was now 48 years old and it was now time to look forward. Her replacement, the Scillonian IV, and a new cargo vessel were both under construction in Vietnam and were scheduled to enter service … Continue reading Scilly Season – 48 year old ailing, elderly, ferry replacement no longer due in 2026 despite journey times dearly doubling

The MV Isle of Islay, a Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) vessel and the first of two vessels to serve the islands of Jura and Islay, taking to the water for the first time on Saturday at Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard in Yalova, Turkey. Picture: CMAL/PA Wire© (Photo: CMAL) By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Scotsman today: A fleet of ferries being built in Turkey have been hit by a further setback, with their completion date pushed back by at least another three months due to labour shortages. The Isle of Islay – the first of four vessels being built at the … Continue reading The case for developing a shipbuilding industry on the Clyde – as four cheap-build island ‘lifeline’, Turkey-built ferries are delayed again and again despite cheap and dangerous practice

Newton-on-Ayr Railway Station the most dangerous railway station in Scotland but only the 67th most dangerous in the UK. By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  The ‘Scottish’ Sun true to form, has: The Daily Record, ever-useless as a reliable information source for its readers, has: They do go on to tell us: A recent analysis of UK-wide data identified the train stations across the nation with the highest crimes rates. Topping the list for Scotland is a small station near Ayr, ranking 67th out of all 2,580 terminals in the UK. but the damage is done by the headline. There … Continue reading The lowest crime, the safest campuses and now, with Glasgow Central at 1 458th in the table, the safest railway stations – I blame that SNP!

By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  As I watched the above, excellent but deeply disturbing BBC documentary series (two parts), I was cast back 55 years to a night in September 1969. I was to attend Glasgow School of art, the next morning and I could not sleep for anxiety about the next day. I wasn’t worried about the course, I was worried about Glasgow. I’d never been and my head was full of images of knife and meat cleaver attacks, from TV news reports and my dad’s Daily Record. It was newspaper then. In the end, I … Continue reading From the World’s End Murders to Scotland today