Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Iain Maciver: We shouldn’t worry about my distant cousin becoming US president – we have enough to worry about in Scotland

'The governments in Westminster and Scotland, who appear so indifferent to the colder winters in places like the Hebrides, believe that slashing older people's fuel allowances will balance the books.'

So it looks very much like my distant cousin Donald John has made an amazing comeback and is heading back to the White House and as president of the United States, writes Iain Maciver,
So it looks very much like my distant cousin Donald John has made an amazing comeback and is heading back to the White House and as president of the United States, writes Iain Maciver,

So it looks very much like my distant cousin Donald John has made an amazing comeback and is heading back to the White House and as president of the United States.

I don’t expect there to be dancing in the isles, or in the church aisles. We got over all that “we are so proud that Trump’s mother was from Lewis” palaver back in 2016.

Perhaps we should all be concerned about the outcome and its implications for the world’s future, but we certainly have enough on our plate here in Scotland.

The governments in Westminster and Scotland, who appear so indifferent to the colder winters in places like the Hebrides, believe that slashing older people’s fuel allowances will balance the books.

We have to cut through the noise to see what is really happening.

Nasty people who make such decisions are the same uncaring people who fill their faces and drain their glasses in highly-subsidised SW1 canteens. As politicians, they get all the perks you can think of while refusing to pay for the most vulnerable in society.

Have any honest politicians come out to oppose this heinous plan? Not that we know of. Of course, opposition parties howl predictably, but they are little better having been planning to do something similar themselves had they remained in office.

Like many other issues, this hot news that politicians really don’t care about will eventually cool down, and people will stop discussing it unless something tragic happens.

Brat is Collins’ Word of the Year

Also in the news is that the word “brat” is the Collins’ Word of the Year.

It can have slightly differing meanings. An unruly youngster who takes no notice of the concerns of anyone else or a member of a pack of uncaring males and their hangers-on who have plenty of money to splash about and who also takes no notice of the concerns of anyone else. Exactly like certain politicians we know. Let’s start calling the worst of them brats. That will make news they will not welcome.

Meanwhile, CalMac is in the news again with another badly-maintained ferry going out of service for months.

Pssengers onboard a CalMac ferry Image: PA Wire

This time it’s the rotten old tub, the Caledonian Isles, which has been on the Ardrossan to Arran run.

So there will be a knock-on effect as other ferries are commandeered to fill in to stop Arran becoming a wasteland. Does this mean that the high heid yins of CalMac will be touring the islands to apologise for the fiasco?

Don’t hold your breath. Hyslop’s Hebrides Haters, otherwise known as the board of directors of Caledonian MacBrayne, are a bunch quango-hoppers whose contribution to CalMac is rather difficult to ascertain.

These rogue directors just ignore the islands which their rotten company serves and they refuse to visit to gauge what is happening on islands dependent on ferries.

Transport minister is still keeping her distance

The transport minister, who mysteriously found reasons to appoint the Heb Haters, keeps her distance too.

I know I go on about this but it is only by doing so that we can expect action. So, Ms Hyslop, we will see you in Stornoway later this week or early next week to tell us what you are doing to put things right and when you are dumping the Heb Haters and getting a few islanders to replace them on the board. Or you could come up next week.

Another old formerly reliable tub, the MV Hebridean Isles, which has been in service for 39 years, is due to make her last commercial voyage on Wednesday doing the freight run from Stornoway to Ullapool.

I’m sure the transport minister and the CalMac board members will all come up, handkerchiefs at the ready, to line up on the quay and wave her off to whichever yard will take her to recycle her steel into girders and tins for beans.

Aye right. The old Irn Bru ad “Made in Scotland – from girders” is not quite apt for her – and certainly not for the board of CalMac.

Meanwhile, my trouble-and-strife Mrs X is still in agony after that nasty accident she had a few weeks ago at Uig ferry terminal on Skye. She got hit by a falling heavy case in the back of our van.

Now she has bruised ribs and has been told it will probably take months for the pain to ease. She is so grumpy – not because that is the type of person she is, but because she is sleep-deprived. She is still not getting much sleep. Her friend Catherine Ann sympathised. She asked: “That constant pain in your side must be awful. How do you lie in bed?”

Mrs X replied: “How do I lie in bed? I just turn to Iain and I say: “You are so handsome.”


Iain Maciver is a former broadcaster and news reporter from the Outer Hebrides

Conversation