Ferret Underground: Election fever

Hi ,

Election fever has well and truly hit the UK, as the parties decide their candidates (and who will get dropped).

Amid this turmoil, its heartening to know that Holyrood politics continues to provide such classic moments. Like on Wednesday, when the Scottish Conservatives tried to hand former health secretary Michael Matheson a novelty cheque-sized P45 as he was sanctioned over his £11,000 holiday iPad bill.

Unfortunately, The Ferret isn't planning to knock up a massive novelty cheque for our crowdfunder, but we have raised more than £7,000! Thanks so much to everyone who has donated and shared it so far. We have FOUR days to go and all the money we get will go towards our Who Runs Scotland project, so please consider donating if you haven't already.

You can also come to our special event 'Telling your story: What I wish I'd known' with Darren McGarvey on 9 June.

The rapper, poet and commentator will be in conversation with Ferret co-editor Karin Goodwin, discussing what he wishes he’d known about sharing his story and trauma – and his advice for others.

For tickets and more information, click this link.

A salmon farming multinational has been accused of “lying” to locals over its plans for a fish farm on a sea loch in a marine protected area.

A subsidiary of Mowi Scotland, a multinational headquartered in Norway, wants to have an industrial feeding system at an existing salmon farm on Loch Broom, which is near Ullapool in the northwest of Scotland.

The plan, if agreed by Highland Council, would see a large vessel called a feed barge allowed onto the loch to feed thousands of salmon at the Corry fish farm.

But dozens of locals have objected to the planning application by Wester Ross Fisheries, the Mowi subsidiary, arguing that a feed barge will result in noise and environmental pollution at the stunning beauty spot.