THE STORNOWAY GAZETTE (2)

We first wrote about the ownership of the Stornoway Gazette in 2022.  The paper has come a long way from the ownership of the founder and original editor, William Grant,  in 1917.  We'll try and piece together the history to get to where we are today.

William Grant transferred the paper to his wife and to his son,  James Shaw Grant,  on his death in 1932.  James was to follow down the line  as both owner and editor.  The paper was  subsequently transferred to the ownership of the company known as Stornoway Gazette Ltd on 18 January 1954 with James Shaw Grant becoming the founding director of the new company.  James kept up his assocation with both the paper and the company for many years but the Gazette was sold to those controlling The Galloway Gazette in 1979. Eventually, the Gazette found its way to being owned by Johnston Press plc in 2004. 

Johnston Press plc became a financial basket case and ownership of the Stornoway Gazette was then acquired by JPI Media Publications Ltd,  a company that was,  essentially, a restructuring of Johnston Press plc.   Subsequently, ownership of JPI Media Publications Ltd  transferred to National World Publishing Ltd but that didn't last long and the paper was  acquired by Iconic Media Group Ltd in May 2025.  Iconic Media Group Ltd is owned by Media Concierge (Holdings) Ltd,  a private limited company registered at 22 Victoria Street,  London.  

So,  all in all,  it's been a bit of an eventful journey for the Gazette in its later years compared with the stability of the first 60 years.

Melinda Gillen was Editor of the Gazette from 2004 until 2020.  Her period as editor was marred by her being cheerleader for sometime Scottish Nationalist MP for the Western Isles,  Angus Brendan MacNeil,  together with her publishing all sorts of crazy writings from Lewis SNP  Press Officer Dr David 'Dave' Wilson. There was no news as such in the paper and sales plummeted.

The current duo of The Rt Hon Brian Wilson CBE and Murray MacLeod took control of the paper in 2021,  Murray as editor with Mr Wilson as editor-in-chief or editor-at-large, whatever those designations may be. The turnaround has been remarkable. These guys really put their backs into it but,  sadly,  they are terrified of the Free Church and local SNP voters so that the paper takes no political stance at all.

In other words you don't really know where they stand on anything.  It's a pity.

THE CELTIC ALLIANCE CONVENTION

Yesterday,  a bizarre political meeting convened in the Welsh capital city of Cardiff.  We wish we had been a fly on the wall  to witness it for oursleves.  We're sure we wouldn't have stopped smirking and wondering what medication the attendees had been taking.

Present were John Swinney representing Scotland;  the man with the strange pronounciation of Rhun ap Iorwerth representing Wales;  Michelle O'Neill representing Northern Ireland;  and Mary Lou (Loopy Lou) McDonald representing Sinn Fein.  We have no idea who arranged the event which they declared to be The Celtic Alliance and with the avowed intention of breaking up the United Kingdom.  Enemies hiding in plain sight.

Now,  we have long known Mary Lou who's as daft as a brush and,  like ourselves,  getting even dafter the older she gets. Rhun looked as if he hadn't a clue as to why he was there in the first place but was enjoying the beer and the cameras anyway while Michelle kept mostly, and wisely,  schtum and looking as if she would far rather have been on a Sinn Fein route march along the (Orange) Shankhill Road in Belfast parading the Tricolour. 

Michelle's not daft and saw it all as pointless posturing.  Michelle knows also that she is in a vastly different position from that of either the Scotsman or the Welshman.  She was keeping her cards very close to her chest.

John Sweeney looked more stupid and gormless than ever and like a man utterly devoid of any intellectual capacity.  His sole contribution was to repeat his mantra that 'Burnham is the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom'.  And here was John just back from stopping off overnight with the monarch King Charles at Balmoral where he was bowing and grovelling and scraping and taking the knee and all of that royal nonsense!!!!!  

Brilliant stuff!!!!!

What an absolute bloody fraud.  He'd shaft his granny for a tiny little gulp of press oxygen.

MV GLEN SANNOX (1)

Sadly,  the controversy over the CalMac ferry MV Glen Sannox continues unabated.  

We have followed the Glen Sannox story closely given what we consider to have been criminal failings over the ferry ever since it was first contemplated for construction.  The First Minister for most of that time was Nicola Sturgeon,  easily the most ghastly politician ever to have tarnished Scotland's soil.

The latest difficulty with the dual-fuel Glen Sannox was the release of LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) on a trip in June 2025 - some 16 months ago - on the Troon to Brodick route.  We have now been told that the vessel released 700kg of LNG which was quite a significant amount of danger for the 82 passengers and the crew aboard.  Why this incident has come to public light only now remains a mystery but then this Scottish Nationalist Government has long mastered the black arts of lying to all and sundry.

The matter called a few days ago before the Transport Committee of the Scottish Parliament.  There,  the skin-headed embarrassment that is Transport  Secretary  Stephen Flynn, said he knew nothing at all about the incident so that he couldn't comment.  Believe that if you will.  Flynn,  as always,  treated the Committee with contempt.  He is utterly unfit to be a parliamentarian,  let alone a Government Minister.

We maintain our interest in the Glen Sannox not just for the past but also for the present.  Indeed, as we write,  she is berthed at Lochmaddy Pier awaiting her next run on the Uig - Lochmaddy - Tarbert triangular route.

Controversy apart,  the Glen Sannox remains the finest-looking ferry in CalMac's fleet.

BURNHAMSPEAK WAFFLE - DEFENCE OF THE REALM (2)

A few days ago,  in a debate on Defence in the House of Commons,   Prime Minister Burnham told his audience that 'National Security cannot come at the expense of Social Security'.  Of course,  Andy,  of course, laddie,  you have the unemployable voters of Manchester and your own survival to think about.

So,  there we have it.  A Prime Minister who is prepared in no uncertain way to leave the country undefended against our foes.  Roll in Vladimir,  just roll in, no opposition,  do your stuff,  easy peasy.

This is exactly why we loathe the Labour Party and its treacherous and traitorous brand of Socialism. As ever with Socialism,  our enemies come first and foremost - and the present collection of Socialists is more treacherous than ever before.  Just like our other avowed enemy,  the traitors of the Scottish National Party.

Some idiot thought this was a great soundbite but Burnham is going to regret ever making those remarks.  Those words will come back to haunt him.

SWINNEY'S PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT

Yesterday,  First Minister Swinney announced his Programme for Government or 'rewiring the state'  as he stupidly referred to it.  It was a long and miserable performance and, essentially, a re-hash of what every government worldwide should be doing as a matter of course anyway.  We have space for only a few items of this alleged 'rewiring'.  Let's have a look.

One of the most controversial proposals was reducing the number of mainland Health Boards from 11 to just two.  That proposal would leave only Western Isles Health Board,  Orkney Health Board and Shetland Health Board intact.  However,  and rightly, the proposal met with howls of derision and anger.  In our view it is utter folly.  Scotland needs at least six Health Boards with Western Isles,  Orkney and Shetland badly needing inclusion in a Highlands Health Board. 

Another piece of utter folly is Swinney's Food Price Cap whereby he proposes to cap food prices.  How on this earth can a government do that?  Does he want food producers and shops out of business?

A £2 bus fare cap?  For how long?  And who is going to end up paying?  The taxpayer?  The bus company,  and drive them into liquidation?

Reduce the number of Quangos?  A long time coming but we'll believe it when we see it.  Remember,  Quangos are a speciality of  Nationalist governments.  They just love appointing their own placemen to their Quangos.  There are nearly 150 such bodies currently in Scotland.

Reduce the number of Scottish Councils from the current 32?  Now,  for the first time in his very grey life,  Swinney's talking sense.  

We would really like to see this as,  in our view,  Regionalisation worked well previously.  It is the only sane proposal of the lot. Indeed,  in the 70s, Regionalisation worked so well that it threatened the supremacy of what was then the Scottish Office before the Scottish Secretary of the day,  Michael Forsyth,  maliciously took to scrapping it.  But,  when the chips are down,  will Swinney have the guts to create potential rival power blocks?  

We very much doubt it - and we remain firmly of the view that Swinney is as stupid a politician as ever walked this earth.

 

BURNHAMSPEAK WAFFLE - TRIPLE HELIX (1)

Unusually for us,  we watched a little bit  of the news on telly last night.  We were fed up with something or other and broke the habit of a lifetime.

In what,  we think,  was Prime Minister Burnham's first Commons appearance,  he droned on and on in true Socialist style and with convicted criminal fraudster Louise Haigh sitting at his side.  It certainly wasn't a pretty sight.

Andy concluded his monologue by saying that 'we will back local industrial strategies ................. by developing the triple helix approach to economic development'.  

What does any of that mean,  other than classic Burnhamspeak waffle?  

Words from a politician are cheap but,  as we've said from the beginning,  the intellect required for leadership is patently not there.

JENNY GILRUTH, DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER (2)

We're unusually prescient types here at Loch Roag Diary.  Either that or we're telepathic or psychic or whatever.

We first wrote about Jenny Gilruth on 28 May this year,  just days after the Holyrood Election,  and on being told that Ms Gilruth had been appointed Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister.  We slammed the appointment at the time,  describing Ms Gilruth as 'a particularly disagreeable ,  aggressive and arrogant individual'  before adding that she was 'wholly unsuited to being a government minister and we expect a lot of problems'.

This morning Ms Gilruth is making headlines and accused by Scottish Government civil servants of bullying and belittling staff to a grossly unacceptable extent. The allegations against her are extremely serious matters,  way beyond bullying as we know it.  They are,  of course,  only allegations as we write.

We repeat.  Jenny Gilruth is a nasty piece of work and wholly unsuited to being a government minister.