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Independence for Shetland!


Jonners
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Where do you stand?  

128 members have voted

  1. 1. Where do you stand?

    • Full independence
      55
    • Crown dependency
      30
    • Keep the status quo
      47


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Just some bad wording really. I mean even under today's democratic conditions I would be uncomfortable with the notion that on some very formal level the King/Queen/Crown owned my property.

 

(I might be mistaken of course:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_tenure

I see Scotland is not mentioned in theat article, but I was under the impression that the system was the same as in England.)

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Although it was said that if a referendum on Scottish independence may be a turning point in Shetland's status (if Shetland were to say no), what about the situation now with the EU?

 

It is costing us a fortune to fight for the right to do what we want with our money (not the State's). Even if we do win the case, we may not get all our expenses back and it will have distracted the Council from getting on with other work in our community.

 

If the Shetland loses its fight, I say ignore the EU (like most places do) or declare independence and see what they do then! Sounds radical, well it is and I'd love to see them react to that one!

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I am not so sure that Shetland would vote "no" for an independent Scotland. I would say there has been a marked increase in the prevalence of Scottish culture among Shetlanders in the past 5 years or so, even among those born and bred in Shetland. Purely based on observations, but you can see it in wedding parties (kilts), football and general attitudes (for example towards the English) as well as other aspects of life. Its bound to happen i suppose.

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It is costing us a fortune to fight for the right to do what we want with our money (not the State's). Even if we do win the case, we may not get all our expenses back and it will have distracted the Council from getting on with other work in our community.

 

Actually, it seems likely that the state will pay for this particular battle.

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It is costing us a fortune to fight for the right to do what we want with our money (not the State's).

 

How about this for a scenario: 20% of oil company revenues (UK oil tax rate) come to Shetland, as the rightful owner, before being passed to the treasury. For the time the money is in a Shetland bank, it earns us interest. We pass it on to the treasury, minus any UK and EU grants and subsidies currently being paid today, and minus any taxes we currently pay to the treasury - income tax, corporation tax, VAT, Crown Estates and anything else I may have forgotten.

That leaves all parties better off because the expense of moving the money back and forth has been removed, but we would have control of what we want to do with the money.

As owners of the seabed, we would no longer be subject to blackmail by the oil companies - it's our oil, we tell them where to bring it ashore and how much they will be charged for the privilege. Also, since they are now earning so much more for doing less work (because of the the price rise), they could hardly object to an extra 1%-2% tax on value (not tonnage) to help us build a fund for the future.

Shetland would be so much better off that we would probably find we could abolish all taxes - making Shetland a very desirable place to live and attract our bright youngsters back to be the high-flyers, academics and administrators of the future.

Under the current tax regime, the average person in the UK works from Jan 1st until June 3rd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day) to pay their taxes. We work for over half the year to finance the government. Paying no tax would double the average person's income. How bad is that?

Of course, this all depends on Shetland asserting its right to its own resources....

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Westmoother I think is spot on, the current situation we are getting an extremely poor deal for OUR energy resources, the same poor deal that we will probably get with the new windfarm, again OUR resources. It's time to stand up and face these issues square on, all of us, or we will continue to be blatantly used.

 

 

If we go independent, I think a gold standard for our banking system is a good solid future proof idea. We take control of our resources and make the absolute most we can out of them, Economics savvy is the key to success, good fundamentals and a reliable stable local banking system will attract big business and investment. We could have it so good here if we want. Establish closer links politically with Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Faeroe etc etc etc.

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I've made a DVD, which actually has more information than the talk. Quality is by no means professional, but the best I can do until I can afford studio time. You can buy it (£10+P&P) and see a preview at: http://www.shetlandconversation.com/buy-dvd/

The labelling of this disk (on sale in a Lerwick shop) is misleading. The cover inlay card claims it is a CD, whilst the disk has a small stick on label stating that it is a DVD suitable for DVD players and computers

 

- Tried it in a DVD player, which reported that the disk wasn’t recognised

- Tried it in a CD player, which reported that the disk wasn’t recognised

- Tried it in a Mac computer and noticed that the disk was a CD-R containing a single .avi file, which the Mac couldn’t play (although it usually does play .avi files)

- Tried it on a PC and managed to open the .avi file

 

It should be made clear that the disk is not a CD or DVD (these are both industry standard file formats), but a CD-R with a single .avi file burned to it that can only be opened on PCs. At a cost of £10, it is more expensive than many professionally produced CDs/DVDs

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The labelling of this disk (on sale in a Lerwick shop) is misleading.

Hands up - it's my mistake. It's the first time I've done something like this and my technical knowledge let me down. I labelled it as a CD because it was round and shiny and that's what I normally use. I recorded it on Camtasia and simply followed the instructions to make a CD. I messed up.

I've taken some instruction and am re-doing it as a proper DVD. If anyone has bought one, let me know and I'll send you a new one and you can keep the CDR with my compliments.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

info@udallaw.com

01950 477829

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If we go independent, I think a gold standard for our banking system is a good solid future proof idea. We take control of our resources and make the absolute most we can out of them, Economics savvy is the key to success, good fundamentals and a reliable stable local banking system will attract big business and investment. We could have it so good here if we want. Establish closer links politically with Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Faeroe etc etc etc.

Absolutely right Styumpie. We need to have a stable currency backed by gold. Having a fiat currency backed only by confidence is a recipe for the disaster we are now heading for.

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Westmoother I think is spot on, the current situation we are getting an extremely poor deal for OUR energy resources, the same poor deal that we will probably get with the new windfarm, again OUR resources. It's time to stand up and face these issues square on, all of us, or we will continue to be blatantly used.

 

OUR resources?

 

Ah yes, greed, that most comprehensible of motives.

 

Anyway, the windfarm, how so this poor deal that you anticipate? Only a select minority of shetlanders are guaranteed to benefit from the scheme as it stands, independent or not.

 

Fishing rights, now there's a more tenable angle.

:wink:

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I for one think things are just fine the way they are. I know the SIC gets a lot of stick, and perhaps some of that is justified, but Shetlanders ought to spend time in some of the rest of Scotland's urban areas to see what it's like being in a really badly-managed community with runaway problems.

 

Independence, as the Scottish Parliament are finding out, is a double-edged sword. Shetland is doing fine the way it is, in my opinion. And long may it stay that way.

 

 

ron mcmillan

www.ronmcmillan.com

www.myspace.com/betweenweathers (new travel book on Shetland)

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Originally published here on 25 February, 2008

 

Empty halls halt one man campaign

 

STUART Hill, the tireless campaigner for Shetland autonomy, has cancelled his tour of talks across the isles due to poor attendance.

 

Mr Hill, of Cunningsburgh, had planned to visit 33 community halls to debate 'Who owns Shetland?' over six weeks running from early February until the end of March.

 

Last night (Sunday) however he admitted defeat, conceding that he "chose the wrong way to get this information out to the public".

 

He added: "Those who did come were generally enthusiastic, but it's no good talking to an empty hall. Watch this space for some new events."

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I'm afraid that it wouldnt matter how Stuart put the information across, the Shetland people won't buy it. Stuart has done a lot of good work but he is wasting his time now.

 

The only way i can see for a momentum to be built up among people is for Stuart to pass on his work to a select group of community representatives from around the islands. Even then it would be a struggle. You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. I have said this before but unfortunately, 95% of Shetlanders do not care enough.

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