5 days ago
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
It's no surprise to us the hulking nonsense Glen Sannox is failing
The size and scale of the Glen Sannox, Caledonian Isles, Glen Rosa (and others) is singularly down to the fact that the trade unions and Scottish Government insist that the crew must be provided with onboard accommodation. Free board and lodgings to you and me. For the Glen Sannox, the majority of the upper deck spaces are taken up by the 33 or so ensuite cabins for the crew. Passenger spaces are squeezed around the side of the boat. Check this out next time you travel. This (hotel space) adds an exponential amount to the build cost and ongoing operating costs across many routes.
Solution: build bunk houses at the pier side for crew at a fraction of the cost of on-board rooms and this would have three immediate benefits: less bulk above the waterline (using catamarans) meaning greater reliability of sailings; substantially lower build costs; lower operating costs – no need for so many cooks, cleaners and maintenance people and the like.
All in all, this is a great example of a government with no spine or reverse gear to break with nonsensical procurement and operating requirements for a ferry service that will forever fail the communities it is meant to serve.
Derek A Robertson, Lamlash, Isle of Arran.
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What's so clever about AI?
There was a stark contrast between two articles in Tuesday's Herald (June 3) discussing Artificial Intelligence. On page 15, there was Neil Mackay's "When AI kills off the ScotRail lady, you know we're all in trouble… is this what we want?" And on page 17, there was the Agenda article, "How to make AI work for SMEs in Scotland". Neil Mackay's piece is concrete rather than abstract; it lays out an argument that is coherent, intelligible, and intelligent. The meaning is clear; the language is of the real world, humane, and passionate.
By contrast, the Agenda article, as a piece of prose, is almost entirely devoid of meaning. It could well have been written by a robot. Every sentence exhibits abstraction, and lack of precision. An example: "The application layer is not a black box, it's an enabler, a multiplier of human potential." I've read the piece several times, and still have no idea what the application in question is supposed to do.
George Orwell saw it all coming, this eradication of meaning in abstraction. In Politics and the English Language (1946), he translated a verse from Ecclesiastes into modern prose: "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."
Here is Orwell's version in modern English: "Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account."
Well done to Neil Mackay for dumping AI from his phone.
Dr Hamish Maclaren, Stirling.
• Neil Mackay's article on AI strikes a chord with me. A couple of weeks ago while doing my weekly task of making slides of Bible passages for our Sunday service, I was interrupted by my Microsoft Copilot suggesting that "ecstatically happy" would be much better than "very happy". Considering that I was working with an already-typed document I was not inspired to make the change. Having had a few previous interruptions I looked for ways of getting rid of my undesirable "friend" and was delighted to find that I could uninstall it.
A couple of sentences later there it was again, this time asking "Is a comma appropriate there?" I spotted the chat box and typed in "I thought I had uninstalled you."
Instantly back came the typed reply, "Well, it seems I'm still here". Had it been delivered in the voice of Stanley Kubrick's Hal, I could not have been more freaked out. Who needs this?
David Adams, Glasgow.
Legal v illegal
It is legal to buy and sell tobacco. Restrictions apply so that only adults, who know the health risks, can use it. That's all we need. Banning the purchase of a legal substance by birthdate is nonsense ('MSPs vote to ban tobacco for young', The Herald, May 30, and Letters, June 3). In years to come, can anyone visualise the application of this new law in your local Spar, where middle-aged adults are asked for their birth certificates?
The issue is freedom of choice, as it is with the overly emotional discussions around "assisted suicide". The fact is, committing suicide is not illegal. So how can helping someone to do something legal be a crime?
AJ Clarence, Prestwick.
Beware of the lynx
The proposed introduction of the lynx to our countryside reminds me of advice given when I suggested taking a walk in Californian woodland many years ago.
'Sure,' said my host, "...remember to take your gun.'
Those walking here should be similarly equipped if the introduction of wild species proceeds. Wolves have also been suggested.
These creatures are not jolly Disney characters. They are dangerous wild animals.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.
There is a campaign to reintroduce the lynx to Scotland (Image: Getty)
The Red and Green blues
For some reason, the Red Route tourist bus still goes to Glasgow Green. I imagine a revised commentary for visitors: 'This is the People's Palace, which is closed and behind it are the Winter Gardens which are also closed and on my left is the Doulton Fountain which doesn't work and has bits of the stonework falling off, so moving swiftly on, let's take you to George Square, oh no, wait a minute...'
Stuart Neville, Clydebank.
