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The Herald Scotland

The CalMac ferries are better than the catamaran option

Catamarans may have merits but their proponents seem to tie these in with aspects that are at the very least controversial: absence of accommodation for reduced crews and absence of restaurant facilities, thrown in alongside lower costs for build. Perhaps there are drawbacks relating to this that are not being discussed: onshore accommodation for crews will remove the capacity for onboard shift systems for crews and therefore reduce daily hours in line with rest hours legislation; reduced crews will mean fewer staff available to assist passengers in the event of emergencies – currently stewards as well as other crew are trained to assist with all aspects of this including crewing lifeboats, so reductions could mean fewer lifeboats and more inflatable life rafts that passengers will be expected to manage themselves. There is also the possibility that shore-accommodated crewing will result in fewer sailings in worsening weather, as being stormbound in another port will be avoided for cost and accommodation reasons. Some catamaran proponents in Scotland have clear associations with a private model for our west coast ferry services, involving unbundling and drastic reductions in costs in order to reap maximum profits. Whether this would ever lead to improved and more reliable services is highly debatable and the public inquiry your article called for may not answer that question if its focus is on ferry design and procurement. The regular publication of reliability data for CalMac ferries demonstrates that despite all the well-versed issues, the public model is able to divert resources to where they are needed so that services are maintained at a high level: would this be the case with an operator serving just one route? Colin Turbett, Shiskine, Isle of Arran. Yes was never winning It seems some people have very selective memories about the referendum result in 2014 (Letters, June 22). It was never the case that the Yes campaign was winning in the build-up to that vote. It was shown to be ahead in one poll, but that was it. I have yet to meet anyone who has said that 'The Vow' was a factor in how they voted. The Yes campaign lost that vote because the proposal it put in front of us was not strong enough, and people could see that. It had simply not made the case, and ultimately, a miss is as good as a mile. The chances of it coming back this decade are remote. In relation to Pete Wishart, his constituency here in North Perthshire voted against by 62.5% to 37.5%. Yes was never really in the running here at all, to the extent that most of its activists abandoned Highland Perthshire in particular and did their campaigning in Dundee. As for Mr Wishart himself, I cannot remember a single contribution that he made at that time, so he probably is not the best person to try to rewrite the history books now. Victor Clements, Aberfeldy. Read more letters Johnstone will not be missed Few, I'm afraid, who care about well-run and fairly conducted political affairs at a devolved Scotland level will miss the departure of Alison Johnstone as Presiding Officer ("Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone to stand down from Holyrood next year", June 22). I am sure Ms Johnstone was a well-meaning and diligent MSP and no doubt a nice person, but in my view what she was decidedly not was fair and unbiased when acting as speaker at Holyrood. I believe she made no effort to disguise what many saw as out-and-out bias and disdain for those with whom she did not agree politically and that unfortunately is how she will be remembered. Alexander McKay, Edinburgh. Gilruth must do better I have written, in these columns, that there were only two solutions to the tsunami of school violence now afflicting our schools. The first was to bring back corporal punishment, still a feature of the most academically successful schools in the world, in South-east Asia. Perhaps we could send Jenny Gilruth there to investigate, given she was born one year after the belt was abolished and has no concept of well-disciplined schools. Second was to suspend payments of different child benefits to the parents of those suspended or excluded. Some of these schemes operate in Europe. Ms Gilruth's research could start in France. But no, apparently not in Scotland. There is now a third way. While the innocent bullied cower at home, those doing the bullying, and still freely roaming the corridors, will have laminated sheets full of bullet points of the support the feral can now access. Bless. Our teachers and pupils deserve better than the buzzword-riddled report from our floundering truanting Education Minister, with her back story of avoiding broadcast interviews, for example Good Morning Scotland, and sometimes, disturbingly, conceding she does not read education reports on violence in schools, for example the EIS one on Aberdeen in February 2004. Could do better. John V Lloyd, Inverkeithing. Hold ministers culpable William Loneskie (Letters, June 22) is right; successive governments have been much more concerned about protecting far-off countries rather than our own borders. Those seeking revenge on the UK must surely be using the English Channel to smuggle in agents equipped with phials of bio-toxins or dirty bombs. But even if they're used, will any ministers culpable be prosecuted? Don't make me laugh. George Morton, Rosyth. Pete Wishart (Image: UK Parliament) Blessed are the peacemakers I refer to the news report by Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco ('Ex-FM Yousaf hits out at Starmer at London pro-Palestine march', June 22). Keir Starmer must make Benjamin Netanyahu aware that in the civilised world's collective memory of Israel for decades to come will be its slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents (58,000 to date). That includes, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in the past month, 500 Palestinians trying to reach food distribution points and the few UN aid convoys. Sheer barbarity! However it would be wrong to ignore the many Jewish citizens of Israel who defy courageously their government by working for peace and justice often with those of other brave souls seem to take seriously the teaching of the Hebrew (Jewish) Prophets such as Isaiah who envisioned a transformed world where violence is overcome and justice prevails. And dare I mention the man we know of as Jesus who lived and died a Jewish Prophet no matter what significance his followers gave him after his death? He is reported as saying 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God' and even more significantly given the current situation in the occupied territories 'I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home'. These words are what we Christians have to offer the Palestinians but they must be backed up by action. Otherwise our prayers will be no more than empty words. John Milne, Uddingston. Trump does not deserve prize The suggestion that Donald Trump should win a Nobel Peace Prize, much less several as he believes, is unsound and offensive. A subjective assessment of the list of Peace Prize winners, and other Nobel categories, shows people who have contributed so much for so long and made improvements to our lives and our knowledge. How can Donald Trump claim this? Pick a noble person for the Nobel prize. Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne.