Humza Yousaf has said he is “open” to discussing building undersea tunnels between Scottish islands

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Just seen the National has tweeted this yesterday. Haven't read the news story. It's going down about as well as you'd expect on X/Twitter. I type this on a Scottish island where the ferry service is now so unreliable that people are starting to move away, and island businesses are really feeling the pinch. I'm supposed to be going home tomorrow, not sure if there will be a ferry. Yes, the weather is a big factor, but so are the ancient ferries and unmodernised ports that make it far riskier to operate in marginal conditions. If the SNP can't manage basic infrastructure stuff like this, what's the point even mentioning huge projects like undersea tunnels?

Meanwhile, I see they've banned woodburners from new build properties, even in the remote parts of the Highlands where power cuts are frequent and many houses are off grid.

free unicorns for all! I can’t wait for the snp and all of their half baked ideas to feck off. The roads are a joke, as you mentioned the ferries are a joke, they can’t even manage the basics.

Hmm. I’m open minded. The new Forth bridge was a project that was completed quickly and to budget, proving not everything the SNP touches has to turn to shit. It’s just the current ferry project that is a total and utter shambles. I think it would be worthwhile getting tunnels sore some short routes costed. Jura to Islay for instance, or Barra Uist.

Providing Useless and his cronies are kept well away from it then it should certainly be looked at. I'd prefer it if they sorted out health, education, the economy, the ferries etc etc before they point at squirrels

A tunnel might be a suitable replacement for Gourock - Dunoon and the Corran ferry. Those are both short crossings with the largest volume of cars/passengers. I doubt any other crossing would be possible. They are either too long or have insufficient passengers.

I have wondered in the past why the Corran ferry couldn't be replaced with a bridge, though I'm not local so perhaps there are good reasons why this couldn't work. I do regularly holiday in that area though, and the problems with the Corran service over the last couple of years have been an annoyance. Can't imagine how frustrating it is for locals.

What a tool. They can't even build a fucking ferry.

It sounds more viable than Bloody Stupid Johnson's idea of rigging a bridge from Portpatrick to Larne through a huge WW2 mine dump.

Is there an issue of Islands wanting to be islands too, and any tunnel or bridge takes away from that identity? Or are islands so incensed with the ferry farce they no longer care about that sort of thing?

You beat me to that what a scandal that was. God knows what happened to the money.

Scandal not over yet. Two ferries commissioned years and years ago, neither in service. Current forecast is the Glen Sannox might come into service later this year and the Glen Rosa next year. Yeah, right. After so many delays I'm not holding my breath. Cost will be at least four times the original estimates.

Meanwhile, the Caledonian Isles is away being patched up and not expected back till the summer, if at all. She used to go off for a couple of weeks in January for her annual check up but she's so old and knackered now that last year and this she's needed months and months of expensive remedial work. While she's away, the even older (and much smaller) Isle of Arran is on the route to Ardrossan, with the MV Alfred (hired from Orkney) also doing a few runs a day to Troon. The port at Ardrossan should have been upgraded years ago, or replaced by a decent service at Troon, but neither of these things has been prioritised. A service split between two ports is far from ideal. The Alfred has no catering and can't take camper vans. People have to be bussed from the port at Troon to the railway station, or back to Ardrossan to collect their vehicles. The whole thing is an absolute shitshow.

Ahhh, but let’s keep it in perspective @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - we can now report hurty feelz anonymously making Scotland the kindness place in the whole wide world ever.

Perhaps we need to concede that supporting the islands costs a very large amount of money and we shouldn't be so concerned with sustaining the communities there. Having a population on many of these islands doesn't benefit anyone.

We could do with him fixing the fucking potholes in the large centres of population on the mainland before he starts yammering on about vanity projects.

Tunnels cost a fortune to construct, much more than bridges. I can't imagine there being a business case for areas of low population. They would need to upgrade roads on both sides as well.

Goodness!

Some islands more than pay their keep with the production of whisky, bringing in more tax revenue than they use. But they also have a cultural heritage to think of.

In Wales we've big empty areas. Cardiff, Swansea financially support, no-one grumbles

Gah!

Hear, hear. Perhaps we should just stop supporting all villages and small towns as well.

Can’t do that - Sustrans doesn’t like it. We must build cycle lanes instead to weave their way around the potholes

Has April 1st come around again early?

So he's said he's open to it. That means sweet sod all 🙄

Just need rid of the SNP - they are way out of their depth on every day concerns such as education , economy and health never mind masterminding a tunnel to an island .

Total lack of brainpower and talent in Scottish politics as a whole tbh. I mean. Lorna Slater.

https://www.scottishconstructionnow.com/articles/first-minister-open-to-building-subsea-tunnels-between-scottish-islands

It does mean sod all. It's on their wishlist, long list, call it what you will, but I expect it sounds a lot more interesting and headling-grabbing than doing the bread and butter stuff of government, e.g. replacing ferries in a timely and economical way, fixing potholes, trying to keep Scotland's education system as one of the best in the world, as it used to be, not adding laws to the statute book which are so poorly drafted that the police haven't a clue what they're supposed to look for to implement them.

If they've already bought the yard why aren't they cracking on with another ferry.