THERE'S weeping wailing and a deep sense of bereavement and loss in anti-independence newsrooms across the land as the new CalMac ferry the Glen Sannox has been delivered to the publicly owned ferry company.
The ferry will now undergo six weeks of final checks before entering service on the busy Ardrossan to Brodick route in January, floating on the tears of the anti-independence press.
If ever there was an SNP-bad saga which was blown up out of all proportion it's the interminable tale of CalMac's new ferries. Reading the wall to wall coverage in the anti-independence press you'd be forgiven for thinking that SNP ministers were personally down in the shipyards, making on the spot decisions to replace the ferry's public toilets with a state of the art jacuzzi system which would only be open to SNP party members and were individually responsible for all the delays.
To no great surprise, the same hands-on expertise in the complex process of shipbuilding was not expected by the Scottish press of UK government ministers, with ultimate responsibility for the construction of two Royal Navy aircraft carriers built at the Rosyth yard if Fife.
The cost of building HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales increased from the originally projected £3.9 to £6.4 billion, and were delivered five years later than originally forecast. Since being delivered to the Royal Navy, both ships have been plagued by technical problems and breakdowns necessitating withdrawal from service for protracted periods and considerable additional cost.
The additional cost to the public purse over initial forecasts is in excess of £3bn, many times more than the cost overruns affecting the Glen Sannox.
Part of the reason for the delays and cost overruns is that the Glen Sannox is the first vessel in the UK to have a dual-fuel propulsion system which can use both conventional marine gas oil (MGO), similar to diesel, or liquefied natural gas (LNG).
John Petticrew, interim chief executive of Ferguson Marine, the company which built the ferry said: "Today is a day to look forward. Glen Sannox is a fine vessel, well capable of providing decades of service for islanders and visitors. However, there is no doubt it's been a long haul getting to this point, and we sympathise with ferry users who have waited so long to see this day.
"Looking to the future, our ability to adapt, learn from, and successfully overcome considerable challenges demonstrates the resilience and skills of our workforce, and will provide huge value as we tender for future contracts."
READ MORE: MV Glen Sannox finally delivered to CalMac ahead of winter debut
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, welcomed the news, saying: "This is an important milestone for Ferguson Marine as it delivers the first LNG dual-fuel ferry to be built in the UK. The Glen Sannox will provide resilience to the fleet delivering vital lifeline services to islanders and I am encouraged that the Scottish Government’s wider programme to procure six new ferries by 2026 has taken another major step forward."
The obsessive finger pointing over every issue and delay afflicting the ferry project compared to the blind eye turned by the Scottish press to the delays and cost overruns afflicting the Royal Navy aircraft carriers starkly illustrates the double standards in the Scottish media when it comes to holding the British Government to account versus the Scottish Government.
Talking of finger pointing, former Conservative health minister Matt Hancock has claimed that then first minister Nicola Sturgeon was causing "all sorts of difficulties" during the Covid pandemic, presumably by being competent and showing how chaotic, corrupt, confused and incoherent the Conservative government was.
This is one of those times when an endorsement comes in the form of form of an accusatory finger being pointed right at you, attached to a buffoon. Hancock's government reportedly told firms delivering vital PPE equipment to the NHS to prioritise England. If the former first minister didn't cause all sorts of difficulties when that particular revelation broke, she wouldn't have been doing her job right.
Hancock, whose role in the British Government's management of the Covid pandemic has been widely criticised, is giving evidence for the third time to the Covid Inquiry.
He's lashing out at everyone in an effort to distract from his own miserable incompetence.
Elsewhere, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence secretary Yoav Gallant.
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity over their role in Israel's genocidal attacks on Gaza, the deaths of over 44,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and the almost total destruction of the territory's health, education, and other civilian infrastructure.
The court said it found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".
Another warrant was issued for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al Masri, the mastermind behind the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Reacting to the news of the arrest warrants, First Minister John Swinney said: "Obviously this news has just emerged as I've been in FMQs, so I've not had the opportunity to consider any of this in detail, but of course what the the ICC has set out is very important.
"As an individual who respects international law and domestic law, obviously I want to make sure that those issues are properly and fully taken forward and they should be complied with."
Meanwhile SNP leader Stephen Flynn called on the Prime Minister to confirm that the UK will comply with the ICC and "do its bit" to ensure that the arrest warrant is enforced.
Keir Starmer has been markedly reluctant to criticise Israel's actions in Gaza and Lebanon. He has refused to characterise the devastation and death in Gaza as genocide despite having no qualms about characterising as genocide Serbian attacks on Croatian cities during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
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