CalMac woes caused by Sunday sailings

It is not surprising to hear that CalMac is in crisis, with its problems apparently worsening by the day.

In fact one can’t help but notice the plethora of problems that has plagued CalMac ferries over the past few years. We’ve heard it all: repair problems, technical problems, major breakdowns, unexpected overhauls, complex mechanical difficulties, travel chaos, harbour crashes – the list of hitches is endless, and none of them is related to the weather.

In the light of indisputable evidence, CalMac has been affected by a sea of sorrows ever since it began Hebridean sailings on Sundays. Its unwise decision to introduce Sunday sailings has brought it nothing but endless headaches and eye-watering bills.

The financial results have proved to be a loss, not a gain. Yes, CalMac has found out, to its bitter cost, that there is a heavy price to pay when we violate God’s law and ignore His command: ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’

They fail to appreciate, as a wise divine once said: ‘The Sabbath is God’s special present to the working man, and one of its chief objects is to prolong his life and preserve efficient his working tone. The savings bank of human existence is the weekly Sabbath.’

CalMac’s ‘working tone’ and ‘savings bank’ would be much better off if it stopped sailing to every Hebridean island it serves on Sundays.

There is a timely lesson here also for An Lanntair, the arts centre in Stornoway, and indeed every other organisation that foolishly thinks it is wiser than God.

The Sunday opening of any door, for leisure, pleasure and worldly entertainment does not bring great gain and greater profit, only misery and woe, as the words of an old spiritual poem soberly remind us: ‘A Sabbath well spent brings a week of content, and strength for the toils of the tomorrow; But a Sabbath profaned whate’er may be gained, is a certain forerunner of sorrow.’ Donald J Morrison,

Old Edinburgh Road, Inverness.