Ducking decisions

Stewart Stevenson must have thought he was very smart to be able to avoid the difficulties of taking a decision over Sunday sailings, when the CalMac Board delayed taking a decision.

The CalMac Board were outmanoeuvred, and will now – according to Mr Stevenson – be the sole decision makers when it comes to deciding the issue.

Or so it appears on first sight.

In practice, Mr Stevenson remains the final arbiter, and by trying to pretend that by saying nothing he has no part in the ultimate decision he is blameless, is deliberately deceptive and purblind.

If the Minister does not ‘call in’ a decision by CalMac then it deemed to be accepted by him, so doing nothing is actually the same as agreeing.

Difficult decisions are difficult to take, and trying to dodge them, avoid them, or ignore them, does nothing but make one look weak, scared and indecisive.

And it annoys everyone – supporters and opponents alike – which means that instead of upsetting a few people, ducking them upsets a lot of people.