Conspicuous by their absence
I attended the Outer Hebrides Transport Group march and rally in the town centre today.
There was an excellent turnout of 1,000 (?) marchers and 50+ lorries and vans.
I had a chat with, and spotted a lot of, candidates for the local Council elections and if I hadn't been shepherding three kids around I would have spoken with many more. I wasn't being rude, just busy with kids and a flight to catch.
Absent from the entire march were any SNP Council candidates - although one activist was on the fringes, obviously to report back - which, as Angus Campbell says, tells you all you need to know about their position on RET.
Woody made an excellent point that has been missed in much of the debate, which is that there are incremental increases in the fares over the next three years adding £600 to the cost of an lorry across the Minch.
All that will come out of YOUR pocket, as food prices rises; as deliveries cost more; and, as the other businesses on the island have to pass on the costs.
I hope that the press coverage is good, as this is such a major issue for the islands.
Gail Robertson, the organiser of the campaign, deserves to be roundly congratulated for taking the bull by the horns.
There was an excellent turnout of 1,000 (?) marchers and 50+ lorries and vans.
I had a chat with, and spotted a lot of, candidates for the local Council elections and if I hadn't been shepherding three kids around I would have spoken with many more. I wasn't being rude, just busy with kids and a flight to catch.
Absent from the entire march were any SNP Council candidates - although one activist was on the fringes, obviously to report back - which, as Angus Campbell says, tells you all you need to know about their position on RET.
Woody made an excellent point that has been missed in much of the debate, which is that there are incremental increases in the fares over the next three years adding £600 to the cost of an lorry across the Minch.
All that will come out of YOUR pocket, as food prices rises; as deliveries cost more; and, as the other businesses on the island have to pass on the costs.
I hope that the press coverage is good, as this is such a major issue for the islands.
Gail Robertson, the organiser of the campaign, deserves to be roundly congratulated for taking the bull by the horns.
11 comments:
Really enjoyed the demo today and was so good to see so many people supporting it and it brought some life back into good old sty! Well done guys!
The SNP candidates were on a no win with this one. If elected members of the SNP cannot persuade the government to fund commercial RET how would 31 'independent' councillors manage any greater influence over national policy?
Agree with everything you have put in your article Angus.
Also like Angus Campbell said In politics you have to take decisions that are not popular but when asked, you have to face your electorate.
Another point raised today was why are we in the islands punished while all the tolls have been removed and not returned on to the bridges.
I now know why our MSP was known as Absent Allan.
Well as the saying goes you can run but you cannot hide Dr Allan.
Reinforces my theory that accountants can't count !!
You're supposed to be into accountancy but can't count. No I am not an SNP activist, but someone who prefers accurate reporting. The pictures on the other decent blog shows a crowd of maybe 100 marchers and a lot of vehicles. Hebrides News report upto 300 marchers and upto 100 trucks etc....
Get the numbers right - 1000? no too many zeroes.
You are correct about the absentees but should also mention the Labour bias in the marchers.
D.R was correct about this should not be something being used as political canon fodder.
The price of fuel is much more serious to Islanders.
I was there and think you will find that a lot more people joined the march as it hit town but many didn't stay to hear the call to arms at An Lanntair. Does it really matter the exact number - there were a lot and I'm sure that at least 4,500 will agree that they made a very bad decision last year....
I must have bought wrong items my shopping bill didn't reduce because of RET IN FACT I WAS PAYING MORE.Perhaps someone could explain what difference this increase to the guy in the street? ferry rates up £220 for and i assume for a 20 ton artic; works out at £11.45 per ton hardly life threatening. When did anyone last see a skint haulier? the fact is hauliers have been shafting joe public for decades; support them so they can shaft us more? build bigger houses widescreen tv in back of 4x4 and at the same time paying staff poverty wages; who is shafting whom
perhaps people should look at another blog and judge for ythemselves if this guy is sober or just woken from a deep slumber
Angus no-one can accuse you of being a chip of the old bloke; you carry a huge chip doesn't do you any good and i wish you were man enough to forget about the past. Put your Accountancy skills to good use and inform joe public of the cost per annum of the new schools we are aware of the cost to build £125million. we have read cr%ap of how much wentinto the economy how much Angus is coming out
1000 marchers? My arse.
There is a problem with the cost of shipping stuff to the islands which is not about hardship to (greedy) local hauliers - lots of amazon/ebay marketeeers don't seem to understand the point of the Royal Mail. Tell the sender how to ship stuff here affordably or buy fronm someone else. I don't want Woody's or anybody else making a packet because we all went numbheaded about Royal Mail. And don't get me started on the AJG joke service.
RET for commercial vehicles was a dead duck before it started. Hauliers using Calmac's ro ro service have another option- small bulk carriers (coasters) which are the modern successors of the puffers. When the puffers lost their subsidy they went to the wall, leaving the field to Calmac. But there are still some small coasters around and subsidising Calmac would leave them disadvantaged. If CVs are to get a subsidy on the ferries there will have to be a balancing subsidy on coastal shipping. And I don't think that will happen any time soon.
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