Tag: travel

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New Zealand’s ‘catastrophic’ ferry service may be worse than CalMac judging by Mull councillors silence these days

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Today in the NZ Herald: Another fault with a Cook Strait Interislander ferry is being investigated after the vessel experienced an engine issue at sea today. The engine issue is the latest in a string of faults experienced by the increasingly unreliable and ageing Interislander fleet. In November last year, sailings for Kaiarahi were cancelled after a large hole was ripped in the hull of the boat. Wellington harbourmaster Grant Nalder said at the time the hole above the waterline in the Interislander ferry looked “quite dramatic”. “You can actually see through to the other side of the ship.” In a … Continue reading New Zealand’s ‘catastrophic’ ferry service may be worse than CalMac judging by Mull councillors silence these days

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7 years after the evidence and 4 years after the SNP call for them ‘UK’ researchers find that safe consumption areas work

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In the Guardian today: Thousands of lives could be saved if safe rooms were set up in UK cities where people could be supervised while they get high, the world’s largest review of the effectiveness of drug-consumption rooms and overdose-prevention centres (OPCs) has found. “OPCs can help save lives in an urgent and growing drug-death crisis in the UK,” said Dr Gillian Shorter, reader in psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, who worked with academics at the universities of Oxford, Kent, East Anglia, West London and Bristol on the study.  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/11/drug-consumption-rooms-could-save-thousands-of-uk-lives-study-finds No Scottish researchers despite the Scottish Government having called for … Continue reading 7 years after the evidence and 4 years after the SNP call for them ‘UK’ researchers find that safe consumption areas work

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NHS Scotland staffed and equipped for 98% of operations to be done on time despite major increases

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From Public Health Scotland yesterday: The number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since pandemic restrictions first affected provision of services in March 2020. In the 12 months to November 2023, there was a 11.3% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months. This compares to a 16.8% year-on-year increase when comparing year ending November 2022 to year ending November 2021.  Of all planned operations during November 2023 in NHSScotland, 820 (3.2%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 737 (2.8%) were cancelled by the patient, 582 (2.2%) were cancelled by the … Continue reading NHS Scotland staffed and equipped for 98% of operations to be done on time despite major increases

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Poisoned Waters: The War Between BC Ferries in Canada and its workers but in Scotland….

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From the Penticton Herald, today: A four-letter expletive ended talks aimed at bringing peace between BC Ferries and its union — and better service for travellers. It was Nov. 28, and union leader Eric McNeely had just logged in to a video conference call with two company executives. The stakes were high. The company and the union had accused each other of intransigence and lying in a series of memos to employees. The meeting ended badly. McNeely said he left the call after Dean Dobrinsky, the corporation’s executive director of labour relations, told him and another union official to “just … Continue reading Poisoned Waters: The War Between BC Ferries in Canada and its workers but in Scotland….

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Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes

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On the Today programme, a BBC Radio 4 interviewer enthuses about the reduction in knife crime and homicide in Scotland over nearly two decades, as he interviews Will Linden Depute Head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit You can hear the whole interview, around 53 mins in, at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001v3bj BBC R4’s interests comes against the background of high levels of knife-related deaths in England and, today, the actor Idris Elba’s call for a ban on sales which he says the Conservative Government has neglected: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67903124 BBC Scotland and the newspapers are not interested in this but, rather, focus on two … Continue reading Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes

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Maybe Scotland’s ferry-user ‘representatives’ would like CalMac to learn from this operator in the richest country in the world as it warns ‘Normal service is not possible. Don’t expect improvements for 5 years!’

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Two days ago, we heard from the Herald: The Scottish Government’s bid to provide a direct public contract to CalMac to run the ageing ferry fleet without going through a competitive tendering process is opposed by its community board. Today, to warn the board to be careful what it wishes for, we can read of how a large, failing but profit-making ferry operator, in the USA, is doing for its users: After several years of trying to predict when normal ferry service might return, Washington State Ferries is now acknowledging what most regular riders likely already suspected: Until new boats … Continue reading Maybe Scotland’s ferry-user ‘representatives’ would like CalMac to learn from this operator in the richest country in the world as it warns ‘Normal service is not possible. Don’t expect improvements for 5 years!’

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Does their Ferries Community Board want to stick islanders with a more expensive and less reliable ferry service?

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Perhaps they only read the Herald’s Second-class Ferry Correspondent (Scotland only) but the CalMAc Ferries Community Board apparently  “unanimously” do not support a direct award of the next contract. So they want to open up the bid to for-profit operators like Washington State Ferries in the USA, BC Ferries in Canada, Condor in the Channel Islands, Red Funnel in the Isle of Wight or KiwiRail in New Zealand? Regulars here will know that all operate less reliable, older vessels, at far greater cost to the passenger. For confirmation of this and to get a sharp cold water shock, read these: … Continue reading Does their Ferries Community Board want to stick islanders with a more expensive and less reliable ferry service?

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Thanks to SNP, Scotland’s ferry fleet is youngest in world but Scottish Tories do ‘balloon’

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In the Express, today: Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson MSP said that under the SNP the average age of Scotland’s ferries had “ballooned” to 24 years, with a third of its fleet believed to be around 30 years old.  In September 2022, Ernst & Young published these comparative data on ferries: Scotland has the youngest ferries in comparable fleets and the Scottish Government pays the largest subsidy to keep ticket prices down for vulnerable communities, despite the presence among them of a few entitled and ungrateful settlers. Add to the above, Washington State Ferries in the affluent Seattle area … Continue reading Thanks to SNP, Scotland’s ferry fleet is youngest in world but Scottish Tories do ‘balloon’