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Whether you wanted to remain in the EU or Leave it things have been set into motion which cannot be stopped. The one thing that has happened that was always going to happen was another call for an independence referendum. We as Shetlanders regardless of our political opinion have a duty to use this current situation to help our economy,people&position. The Scottish parliament are threatening to leave the uk to remain in the EU....i've only heard people complain at the reduction in support for the isles since the Snp became stronger around Scotland in both Westminster and Holyrood so i don't see lots of support for them from the majority of shetlanders and i suppose the vote count between Mr Skene and Mr Scott showed that. The positions we have to look at is that Scotland is looking to go on its own and uses the line that because they own alot of oil (alot of which is situated in and off of Shetland) that Scotland could do very well for itself out of the uk the other is that the Westminster Government want to calm everything down to bring stability to the markets while there is economic uncertainty. We have the biggest trump card and Shetland actually is in such a strong position! yet i haven't heard anything from the council or from anyone in positions of authority here. As an island we can tell the Scottish parliament that we won't support there bid to remain and we will take independence from scotland and take the oil with us unless they offer us a higher long term budget increase for the isles. The other option could be that we go to the Westminster parliament and tell them that we will pull the plug by joining the UK as Scotland leaves and we will bring the oil with us if there's no will from Shetlanders to stay part of Scotland. Only other option is that we go it alone cut a deal for a portion of the oil/gas or take it all to support ourselves. This is just my idea i understand other people have better ones and others are more aware of the possibilities however all this post is is a hope that others will start to discuss this so that we can do something for our islands to win more for the people of Shetland while all other parts of the UK are discussing their possibilities lets do the same!!! Hope to hear your opinions and your ideas.

Sorry, but there really is no question that the leave campaign was highly misleading. I've personally spoken to several people here in Shetland that regret their decision now that they are "better informed". Editorials in publications like The Economist (hardly a "lefty" paper) warn that the impact of this ill-conceived referendum and our inevitable exit from the EU on the world's financial markets will be considerable and far-reaching. Anecdotal evidence of a rise in hate crime has already been backed up by data from the police. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said that reports of hate crime to an official website increased 57 per cent on Thursday-Sunday compared with the same period four weeks earlier. Meanwhile, the vanguard of the 'Brexiteers' Farage & Borris have all scattered, like cockroaches under torchlight, back to their toff's dinner parties with the like of Murdoch, or their £250,000 columns in right wing broadsheets. But what do we expect from the likes of Farage? A man who's old school master warned of his extreme fascist and racist views in a letter to his headmaster back in '81, A guy who 'marched through a quiet Sussex town singing Hitler Youth songs'. Even his own party colleague was shocked when, on the topic of enlisting ex National Front candidates to run said "'There's no need to worry about the ###### vote. The nig-nogs will never vote for us.". And what are we left with? A torn, divided country, that to the dismay of the international community, seems inexplicably determined to turn Great Britain into Little England. And the response from the leave voters? "Oh stop moaning! Get over it! You've lost! Democracy has spoken! It'll not be that bad!" Well, we shall see. We shall see when the redundancies start to mount, the house prices increase, the NHS is gradually privatised and an economy that relies on the EU for the lion's share of its trade takes the hit from not being able to deal with its closest trading partners on a level playing field. Almost every expert agrees that this was a terrible move. But I forgot, you're sick of hearing from "experts", eh? Far better to base your vote on Sun editorials, racist billboards and some absurd longing for a bygone Britain that never was.