SINCE the new CalMac online booking system went live last Wednesday David Donaldson, in common with countless others, has been locked out of his account.
Our outraged reader says: “I was going to write a highly critical piece about this latest ferry farce, but I don't know how to get it pier-reviewed.”
Tense telly travails
THE Shakespearean drama that is the feud between Phillip Willoughby and Holly Schofield (or is it the other way round? It’s so darned confusing) arrived at a suitably grizzly finale at the weekend, with Holly triumphant and Phil defenestrated.
Says reader Max Raymond: “’Twas ever thus in the world of daytime telly, which is more brutal than The Godfather, and bloodier than the shower scene in Psycho.”
Adds Max: “Who can forget the ferocious Rainbow fracas of 1977, when Zippy got snippy when Bungle bungled reading the autocue…”
Naughty Shoty
MORE telly talk. “The TV programme Scotland's Home Of he Year is given the abbreviation SHOTY in some parts of the media,” notes Gordon McRae. “When I worked in Edinburgh the term 'keeping shoty' (other spellings available) meant someone kept their eyes open for the polis while their mates carried out a nefarious deed, generally involving a bottle of Buckie or vodka and an off-licence.”
Our reader adds: “They may want to consider a variant name for the programme…”
Birdbrained suggestion
KINDLINESS or kookiness? You decide. A ravenous crow was tearing into a half-empty polystyrene box of takeaway chips in the Sainsbury’s car park in Muirend, Glasgow, at 7pm on Saturday.
A spectacle that was witnessed, first hand, by local chap Henry Stevenson and his wife, who were just about to do some shopping.
With a look of great compassion on her face, Henry’s wife said: “Ooh, just look at that. It really can’t be healthy for the poor bird. D’you think we should get it a salad from the supermarket?”
Henry, perhaps a tad heartlessly, declined to do so.
Nifty name
CURIOUS reader Gavin Collins says: “I’d love to meet the Tom who managed to get an entire genre of foolery named after him.”
Flat-out rude
NOSTALGIC reader Paula Oakley recalls how her feisty mother would always fire caustic comments aimed at the rest of the family when she was working at the ironing board.
Says Paula: “I always thought it should have been called the irony board.”
Knock-on effect
A VISIONARY experience. Lisa Stead from Grangemouth gets in touch to say: “My telescope fell on my microscope, now I have a collide-oscope.”
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here