I don't expect this to be viewable for any length of time, so I'm taking the liberty of copying the "blurb" to a brief section of a radio interview that played on Radio 5 live earlier today:
The BBC comment reads:
'As drivers get stuck in freezing blizzard conditions across Scotland, a caller criticises the transport minister.
Ken, a lorry driver with 20 years' experience, blasts Stewart Stevenson for his handling of the travel chaos.
"Don't blame anybody else. You knew this weather was coming," Ken says. "You should have been prepared."
"I think someone will die tonight, and as the transport minister it'll be on your head."
Mr Stevenson tells Ken and the 5 live listeners: "It has been a torrid day.
"Today's not been our crowning glory," he admits. "We want to do better."'
Here on the west coast, while the temperature is well below zero °C, we are not suffering anything like these central Scotland conditions. I do hope that no-one will die in the freeze and that the situation will improve rather than get worse.
But we are yet again facing a very, very cold night so I wouldn't want to be stuck in a car on the motorway or anywhere else out there.
The Scottish transport ministry and a lot of council have shown the crassest ineptitude at dealing with a bit of ice and snow – most people here haven't even heard of snow tyres, let alone got them on the wheels of their cars!
But what gets me in this particular interview is the Scottish Minister's for Transport choice of word:
"It has been a torrid day."
I can only guess that he's very, very hot, i.e. torrid, under the collar and feeling the pressure, but torrid a day it has not been. And no, it's not a misprint – I heard him use the word very clearly in the sound bite. The minister does not say "horrid" or "horrible", nor "Baltic" or "arctic". Like a jackknifed lorry that has run into a ditch, he turns his world upside down. Oh dear.
"Don't blame anybody else. You knew this weather was coming," Ken says. "You should have been prepared."
"I think someone will die tonight, and as the transport minister it'll be on your head."
Mr Stevenson tells Ken and the 5 live listeners: "It has been a torrid day.
"Today's not been our crowning glory," he admits. "We want to do better."'
Here on the west coast, while the temperature is well below zero °C, we are not suffering anything like these central Scotland conditions. I do hope that no-one will die in the freeze and that the situation will improve rather than get worse.
But we are yet again facing a very, very cold night so I wouldn't want to be stuck in a car on the motorway or anywhere else out there.
The Scottish transport ministry and a lot of council have shown the crassest ineptitude at dealing with a bit of ice and snow – most people here haven't even heard of snow tyres, let alone got them on the wheels of their cars!
But what gets me in this particular interview is the Scottish Minister's for Transport choice of word:
"It has been a torrid day."
I can only guess that he's very, very hot, i.e. torrid, under the collar and feeling the pressure, but torrid a day it has not been. And no, it's not a misprint – I heard him use the word very clearly in the sound bite. The minister does not say "horrid" or "horrible", nor "Baltic" or "arctic". Like a jackknifed lorry that has run into a ditch, he turns his world upside down. Oh dear.
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