内容摘要：Mr McGowan has heard the noise himself and told Good Morning Scotland: "It is one of those you cannot escape from."

Mr McGowan has heard the noise himself and told Good Morning Scotland: "It is one of those you cannot escape from."

"Statements by rebel leaders to these ends are very welcome, but of course, the real measure of their commitment is not just what they say but what they do."The ship at the centre of Scotland's long-running ferries saga has started carrying passengers between the Scottish mainland and the island of Arran.

MV Glen Sannox - which was meant to be delivered almost seven years ago - is the first new large vessel to join the UK's largest ferry fleet in nearly a decade.It made its first scheduled journey between Troon in South Ayrshire and Brodick on Arran before dawn, coping with rough conditions that kept other ships in port.The vessel will make three return sailings each day, with the journey lasting 75 minutes, helping to end years of uncertainty on one of Caledonian MacBrayne's busiest routes.

With space for 127 cars and 852 passengers, Glen Sannox brings much-needed extra capacity for the state-owned ferry operator which has struggled in recent years to maintain services with ageing and increasingly unreliable vessels.The orders for the dual-fuel ships Glen Sannox and its sister vessel Glen Rosa, were placed with the Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow nearly a decade ago.

But acrimonious disputes over the design challenges and claims for extra costs saw the shipyard fall into administration and nationalised in 2019.

The ships have ended up costing more than four times the £97m contract price and sparked arguably the longest running political row of the devolution era.In addition to Glen Rosa, four other large CalMac ships are being built by a large shipyard in Turkey - though they are also delayed, by about six months.

The first of those ships, MV Isle of Islay, should be delivered in the spring, with the others following on about four months apart.Policy choices over the last decade have led to record levels of rough sleeping in Nottingham, a leading charity claims.

A monthly headcount undertaken in June 2024 found 51 people were sleeping rough in the city, including 42 men and nine women, the highest June figure for a decade.The boss of Framework, a homelessness support charity, blamed a lack of social housing and lack of access to mental health support and drug and alcohol addiction services.