Given the current state of the ferry network, it is little wonder that islanders are getting a wee bit hacked off and who can blame them.

Anything that can go wrong with the fleet, has gone wrong and ferries have to be pulled from hither and tither just to plug the gaping holes in the network.

To be fair, CalMac do a remarkable job sustaining even the service it does, given the rusting vessels that they have to put to sea due to the breathtaking incompetence of others, all of whom are connected to the Scottish government with most actually in it.

Foresight is something that is not in large sully in the corridors of power at Holyrood or up the hill at St Andrew’s House.

Last week, beleaguered Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop had to do what ministers love to avoid - go out and meet people face to face - and they were very angry too.

Not only did she have to meet some people they all claim to represent, but she had to travel rather a long way to do it too - all the way to South Uist.

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I’m sure as she whizzed up the A82 towards Oban to presumably catch the ferry, she will have had a lot to ponder as she faced Scotland’s transport problem unfold before her eyes.

The A82 itself should be high up in her in-tray, but we’ll leave that for the moment.

Once safely on dry land on South Uist, she told islanders that funding has been earmarked for another new large ferry........

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