What has Scotland….

…ever done for us? Well. they built our Torpoint Ferries for one thing.

Scottish heavy engineering and shipbuilding, like that on the Tyne and Mersey, has all but disappeared but just hangs on in smaller yards. Clyde-built ships include many of the greatest Britain produced. I worked for a very brief time in the shipbuilding industry in Birkenhead under a Scottish chief naval architect. There seem to me strong cultural links between Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool and Newcastle based on this shared industrial heritage and port status. Whilst there was commercial rivalry and pride, there was also common cause.