Sick joke of tug removal

The Tory/Lib-Dem government is obviously turning its back on UK coastal communities.

They have decided to withdraw funding from the Shetland-based Anglian Sovereign and three other emergency salvage tugs stationed around the UK coastline, claiming that: “It is not for the taxpayer to fund salvage tugs.”

Surely the words of that governmental response are the punchline for what must be a contender for the sickest joke ever heard in the seafaring and oil-related Northern Isles of Scotland where taxpayers are sharing in the continuing financial burden of funding the costliest salvage operation in British history, saving our country’s bankers from going under after floundering on the rock of their own incompetence and greed.

In truth, the Anglian Sovereign is being evicted from her Shetland home to help pay for a newly-designed replacement vessel to be deployed in assisting Tory party benefactors and allies who get into difficulties plying the murky, polluted waters of the London and Edinburgh financial districts. Crewed by an untrustworthy complement of riggers of financial figures and dealers in double-standards this soon-to-be-launched Tory flagship will be aptly named MV Hypocrite.

Iain M Macdonald
Miavaig,
Uig
Isle of Lewis.