JUST one point surprises me in the letter from Robbie Drummond, managing director of Calmac Ferries (March 12) explaining the difficulties facing Calmac with the Caledonian Isles ferry. As a maritime country with a long naval and mercantile tradition, a huge history of shipbuilding and with ferries operating all over the place from mainland and island ports, is it not disappointing that an item such as a mooring winch, which must be basic to the normal operation of shipping, has to be sourced nowadays from somewhere in Europe?
I suppose we should be thankful that it doesn’t have to come all the way from China like so much else seems to these days, though I would not be surprised if they could offer a replacement. Why can’t we?
Alan Fitzpatrick, Dunlop.
CONSIDERING the growing list of problems getting supplies to the Western Isles, should the Scottish Government now be considering commissioning the construction of a small fleet of puffers, or VICs (Victualling Inshore Craft)?
Rough and ready, easy to build, shallow draft and so on. We're not talking tourists or cars here, but bulk foodstuffs and other essentials. Bring back the 20th century.
Eric Duncan, Cardross.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald 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