‘National scandal’: Calls for heads to roll in ferry crisis
SCOTLAND’S ferry network is in crisis ahead of the easing of lockdown, with four vessels breaking down in the space of three weeks and a replacement freight service that can only take four lorries.
Campaigners have said that heads should already have rolled over the state of the nation’s ferry services, describing the continuing issues as a “national scandal”.
CalMac’s largest ferry, MV Loch Seaforth, has been taken off the Ullapool-Stornoway route and put into dry dock for “major” engine repairs. The eight-year-old vessel is likely to be out of service until at least May 4.
The Herald can reveal that yesterday, technical issues with the 23-year-old MV Clansman ferry serving Coll and Tiree have also occurred.
It returned to Oban at 1pm with all services cancelled for the rest of the day after it developed a fault. CalMac said the issue is being investigated.
The Herald can reveal that two further vessels serving Wemyss Bay and Rothesay on the Isle of Bute have also been laid up for repairs.
Record wait expected for outcome of Holyrood poll
THE outcome of the Holyrood election will be unknown for up to two days after the May 6 poll, election chiefs have confirmed.
Because of extra precautions for the Covid pandemic, only one-third of the results are scheduled to be declared the following day.
Most will only be declared on Saturday, May 8, a record wait.
The timetable emerged in a provisional list of counts and declarations drawn up by local returning officers and published yesterday by the Electoral Management Board for Scotland.
With recent opinion polls putting the SNP within touching distance of a majority, with profound implications for a second independence referendum, it means an unprecedented, nail-biting wait for the final result.
The presence of Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party on the regional lists also makes the result harder to predict than in previous years.
Many of the seats due to be counted on the Saturday are marginals which could prove crucial to the final balance of parties in the Parliament.
They include Tory-held Dumfriesshire, Aberdeenshire West, and Galloway & West Dumfries, where the SNP are challenging, and SNP-held Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, which is the top target seat for the Liberal Democrats.
The longest wait for a Holyrood result has been late on the day after polling, in 2007. However that was a result of problems with new electronic counting machines, with records numbers of apparently spoiled ballots.
Saturday, April 24 Concern for Scots with insufficient pension savings
TWO in three Scots who are close to retirement do not have the pension savings to sustain their planned income, a study has warned.
The inaugural Class of 2021 report surveying those planning to retire this year reveals how ready people are to retire, identifying what worries and excites them most, and how recent events have impacted their plans for retirement.
It has found that 66 per cent of retirees in Scotland this year risk not having enough for what they need when they stop working.
The research, which examined people’s pension pots against their spending aspirations, found that a 2021 retiree in Scotland planned to live off £21,331 a year – nearly £10,000 less than the average UK household income (£29,900).
It comes as the study found that more than one-third (37%) of people who are close to retirement have accelerated plans due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Brian Sloan, chief executive of Age Scotland, said the study was “worrying” and that employers have a responsibility to help staff to better understand their retirement plans and savings.
The charity was concerned there are already 150,000 pensioners in Scotland living in poverty and thousands more on the cusp.
Age Scotland also warned that women tend to have 40% less pension wealth than men and faced “significant disadvantage” in being able to properly save for retirement.
Minister: ‘We need action on cutting drug deaths now’
A KIRK minister has said efforts to tackle Scotland’s drugs death crisis cannot wait until Nicola Sturgeon has “full control” of policy under independence.
Reverend Brian Casey said the First Minister’s admission that her Government “took our eye off the ball” was a clear indication more could have been done to halt a doubling of death rates.
Rev Casey said he had performed about 300 funerals since the start of the pandemic in the Springburn area of Glasgow and had seen a rise in deaths linked to addiction.
He believes the church would be well placed to advise on drugs policy because of its role supporting bereaved families and addicts themselves, and said many safer drug consumption facilities (SDCF) in other countries had been set up by clergy.