daveh

^^ I wasn't going to book through flights as, on the way down, we usually stay at a hotel in Glasgow (Holiday Inn Express by the airport) the night before just in case there are problems getting out of Sumburgh. I was intending to book the Glasgow/Southampton trip as a return flight booking, at the same time, but can't book that either yet as it also is only bookable up till the end of March. It is difficult planning trips and accommodation, car hire etc when you can't book much in advance like this. Surely Flybe have agreed their April 2013 flight slots with the airports by now.

I want to book Sumburgh---Glasgow---Southampton and then return. I can't book any of the 4 necessary flights yet.

Why is it, in mid-September, that I still can't book any Flybe flights beyond next March? I want to book some flights for next April, with some onward travel and accommodation arrangements, but don't want to make any other bookings until I have definitely booked the Flybe flights south. It is frustrating and actually a bit amateurish on Flybe's part, methinks. Any idea, from past experience, as to when the April flights will be bookable? Thanks

Thanks for the response. If that is Kevin the plumber from Pundsta Place, he is the guy who I used before and phoned first yesterday. He told me that he now lives in Invernessshire somewhere. Hence my enquiry.

^^ I agree. I opened up the tap and the part that has the washer on doesn't come apart from the bit, with the outside thread on, below it. Sorry to be so non-technical but I am definitely not a plumber and didn't know what to do at that point. It certainly didn't happen as it should have done in the youtube videos I have watched.

Thanks. Where is he based?

Can someone recommend a plumber who would pop round and put a new washer on the mixer tap in our kitchen here in Cunningsburgh, please? No rip-off merchants, please ! Thanks.

Sainsbury's have a good deal going just now... http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/instoreoffers/fuel-deal

Why?

I am also a qualified accountant, although retired now, with just 8 years in the public sector and the rest of my career in various commercial sectors; all in England. Like you, I am totally shocked by the amateurish way that the finances have been "organised" up here. How the council has managed to produce unqualified annual reports for so long, until recently, is a mystery. There just seems to have been the approach that it didn't matter if the controls weren't too stringent as that is just the way it is in the public sector. It was and still appears to be a total shambles.

I think that you are somewhat biased towards your own secretarial business in making that comment.

If the SIC staff are typing their own reports then, if that work was taken away from them, they would have that time spare as, presumably, other staff are currently performing those "usual duties". Of course, certain admin tasks will need to be performed within the school. I am talking about a big dollop of staff who are based in Lerwick offices; in education and other head office functions. I think this is definitely a case of turkeys not choosing to vote for Christmas. Nobody in "HQ", unless they are looking for a redundancy payout, is going to choose to lose their jobs over those out at the "coal face" of public services. Centralisation (or possibly sub-contracting out) of back-office functions is logically the way to go and to not go down this route would be a case of ignoring common sense. I have had communications back, from both Tavish Scott & Alistair Buchan, saying that my points are valid but it remains to be seen if the latter has the balls to do what is necessary.

I like humptygrumpty ! If he had stood as a councillor in my area, he would have got my vote.

Precisely the point that I am making. There are literally millions that could be saved in administrative costs, for both councils, by combining "back-office" functions with Orkney. It has been ludicrous to spend money on new Lerwick offices to house the vast army of pen-pushers whilst cutting services and decimating communities. Once the communities move out, to make schooling choices easier, they won't come back. Places like Unst, Yell and Fetlar will eventually be just old 'uns and crofters with no children.

Thanks. I just threw them away at the time. I might try and claim something if I accumulate a few.

That does make sense although, even if a buyer or seller is not in Lerwick, often the seller and buyer meet there to do the deal.

^^ I didn't know about getting coupons instead. How did you get them?

Through out rural areas, Tesco charge according to their needs, I posted a list of prices, and the top end, were not too far off what you are being charged, remember too these stations have a high through put, as well as a zero to a very small profit for Tesco, I think it would be folly to think Tesco would be a saviour in this market. Has anyone written to them to see if they will? That is, will subsidise the fuel delivered to the islands. What is in it for them to spend such money? Down south, Tesco are currently offering a 5p per litre off fuel deal, up to 100 litres, if you spend £50 in the store. It is a short-term deal but it is run from time to time. Such deals would certainly be popular up here, I'd suggest.

Tesco is still our best bet for getting cheaper petrol here. Once/if they open a petrol station, the other garage prices will reduce and there might actually be a bit of competition. Unless/until Tesco get their act together over this, we have no choice other than having to pay these exorbitant prices.

I agree with what you say about the councillors. They are there to canvass opinion and take account of all known factors and forecasts but, in the end, make the decisions that they think are best at the time that they make them. Sometimes, as the coalition down south are currently experiencing, the right decisions are very often not popular but that is a sign of strong leadership in following the right course and having the courage to do so. The clock is certainly ticking up here and the current crop of new councillors will surely want to show that they are a more decisive bunch than the rabble that they replaced. It is not as if they were unaware of just what they were taking on just a few months ago.

^^ The art of conversation is not dead and, being Shetland residents and ratepayers, it is right that we should discuss such matters. I mentioned my thoughts to the two councillors (out of 4) who bothered to canvass my vote at the council elections. The decision is, of course, down to the elected councillors to make but they are our representatives and should be aware of all areas of thought. Like many others, I am deeply concerned at the devastating effects that school closures and ferry services cuts have upon the future wellbeing and survival of communities and would always choose to look at any other alternatives first. Hence my centralisation thoughts.

The costs of running Freefield are pretty small in terms of the SIC annual spending but, of course, the small projects all add up to a sizeable total and each one eventually chosen to be pruned has an effect on various parts of our community. In making my administrative centralisation suggestion, I was looking to highlight much bigger achievable savings that would affect hardly anyone at the sharp end of SIC services (apart from the affected SIC employees) whilst allowing many of the threatened facilities to be retained. Tough decisions certainly lie ahead.

Well, you must have heard some totally unbelievable comments to say that. What were the best ideas that you have heard. I am sure that I could similarly criticise them. So, where do you suggest the savings should come? Seemingly you also have the "sacred cow" approach to this matter. Have you worked in the commercial sector? Centralisation of back office functions is very common there.

That is symptomatic of the problem created generally in the UK where the Labour government, over a 13 years period, created 100s of thousands of non-jobs in order to keep the unions sweet and reduce unemployment figures. The coalition is trying to clear up the mess but the SIC haven't really come to grips with it up here and are clutching at all sorts of straws right now.

Yes, and you were largely ignored there as well. There appears to be little or no support (at this time) for this particular idea. Want to know why? Just go and compare the amounts of money spent in different areas by both councils then, when you have done that, try and decide just where any amalgamation could take place and just who would have to go in order to make your plan work. You are living in the past and have adopted the "sacred cow" approach. Until I retired, several years back, I worked in a variety of industries and also in the public sector. In virtually all of the jobs I was involved in, there were almalgamations and centralisation of functions in order to produce savings as well as become more efficient. If there are savings to be made, they have to be achieved somewhere but nobody would choose to make them if they were personally affected. However, to ignore such potential administrative savings will lead the council towards making particularly unpopular decisions such as school closures and ferry cuts. If you stand up to criticise them then where do you think the savings can be achieved instead?