The Blue Toon

What is white fish?

It's the kind that can't be caught any more (except on every other Thursday) because the EU says so. Stocks have been depleted to dangerously low levels (allegedly).

Where is Peterhead?

Up north, a traditional Scottish fishing town, facing what the miners did after Arthur's War.

Alan Templeton and Adam Duncalf touch the surface of a deeply unsettling social truth, that nothing lasts forever and when the dying comes, people question the purpose and validity of their lives.

This is the story of a town in crisis. The word "depression" echoes through the empty warehouses, as fishermen remember when they took pride in their work and had money in their pockets.

Local MP Alex Salmon has a bit part, talking, as politicians do, of heritage and hope. The reality is as dark as a March sky. Many businesses will die, many ships scrapped.

Archive footage shows figures in yellow oilskins, hauling nets, heaving and leaping with silver fish. It looks sentimental now, these smiling faces and young lads happy to lend a hand.

Indeed, this toon is blue. Not enough people know that.