Latest news with #Wick
BBC News
19 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
No trains on line between Dingwall and Wick for most of June
Rail passengers have been urged to plan ahead as train services on the Far North Line will stop for most of June. Network Rail is carrying out an £11.5m improvement project on the line, which connects Inverness with Wick and work will be undertaken, with some parts of the line trains are scheduled to operate north of Dingwall from Sunday June 8 until Monday June 30, with replacement bus services to be put in place. The railway company said the project will help to improve the long-term reliability of rail services in the north of Scotland."This essential investment will breathe new life into one of Scotland's most scenic and historic routes," Ross Moran, Network Rail's Scotland route director said. "By replacing and refurbishing infrastructure - some of it nearly a century old - we'll help provide safer, smoother, and more reliable journeys." As part of work, a five-mile (8km) stretch between Brora and Helmsdale will be refurbished, with almost nine miles (15km) of track between Invergordon and Fearn said it is committed to keeping customers moving throughout the between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh will not be affected.
Otago Daily Times
7 days ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Pink Ribbon event a chance for connection
EASI NZ operations and marketing manager Ewa Wick (left) and managing director Cherilyn Walthew helped put together a Pink Ribbon Breakfast in Lake Hāwea. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A Wānaka-based recruitment company hosted a Pink Ribbon Breakfast after one woman saw the opportunity to connect people with a cause close to her heart. EASI NZ is a company focused on helping small to medium business with recruitment, HR and health and safety. Operations and marketing manager Ewa Wick was inspired by the women in her life to host the breakfast and raise breast cancer awareness. She recalled watching several family members including her mother-in-law battle breast cancer and undergo mastectomy procedures. This opened her eyes to the risks of breast cancer in the family. "I have two daughters that, basically through genetics, are going to be at a higher risk," she said. "So, it's very close to my heart, to be honest." She felt the cause should be close to the heart of all women with more awareness and education being spread, especially for young women. "I feel that the awareness actually really needs to be spread further ... when it comes to the young women being affected, it's actually pretty high." Working for a company whose aim was to connect people, Ms Wick saw the perfect opportunity to bring the community together, raise money for an important cause and further inform the public about breast cancer. In addition to breakfast and a community supported raffle, the morning also included a quiz Ms Wick had organised. She said this was a good way for people to learn about the statistics and the preventive measures that could be taken. The breakfast was held at the Lake Hawea Community Centre this morning with donations open before and after the event and all proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Foundation.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Fishermen pushed to the brink of a cod war that could destroy their livelihoods
Steering his fishing boat towards his home port of Wick, Andrew Bremner's darkening mood scarcely matched the sunlight dancing off the flat calm waters of the Pentland Firth. He and his ten-man crew should have been buoyed up by a successful 16-day stint at sea catching cod, haddock and whiting. But like all those whose lives and livelihoods rely on the bounty beneath the waves, there was little joy to be found in their return home. For the scatterings of communities who still cling to Scotland's craggy coastline and hope for the future of its fishing industry were left reeling by last week's announcement of a new trade deal between the UK and the European Union. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hailed it as 'supporting British businesses, backing British jobs' and acting 'to strengthen our borders'. For everyone on both sides of the Channel, he said, it was a 'win-win'. Mr Bremner had another word for it. 'Betrayal,' he said. 'I first heard about the deal on social media on the day it happened and then saw it on the TV. There was just this terrible feeling that we had been sold out again, that the Government doesn't care enough about its fishing industry.' He was referring to the first major post-Brexit 'reset' of relations between the UK and the EU, which covers everything from trade, defence and energy to, of course, fishing. A key part of the deal was only finalised in the last few hours of horse-trading by politicians and bureaucrats many hundreds of miles to the south of the Scottish fishing fleet. It involved giving European fishing boats 12 more years of unfettered access to British waters in exchange for, arguably, little discernible benefit to Scottish skippers and crew. The Government said the deal would make it easier for food and drink to be imported and exported by reducing paperwork and checks that led to lengthy lorry queues at borders with the EU, while some routine checks on animal and plant products will be removed completely. 'It's time to look forward,' said Sir Keir at a summit attended by EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa in London on Monday. ' 'To move on from the stale old debates and political fights to find common sense, practical solutions which get the best for the British people.' It wasn't long before some British people were lining up to vent their fury at an agreement which the Scottish Fishermen's Federation (SFF) branded 'disastrous', fearing it poses an existential threat to Scotland's commercial sea fishing industry – which in 2022 employed 4,000 people and brought £335million into the Scottish economy. Meanwhile, others in the fish farming and aquaculture sector – which together account for around 2,200 jobs and are worth £337million to Scotland's economy – welcomed the cutting of post-Brexit red tape which had been strangling their businesses. Their warm words contrasted with the strident tone of the SFF, which reserved both barrels for successive UK governments, accusing them of being serial abandoners of its fishing industry and of 'capitulating' to Europe. Such emotive language has been seized upon by political parties keen to capitalise on Labour's unpopularity – not least the pro-Brexit Reform UK, which is desperate to forge a bridgehead in Scotland ahead of next year's Holyrood elections. Sensing rich pickings among disillusioned voters along the Scottish coastline, Reform UK MP Richard Tice said the Prime Minister had 'sold out' British fishing and promised his party would repeal the deal if it won the next general election. Certainly, the SFF has long trumpeted Brexit as opening up a 'sea of opportunity' that would afford Britain – and crucially its Scottish fleet – sovereignty over its waters once more. It has called repeatedly for the EU to follow through on the treaty it signed in 2020, which stated that after 2026, access to waters becomes part of the annual negotiations on fisheries between the UK and EU. But with the clock ticking and the prospect of their fleets being unable to catch their quotas in their own waters after 2026, Europe's powerful fishing lobby persuaded their politicians to renege on their treaty obligations and push hard for another multi-year deal. When it became clear that Europe wouldn't sign anything without this major concession, the SFF believes Sir Keir simply caved in to their demands. Prime Ministers have been viewed with deep distrust by fishermen since the days of Edward Heath when, infamously, prior to the UK's admission to the European Economic Community, an internal Whitehall memo noted the broader benefits of UK membership meant the interests of fishermen 'must be regarded as expendable'. Mr Bremner, 33, the third generation of his family to put to sea, said he and the crew of his seine-netter Boy Andrew were dismayed but not surprised by the deal. 'There's nothing we can do, this always happens with the fishermen – we get betrayals and it all goes the wrong way for us and we just have to get our head down and get on with the job,' he said. Perhaps such fatalism comes with the job which pitches him against the daily treacheries of the cold sea. But Mr Bremner argued that the deal will only worsen his struggle against foreign intruders who are often ruthless in trying to run him out of his traditional fishing grounds. He is bracing himself for the prospect of yet another battle – a new cod war. 'It's too early to say what the impact will be,' he said. 'The EU boats have always been around in our waters so it's not something that we're not used to. 'You see it around the Shetland waters especially. We don't like it, we've raised our concerns for many years. The problem is now we really can do nothing about it, and we are getting nothing in return.' His big fear is of a fishing free-for-all where the Scottish fleet is crowded out by foreign boats and the fishing grounds are stripped bare by overfishing, something the SFF vowed at a meeting on Thursday to push ministers to crack down on. 'We've been attacked before,' said Mr Bremner. 'We've had foreign boats try to foul our propeller, force us off the grounds, attack the boat. And they're our fishing grounds. And we have no recourse. We have seen a lot of trouble with Spanish and French vessels, some of which are UK-registered but they're Spanish and French. 'We've tried to bring it up in government and with MPs and been told there's nothing they can do about it.' Even the Brexit Treaty failed to end such skirmishes. In 2021, James Anderson was catching up on sleep below deck when the alarm went up 30 miles north-west of his native Shetland. They were being attacked by a vessel with a German flag, whose crewmen were trying to foul the propeller of Mr Anderson's boat, the Alison Kay, with a rope. Rather than risk his life and those of his five crew, Mr Anderson, who first went to sea aged 16, ordered his men to haul in his nets and back away. The aggressor, the Pesorsa Dos, won the day. There is little to suggest they wouldn't win a similar battle of wills should it take place again today. Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, after all, won them little protection. The promise that Starmer's version will offer any more is, Mr Anderson believes, simply a pipe dream. And Scotland's precious marine resources will be open to plunder from vessels with French or Spanish crews using radically different methods from Scottish trawlers to land their catch. These foreign nationals are gill net fishermen who drape vast curtains of vertical netting into the depths. They leave them there for up to 48 hours at a time, snaring hake or monkfish by the thousand and commandeering stretches of water a mile wide and up to 15 miles long per boat, chasing away any threat by any means fair or foul. According to Mr Anderson, who is chairman of the Shetland Fishermen's Association, the encroachment of the foreign vessels on British waters more than 12 miles offshore is a direct consequence of the perceived 'weakness' of the UK fleet. Vessel numbers have been depleted year on year as EU quota cuts – designed to preserve fish stocks – have made trawling for white fish such as cod, haddock, hake and monkfish less profitable. 'The fact is that we are sadly not like Iceland or Norway, or a country that still recognises the value of protecting our own fishing fleet and fishing grounds,' he said. 'Other countries value it enough to ask for it, and we value it little enough to give it away. 'We have to compete with them in the same fishing grounds where we feel we should have had some advantage – the same as the Norwegians have when they're fishing in the Norwegian grounds. 'We need to fight hard to get into their grounds and catch their fish, we need to give them something. 'And Iceland – do you think we could get into Iceland and do what the EU is doing? Not a hope in hell.' EU vessels catch around £450million to £500million worth of fish annually in UK waters, compared with £75million caught by UK vessels in EU waters. Mr Anderson said French, Danish, Spanish and even Dutch vessels are regular sights as far north as Shetland. 'Everybody wants to come to the same area and that needs to be managed,' he said. 'If we were an independent coastal state and we thought there was a severe shortage of fish, we might say to the EU fleet, 'We're struggling here, we're going to limit your access'. But that's gone now.' Scotland's fishing industry lands around two-thirds of all fish and shellfish caught in the UK each year, making it the UK's powerhouse of seafood production. It supports thousands of livelihoods across the country and forms the backbone of many coastal towns and villages. But like any war, Mr Anderson, 56, fears coastal communities may suffer collateral damage as some fishermen hang up their oilskins. 'It could happen that some leave fishing,' he said. Two of his three sons are fishermen. For their sake, he is keen to look to the future. As part of the deal, the UK government also announced a £360million fund to invest in coastal communities. It said the money would go towards new technology and equipment to modernise the fleet, training to upskill workforces and help to 'revitalise' coastal communities. For Mr Anderson, the money would be better invested in a 'scrap and build' scheme to renew the Scottish fleet's tonnage, which he argued 'would be good for the shipyards, for Scotland, and good for the fishermen, good for efficiency'. He said: 'The fleet's so old and getting too expensive to maintain. We should get that modernised first and then I think the youth schemes and training will fall into place once the boats are making money.' And what of Reform circling the fishing grounds in search of support? Mr Anderson is in no doubt some colleagues will voice their protest through the ballot box: 'Whether it makes any difference in the final result, but I have no doubt I think they [Reform] will get votes on the back of this.' Mr Bremner is already a fan of Reform. 'I voted for Farage at the last elections. He's the only one talking sense, community-wise and business-wise,' he said. Electoral expert Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, is less convinced fishing is a vote-winner. 'I think the answer is it would depend on which fishermen you're talking to because we know there are two sides to this,' he said. 'We know their hopes for a reduction in the number of EU boats fishing in British waters have been dashed. On the other hand, their ability to export what they catch to the European Union is now potentially much enhanced. 'The SFF are very upset about it but Tavish Scott at Salmon Scotland is delighted because it was very difficult to export things like shellfish to the EU under the current regime. 'So, it's a double-edged sword for the fishing industry.' On the West Coast, in Kyle of Lochalsh, Bally Philp, who has worked for 35 years as a creel fisherman, sees the deal as a route back from the brink of extinction under Brexit: 'The small guys got hammered twice by Brexit – the big boats enjoyed a quota uplift as a result of the Brexit Treaty, while the extra red tape meant our markets disappeared for months and nearly wiped out our industry. 'There are more than 1,000 creel fishermen in Scotland, but Brexit sunk a lot of boats. 'Exports are crucial for us – almost all the scallops and langoustines we catch go to Europe, a small amount of crab goes to China. 'Shellfish fishermen may be better off after this deal because it will be easier to export our catch and there will be stability in the market. We've already been told we can expect better prices soon.' Yet even he is wary of heaping praise on the dealmakers: 'I don't think either the Government or industry bodies do a great job of representing the small-scale fishermen. What we really want to see is sustainable fishing. 'We may be slightly better off in this deal, but it's surely by accident rather than because somebody had our backs.'
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Ballerina first reactions: John Wick spin-off hailed as a ‘worthy addition' to franchise with ‘mind-blowing' action
Fans are eagerly waiting to see how actor Ana de Armas fares in the John Wick spin-off Ballerina. The film had its first screening in London where it was showed to selected members of the press, and if the early reactions are anything to go by than fans can expect a summer blockbuster which promises 'jaw-dropping' action sequences and stunts. (Also read: Tom Cruise is all praise for Ana de Armas-starrer Ballerina amid romance rumours) Reporter Jonathan Sims called Ballerina 'the best movie of the year,' in his tweet, and went on to add: 'Absolute mayhem from start to finish. Mind-blowing fight scenes, phenomenally choreographed and staged. Ana de Armas is an action hero for the ages. A simple revenge story with incredible stunts and improvised weapons, from flame throwers to grenades to ice skates. You have to see it to believe it.' Amon Warmann of Empire Magazine said, 'Really dug #Ballerina! Slickly choreographed action which has lots of variety - Grenades! Flamethrowers! Roller skates! - and Ana de Armas proves she can scrap with the best of them. A worthy addition to the John Wick franchise. More please!' Several press members noted the relentless action sequences in the film. The Nerds of Color said, 'The action's brutal and relentless! De Armas is terrific & I can't wait to be seeing more of Eve soon! Imperfect but worthy installment to the world of Wick.' Meanwhile, Chalice Williams of Black Girl Nerds said, 'Ballerina is hands down one of the top 3 in the John Wick franchise! The action doesn't stop until the credits roll! Ana De Armas is THAT girl! The incredible fight sequences stole the show! Love how the film didn't need Keanu to carry it, it was a force on its own.' Critics noted highly of the film's addition to the John Wick franchise. Chris Bumbray of JoBlo's movie network added, 'Happy to say Ballerina is actually a solid addition to the John Wick franchise, and a good star vehicle for Ana de Armas, who is a born movie star.' Nadya Martinez of GothamGeekGirl noted, 'Ballerina expands the world of #JohnWick with absolutely stunning backdrops, an exciting and gripping vengeful story of consequences, and a heavy arsenal of creative weapon choices and quick-witted resourcefulness.' Ballerina focuses on a young, highly skilled assassin played by Ana de Armas. The story follows her quest for vengeance against those who murdered her family, unfolding between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New Ballerina clips have convinced me — bring on the Ana de Armas vs Keanu Reeves fight
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Ballerina is one of my most anticipated movies of the summer (it was firmly in my top five of 2025 blockbuster movies rankings), but there was something that I was skeptical about — the potential of Keanu Reeves' John Wick coming in and overshadowing everything. On the promotional material, you'll see the movie referred to as From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. I get it, John Wick is a hugely popular franchise, of which I am a fan, and that is a way to ensure people know Ballerina is set in the same universe. But I was starting to worry that the movie was going to rely too heavily on Reeves' John Wick, as every subsequent trailer appeared to show more of his involvement in the movie. That, combined with John Wick 5 being in development, I worried whether or not Wick would overshadow de Armas' new character, Eve. Now, I have not seen Ballerina yet, so I don't know exactly how big of a part Reeves actually has in the movie; it could be just slightly more than a cameo that they're just milking for all its worth in promo materials. Also, the crux of the movie is set during the story of John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, so I don't have to worry about too much continuity being wrecked because Wick is alive again (unlike with a potential Chapter 5, though director Chad Stahelski assures fans it will be a 'new story'). But a pair of recent clips I have seen have started to turn my worries into excitement. First, let's start with a new Ballerina clip that shows de Arams' Eve getting into a fight with a chef in the kitchen. Right away, I feel at home as the fight is well-staged, uses what she has at her disposal in the environment and she takes a few hits herself, showing that while she is skilled, she's not invincible. If this is a sampling of what's to come, all signs point to the Wick spinoff continuing the franchise's legacy as one of the best action franchises around. Check out the full clip right here: The second clip is a behind-the-scenes clip from Instagram that shows training that de Armas and Reeves did together to prepare for a fight they have in the movie, interspersed with some brief snippets from the movie. It's honestly not much, but seeing these two together and practicing for a potentially epic fight has got me excited to see it play out on screen. Watch the Instagram reel for yourself below: I still hope that Reeves just passes through here and that Ballerina truly does belong to de Armas. I've really enjoyed her work for a while now and she's shown that she has the chops to be an action hero in No Time to Die and Ghosted (even if the latter movie wasn't anything to write home about). So, it would be great to see her take on an action franchise that can stand on its own without John Wick. But if she has to fight the Baba Yaga first to do that, then so be it. Ballerina premieres exclusively in movie theaters worldwide on June 6.
