10.45pm
Thursday, 7 May 2015
Sunday 26 April
Winter returned today with some heavy snow showers. It felt more like late January than late April.
MV Clipper Ranger going out in daytime
MV Isle of Lewis returning from Uig 
MV Loch Seaforth leaving for Ullapool
Monday 20 April
MV Isle of Lewis leaving for Uig with vehicular traffic on the first of 28 days when it has to be diverted to Skye. The Ullapool linkspan is being replaced, so only foot passengers can be taken there - they use the MV Loch Seaforth.
A wildfire near Ranish produced rather a lot of smoke, which drifted north across Stornoway in the evening.
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
T minus 16
Sixteen days until the purgatory of the General Election campaign is over. I've had it up to here with polls, pundits and politicians. A trades union man summed it up for me today, when he said that if you cost out all those pledges and promises, they are usually unrealistic.
Why doesn't the Labour leader say he would rather not become prime minister, if it meant having to do deals with the Scottish National Party? Is Miliband so fixated on becoming PM that he has forgotten his party was referred to as the dying Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament the other day? Do we want the SNP to dictate to the 90% of the British people who cannot vote for them? The sheer lunacy of dispensing with a nuclear deterrent at a time when Putin is flexing his military muscles, sparring for a fight with NATO in the next few years? The SNP don't know anything about foreign policy or defense, and are as much a danger to the United Kingdom as Putin's Russia.
Why doesn't the Labour leader say he would rather not become prime minister, if it meant having to do deals with the Scottish National Party? Is Miliband so fixated on becoming PM that he has forgotten his party was referred to as the dying Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament the other day? Do we want the SNP to dictate to the 90% of the British people who cannot vote for them? The sheer lunacy of dispensing with a nuclear deterrent at a time when Putin is flexing his military muscles, sparring for a fight with NATO in the next few years? The SNP don't know anything about foreign policy or defense, and are as much a danger to the United Kingdom as Putin's Russia.
Mediterranean
I was left profoundly depressed by the lunchtime news today.
Floods of people trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and southern Europe, up to 30,000 expected to die in the endeavour this year. The Islamic State terrorist organisation firming its foothold in Libya, threatening Greece, Italy and Spain.
Libya, a failed state since Gadaffi was removed in 2011, a fertile breeding ground for idiots of all creeds and convictions. Islamic State came into being as a result of the removal of another despot, Saddam Hussein. Haven't we got the message yet? It would seem that people in the Middle East need to be ruled by despots (by our standards), and it is catastrophic to try to impose a system on people whom it doesn't suit.
Anybody now realise why Vladimir Putin opposed a bombing campaign against Assad of Syria - not just about a sphere of influence, but also because Putin realises that the Middle East needs despots to rule them. He would know. He's a despot himself, something quite a few Russians seem to want and need.
Floods of people trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and southern Europe, up to 30,000 expected to die in the endeavour this year. The Islamic State terrorist organisation firming its foothold in Libya, threatening Greece, Italy and Spain.
Libya, a failed state since Gadaffi was removed in 2011, a fertile breeding ground for idiots of all creeds and convictions. Islamic State came into being as a result of the removal of another despot, Saddam Hussein. Haven't we got the message yet? It would seem that people in the Middle East need to be ruled by despots (by our standards), and it is catastrophic to try to impose a system on people whom it doesn't suit.
Anybody now realise why Vladimir Putin opposed a bombing campaign against Assad of Syria - not just about a sphere of influence, but also because Putin realises that the Middle East needs despots to rule them. He would know. He's a despot himself, something quite a few Russians seem to want and need.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)