My family occasionally remind me of a French holiday, much of which I spent in a telephone kiosk trying to pre-empt a CalMac strike on the Clyde which would have hit my Arran and Cumbrae constituents hard in mid-season.

Much as I liked representing these islands, it would be fair to say I did not owe my majority to them but that was irrelevant. There was a duty of care and my telephone diplomacy shuttled between CalMac, the RMT, and folk on the islands, in search of a solution. Quite successfully as I recall.

That was the kind of thing MPs were paid to do so there is nothing exceptional in recalling it. However, it is impossible not to contrast it with what is going on at present in island communities where all pleas for political intervention in the face of actual economic harm are ignored.

Where are the MPs and MSPs, banging at the door of ministers to demand action which will help salvage local economies in what is left of the summer season and allow their constituents to travel freely, often between home and work, as is their right?

Leave aside the dereliction of duty in failing to maintain a viable CalMac fleet. Don’t even mention the £300million debacle at Port Glasgow. Just consider the most urgent problem which is that ferries are operating at one-third capacity and CalMac can do nothing about that until its masters, the Scottish Government, amends the rules.

Unless there is a change of tack, that will be on August 9th but what is so magical about that date? The need is now and why well-ventilated ferries sail more than half empty while much of the economy – including other forms of transport – operate business as usual remains an unresolved mystery.

Over many months, these restrictions have remained unexplained. By this I mean it is not an explanation to say glibly that social distancing applies to CalMac for as long as it applies anywhere else. That is not an explanation but an evasion.

I mean, what is the scientific basis, defined specifically in relation to ferries? Every request for that information is brushed aside. Why is CalMac subject to a far more restrictive regime than any other operator in UK waters? Constituency MSPs should be demanding answers to these questions – every day, every hour.

At Holyrood last week, Nicola Sturgeon came up with: “Through Transport Scotland, we are talking to ferry operators about how we can get a better balance between safety measures and maximising capacity”. Really? This has been going on for months. How long can “talking” take without any conclusion? If it is accepted that a “better balance” is available, why has it not been implemented long ago?

In the Western Isles, the situation has deteriorated further with the latest CalMac mishap. Having (after three years) got ministers’ agreement to charter a freight vessel, she promptly broke down and is under repair in Belfast. There are no bookings available on some routes for three weeks. Does that not constitute at least a modest emergency, worthy of urgent action beyond “talking” about a “better balance”?

Meanwhile, the ministers responsible for transport in Scotland remain in hiding. Again, I cannot help looking back to my own time as a minister and in opposition. It would have been impossible to behave like Messrs Matheson and Dey – steering far clear of affected communities, refusing to meet local authorities, arms-lengthing answerability to faceless intermediaries.

They can get away with this because expectations are now in such inverse proportion to Edinburgh's bloated cast of politicians, apparatchiks and spin-doctors. The idea of personal accountability on the part of ministers, identified with their briefs, is dead.

If a transport minister in the past had refused to become involved in disruption on the scale being suffered by island communities, or by the imminent prospect of an air traffic control strike in the Highlands and Islands, they would have been hounded by media and opposition – and rightly so. Now, nobody expects any better.

It is interesting to see former SNP figures arriving at much the same conclusions. Alex Bell, formerly head of policy, wrote last week about the Highlands and Islands having “been co-opted into Edinburgh’s rhetoric, harnessed into the other cause of indy and in the process neutered. Fifty years ago, Highlanders were radical; now they are resigned, beaten into submission by the condescension of Holyrood”.

On ferries, he wrote: “Imagine the equivalent disruption happening on the M8 or the Queensferry crossing. There would be outrage, inquiries, and urgent action. But instead it is the Highlands and Islands, represented by MPs and MSPs who dare not challenge Nicola Sturgeon.”

Cameron MacNeish, the writer and climber, quit the SNP because they have done “absolutely zilch on the environment or land reform since Nicola Sturgeon came to power”. Well, of course they haven’t because basically they are not interested any more in ferries, flights, or fragile communities.

I assume if there was another referendum, I would be on the other side from Messrs Bell and MacNeish. That is irrelevant. The common ground for the moment is to recognise a government with no real interest in anything that demands the commitment and passion that make politics worthwhile. Except possibly independence – though I suspect that if their own comfortable perches were at risk, enthusiasm for that would soon go on the back-burner too.

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