Ally Mitchell

@gordymeister @sweenyness You should feel nothing other than vindicated for your position, it’s your position whether I or anyone else agrees with it. I’d enjoy a beer with you I’m sure as we agree on many issues but maybe look at them differently. I’m not anti or pro anything and try not to be entrenched

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness I also make no secret that I voted against devolution. I did on the argument that more politicians would be a net negative, too much meddling and too little delivery, at great cost I feel totally vindicated in this position

This account has appeared on my timeline defending ferry stats at numerous points recently. I now realise the person knows nothing, given there is no ferry from Uig to Barra.

@gordymeister @sweenyness We all want or at least should want 100% efficiency from Government but it doesn’t happen…..in that light surely the fairest barometer of performance is comparison. I think I might take it back about believing you about not having political leaning.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness There is no need to call them all out for ‘balance’ - that is classic whataboutery. If want to call out other things fine, call them out, does not have to be against a different subject.

@gordymeister @sweenyness There is no disagreement from me on any of that, it is unfortunately symptomatic of “all” government procurement in the UK, a litany of disasters….if you’re going to call one out, call them all out. Balance.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness These things are a direct result of how Scot Gov operates, prime example of where the headline mattered more than doing the due diligence Most of these risks were obvious to the layman and why I call out those hiding behind the stats

@gordymeister @sweenyness You loosely used stats again re emission's. There are faults and there has been good, that's balance and all Govmnt's are competent at spending other people's money (badly unfortunately). I look at your last comment and I'll still take you at face value re no political leanings.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness I accepted point on stats, I’m not using stats to highlight shortcomings. Adding ‘balance’ sounds suspiciously like defending the position or making excuses What has been done well essentially relies on spending money - something the SNP are very competent at.

@gordymeister @sweenyness When both Ferries are at full capacity their emission's are roughly equal before dual fuel is utilised. There could be an argument that the new ferries are too large for the majority of the year's req'd transport but try arguing that on Arran.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness It is a massive if - and with the lack of infrastructure and plans then when is this likely to happen? I’ll go out on a limb here and say hardly any use of dual fuel in next five years No dual fuel and larger capacity would be lower emissions.

@gordymeister @sweenyness I guess if you are attacking then any counter argument sounds like defence to you.....there is also a scale of balance between done well and done badly unless you are attacking (which you're entitled to do). I was really only pointing out stats can be used to suit any argument.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness You started insinuating I was making up things to deflect from the point, then listed a load of things that have been done well - sounds suspiciously like a defence I’m no fan of any party but someone should be held to account for this, but that will not happen.

@gordymeister @sweenyness Propellor Issues dreadful Emmissions, stats again but per car and passenger carried no difference with Caley Isles due to larger capacity which Arran was screaming out for. That changes positively again if dual fuel utilised.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness Worst thing is the incompetence will leave decades of legacy Open cheque book for Adrossan Harbour Years of expensive repairs to get propellors right More emissions than old ferries as will likely not utilise dual fuel All because soundbites mattered more than due diligence

@gordymeister @sweenyness All Government procurement, and behaviour, is a shambles and leaves legacy unfortunately....all because soundbites matter more than due diligence, I hate it but that is how it is. Ardrossan Harbour is classic Peel Ports behaviour, I come across them regularly.

@gordymeister @sweenyness Exactly what am I deflecting, all I’m saying is I hate the politicisation bollocks. Political posturing does nothing but reduce the actual issues to a circus sideshow. I have no political leanings, don’t trust any party to deal with the issues but I do know the effect on staff.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness So we’ve moved from attempted deflection of correct data to unashamed whataboutery You know you can have RET and also not turned the procurement of two ferries into a half billion pound omnishambles ‘In the pipeline’ is not the win you think it is.

@gordymeister @sweenyness Then we can chuck in the reduction in the EU subsidy towards Island travel etc etc, throw in the fact there are more crossings and larger vessels than ever before and more in the pipeline. As I said I hate the politicisation of the whole thing ....

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness I agree on clearer definition of weather impacts but don’t need stats to know that an aging fleet will cause hassle and cost The crux of the problem stems from the incompetence of those in Gov who were more concerned with soundbites than the details then hiding behind the 90% #

@gordymeister @sweenyness I think that's part of the crux of the matter, maybe we should do away with RET, match ferry travel costs with Isle of Man, Channel, Isle of Wight and the Northern Isles and make Calmac more cost effective......can you imagine the complaints then.

@gordymeister @sweenyness More a play on "we can make stats say what we want, if we want to". Amazing thing is the differing opinions depending on which island you're on. the ones with the loudest voices strangely are the ones that are served best imo. Not defending but hate the politicising of it.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness Surprised you had a dig about number of Cumbrae sailings being made up nonsense with your background I’m not sure if you are defending performance or not I also agree that cancelations should be categorised between weather and technical (smaller runs also less exposed)

@gordymeister @sweenyness Similarly there isn't a proper split between weather and technical cancellations. Tiree has had a rough time of it this year with cancellations with the vast majority being weather related...I was on Tiree recently with one sailing in a week purely down to weather.

@gordymeister @sweenyness In answer to your earlier point I spend much of my time split between Tiree, Islay, Arran and Inverclyde. I'm never off Calmac Ferries be them Clyde or Southern and Inner Hebrides, I understand well your point about conflation of stats.

@gordymeister @sweenyness For Summer 2026 (Mar 27 – Oct 18), CalMac is proposing a reduced service for the Largs-Cumbrae route, cutting sailings by roughly 25% to 3 per hour instead of the previous 4. While 133 weekly sailings were typical in past summers, the 2026 schedule involves fewer daily sailings.

@allymitchell68 @sweenyness Tell someone you have no clue about ferries without saying you have no clue about ferries It is a 10 min crossing and passengers are mostly visitors All the stats are available on the Calmac website, you can review at your leisure or you can continue to defend from ignorance

@gordymeister @sweenyness Wow, 62 sailings per day to Cumbrae, I'm moving there with that service. That's 17 crossings per year per inhabitant just for them travelling alone, that's quite impressive ........ or just totally made up nonsense.

@sweenyness The go to defence is to quote overall stats which buries the impact of the low sailing count routes and hides the timetable adjustments For perspective, in terms of scheduled sailings in the last year Islay 2,501 Cumbrae 22,832 Miss 1,000 sailings on these two still 96% hit

@KarlTurnerMP @AnasSarwar @UKLabour Anas Sarwar, who's family business has repeatedly paid it's staff less than the Living Wage, that Anas Sarwar??

.@AnasSarwar is a good man. Anas didn’t need a career in politics. He came into politics to change peoples life’s for the better. He deserves the chance to govern Scotland. I hope that people will put their disappointment in the @UKLabour government aside and give him a chance.

@GrahamGGrant The only person I ever see repost stuff from Graham Grant is, eh, Graham Grant....odd that.

As political con artists go, few were more brazen or more accomplished than Nicola Sturgeon dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

@MaureenBurkeMP Wow.... an absolutely horrific exploitation of a horrible situation. By all means write your letter but to try and make political gain out of showing how clever you are is dreadful in these circumstances. This is a clear example of the political posturing I've come to despise.

𝙐𝙍𝙂𝙀𝙉𝙏 𝙍𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙀𝑾 𝙊𝙁 𝙑𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙋𝙎 Read my letter to Glasgow City Council 👇

@GrahamGGrant Did you just suggest someone else was a "pound-shop" version ..... gee whizz, please don't let the irony pass you by 🙈🙈

🔴 NEW: Scotland doesn’t need a pound-shop Kissinger. Yet John Swinney is determined to play global statesman - while problems at home, including a death-trap superhospital, pile up. #JohnSwinney #Holyrood #ScottishPolitics #indyref2 #IranPolitics #Irán