Infiltrator

Alternatively, throw caution to the wind like these guys.. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/index.php Looks like a few Shetland threads, here's one http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=62812&highlight=shetland

There's already a thread on this in the News section, but I believe the moderators collect their pensions from the Post Office on Thursday morning... So.... No other fishermen have been prosecuted because this case is specific to what happened at Shetland catch - they had scales that deliberately underweighed the catches. (alkthough there has been another similar smaller case at Peterhead recently) I'm guessing there were many others boats that used Catch who weren't prepared to join the 'racket' The SFP officers only had access to the fiddled scales, there were another correct set of scales elsewhere in Catch but the SFP officers weren't allowed access to this area. I presume the correct scales were used by Catch to buy the fish - and were therefore used to pay tax.

PSML If this is your experience - you sure they were women? p.s. The origins of Up Helly Aa has little (well nothing actually) to do with Vikings, it was originally just a good excuse for a pi55 up, complete with guns and setting fire to things - the adoption of Vikings came later.

Seaflech makes a couple of useful points about the way life in Shetland seems to have drifted since the oil wealth arrived in the mid 70's. Both points are relevant in the transport debate.

Any idea where I'd find these figures? (serious question)

I think we'll just have to disagree then. There's been many cancellations this winter and last, I don't think life on Shetland came to a complete stop. Interesting you mention the inter island ferries, there are similarities... Why should the rest of the Scottish taxpayers pay for the convenience of someone living on Shetland being able to get a part for their car without having to wait a couple of days? In the same way that why should folk who live on the Shetland mainland subsidise the inter island ferries to give the islanders freedom to travel in and out of the isles reasonably cheaply with a fairly regular service. Is there some EU law I've missed that says choosing to live on a remote island should no longer be an inconvience? I know in both cases there are many other considerations, the point I'm making is that the service needs to be efficient and fit for purpose. Any service that relies on a huge subsidy will always be under scrutiny and threat. If folk want a regular service, they need to be prepared to pay for it, running the Northlink between Aberdeen and Lerwick in winter with a dozen passengers is economic lunacy - there may be a cargo argument but there are cheaper ways to ship cargo than using the Northlink ferries.

Not sure that is the case - it's always the seafood industry that get's mentioned when talking of cancelled sailings. Given the choice of an expensive regular service, or a cheaper, less frequent service (even for the winter months), I think you'd be surprised how flexible islanders would be.

Thanks MJ, it just seems odd to me that all the individual skippers have been dealt with first, given the fraud was only made possible in the first place by the factory itself - unless I'm missing how it worked? The individual skippers would only have been aware of their own sales, whereas the management at the factory would have had knowledge of the entire scale of the fraud. Why leave the 'Mr Big' of the fraud till last?

Now that the court case is dishing out fines and recovering compensation from the boat skippers - whatever happened to the managers of Shetland Catch that were found guilty? All the bad press seems to focus on the boat skippers, yet presumably the Shetland Catch managers carry as much (poss even more?) of the blame given it was their equipment that had been fiddled to allow the fraud. Have they received large fines for their part and I've just missed it somewhere? - all the reporting seems a bit one sided.

I'm sure Ghostwriter will be amused at the thought that he's now recommending legal advice to Calamity

Seen the Museums photo of the 737 parked at Sumburgh, but this is very interesting footage of it's departure. Would've been interesting to see it's landing - apparently landed on rw33, steep straight descent over compass hill rather than the usual lighthouse and 90 deg turn at the last minute. I also believe this was one of two 737 visits to Sumburgh around that time - both Danish freighters diverted en route to the Faroes (maybe someone can confirm?) Also a couple of BAE Viscount departures.

Isles cars must also be able to return home from the local boating club/pub on their own, usually in the early hours of the morning, without any help from any of it's passengers I remember taking a car back out of Yell (a first maybe?) where someone in Lerwick had taken it as a trade-in against another car, the poor chap hadn't seen the car, and it was a real pile of junk. The drivers seat kept reclining as I drove to to Lerwick and it had an odd swaying motion when driving on a straight road, and there were virtually no brakes - the chap in Lerwick's face was a picture, he was speechless

That's just as well, given the past records of the local councillors

And if he was successful with his appeal (love this smilie), would you make Calamity the first king of Shetland - or would you deport him as an incomer with his criminal record? I also doubt if it's the final court for appeal - next stop would be an appeal in the United Federation of Planets (there's that smilie again..)

So it looks like the S.S Independence has finally met it's iceberg. £8.2 million for Forvik http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/2885-hills-independence-campaign-falls-flat.html

Wick Clearly a suggestion from someone who's never spent time in Wick, or had to drive from Wick to.......anywhere actually. Lerwick - Aberdeen works fine, suits probably 90% of folk that use the service. Lets put the effort into improving that route rather than trying to tap into some illusive tourist market that'll only end in tears. The vast majority of tourists to Shetland come to Shetland for a particular reason, the port it sails from will make little difference to most.

Off the top of my head, how about http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-15696331 We used to try to follow some rules; Too local a story can be lost on many guests, or can be long forgotten about by the end of Jan - these work better in the country UHA's Don't base the idea on just a good suit - it needs an act, music and it's easier to be funny when drunk rather than trying to be a polished dance troupe Something visual, self explanatory and not too detailed, as hosts and guests trying to pay attention to a 'short play' at 04:00 is asking too much. We were sometimes tempted to leave the decision till December or even January, as something local always crops up - Calamity might even add another chapter to his saga before then. I always wanted to get a squad of 21, each with a shirt with one of the following large letters on it; T S A T I S E T A T G E I O W J S O T U U They'd stumble around for a few mins - then get in order to form some words - and I believe it was out before about 30+ yrs ago

What should the differential between the mainland and Shetland prices be then? Maybe the fuel tax discount should be variable to try to maintain an agreed %'age uplift to the UK average price? Seems to be just over 10% at the moment - maybe it should be maintained at 5%?

Why don't you ask them, presumably there's a good reason.

I was on the Hjatland 3 weeks ago headed south, it was gusting close to 60 knots from the west as we left the harbour. We were warned it would be rough - and it was I gave up in the bar/reclining seats, between spending a lot of time experiencing negative gravity, and the noise as the bow crashed back into the waves, sleeping wasn't an option. It was pretty rough even before we passed the Knab, the captain said the worst bit would be the Roost. Bizzarely it was really rough till we got to the Roost - then it actually calmed a bit and I even managed some kip. My tip is to sleep in the cafe at the back when it's rough, the crashes you hear at the bow are mere heavy shudders at the back, and there's less movement. Only thing you have to contend with is the galley staff swearing each time the boat launched and crashed back into the waves, quite often followed by a smashing of plates and more swearing

How long have you been in Shetland? In my experience, public forums just reflect what's being discussed in the local shops and pubs. Shetland's probably one of the few places where the use of the internet will slow down local rumours and gossip

Or thieves.

Absolutely

^LOL @ EM's story. On a related note, I remember being told that some wreckage from an explosion smashed through the glass sunroof in the roof of the Central School - but I remember it as the explosion from the MTB's that caught fire and exploded at Hay's dock. Always thought it was an impressive distance - maybe it was from the mines at the Sletts - anyone confirm? I remember finding lots of bullets when the dock was dredged in the early 70's. Also remember finding a dozen or so live 303 bullets in one of the war huts alongside the main road next to Sumburgh airport - last seen in a friends shed in Lerwick

I thought they were just Burra Bears, didn't know there was a Shetland Teddy Company. Can't say I'm impressed with the strong arm tactics, maybe I'll give Shetland Fudge a wide berth from now. As for stealing a name - what about stealing someone else's idea in the first place?