Capeesh

When government's tried to leave it to the common sense of the individual to adhere to social distancing measures a very large number of people totally ignored them. We all saw it with our own eyes. Suppression of the virus now seems to be the global common goal, how do those who oppose the lockdown powers propose success in the achievement of that goal after seeing what was happening before they were brought in?

In an ideal world we wouldn't need authorities stating the bleeding obvious and enforcing the very simple rules put in place to prevent a lot of people needlessly dying. Unfortunately, as has been proven with the softly softly approach, a very large number of our fellow citizens are just downright stupid.

Here's another question for the amateur statisticians... For those that give annual figures for ailments that require hospital treatment and may lead to death, what would happen to those hospitals if instead of being spread over a whole year they all hit in the space of a couple of weeks? If you got a years worth of rain in a day there would be total destruction, could the same analogy not be the case with our health service and this virus?

Could the amateur Epidemiologists and Virologists on here please answer me this? If this is no worse than the run of the mill illnesses and deaths that occur annually, why is the whole planet in various stages of lockdown? Could it be this is a tad more serious?

The biggest risk to Shetlanders imho is other Shetlanders ignoring the social distancing measures designed to help prevent the collapse of our health service.

Was there really pubs open last night after the government told them to shut? Which ones?

I asked somebody the same question and they thought it was due to the government advice about coughing and sneezing into a tissue and then disposing of it straight away.Made a bit more sense to me than a desperate need at the other end of the body.

@Ghostrider. The argument that drove Brexit in large parts of the UK wasn't there's "too many Europeans" it was there's "too many immigrants". The immigration system the Tories are putting in place to pander to these voters blocks immigration for certain jobs to ALL nationalities, not just European ones. There's a lot of people who believe, rightly or wrongly, that immigration is a problem, being tough on immigration is a vote winner in large parts of the UK, unfortunately that doesn't help us in Shetland or Scotland attract working age, tax paying people to do what is deemed "low skilled work". Another negative we're seeing now is we're even losing skilled workers, by pandering to this "immigration is bad" narrative we're making it less attractive for them to come and work here. One great irony of this whole debacle is the current Tory Home Secretary Priti Patel's immigration plan would've prevented her being the current Home Secretary, by her own admission there's a good chance her Ugandan parents wouldn't have qualified for UK entry.

When it comes to public finances EU migrants contribute far more than they cost It's not EU migrants putting a strain on our public services, it's criminally negligent underinvestment and mismanagement from our abysmal Tory government. The last thing the country needs is to start booting out working age tax payers. Maybe those rich, tax dodging Tory party donors and their pals could start paying their share like the rest of us. These charlatans are playing an absolute blinder convincing people it's the EU's free movement to blame for the strain on our public services.

The real negotiations start in March. If we're using the negotiating prowess of the Tory government over the last 3 plus years as a benchmark we'll be lucky to come out of the horse trading in the transition period with our underwear still on.

Boris Johnson and his government with ample help from their uber rich backers and allies in the press have pulled off the greatest con in UK political history. These snake oil salesmen have managed to create a whole load of hardships for ordinary people with their woeful record in government and deflect the blame onto the shoulders of Johnny Foreigners. Austerity for the many, great rewards for the few £££££££.

This election has certainly emboldened the far right, it's frightening. Neil Riddell should be applauded for bravely sticking his neck out and publicly calling it out.

Neil Riddell's letter is a fine example of democracy in action, Boris may have won the election but that doesn't mean his opponents should down tools and remain silent.

Scotland voted Labour for decades and got rewarded with Tory government's who proceeded to throw the whole country to the wolves. Don't think they'll fall for that old chestnut again. There's only one way for Scotland to get the government it votes for every single time.

Correct Wrong.This is the crucial point, new members are not required to join upon entry, The member states that joined in 2004, 2007 and 2013 did not meet the conditions for entry to the euro area at the time of their accession, not only that, there's no timetable or deadline to join the Euro, Sweden for example joined the bloc in 1995 and still haven't adopted it. This is why it's false to say Scotland doesn't meet the criteria for EU membership. Taking the criteria for joining the Euro and conflating it with the criteria for joining the EU is wrong. That's why the European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs stated "Scotland meets the criteria [For EU membership]".

The quotes I gave are from a report from the European Committee on Constitutional Affairs specifically giving their opinion on an independent Scotland joining the EU. Are they wrong too? As for monetary union there are 9 countries in the EU who don't use the Euro as we speak only 2 of them have opt outs. Here's another quote from European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker who said in 2017: “I don't intend to force countries to join the euro if they are not willing or not able to do so”.

Capeesh, you are incorrect. https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/policy/conditions-membership_en Eh?The link confirms everything I've said and proves the European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs (slightly more qualified than myself and any other random people on the internet) are correct to say... "Scotland meets the criteria [for EU membership]" And "There now seems to be a consensus that, were Scotland to become independent by legal means, it could join the Union." I'm glad you posted it.

No they don't, they've been promoting "Independence in Europe" since the mid 80's The European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs did a report on it here's some quotes... "There now seems to be a consensus that, were Scotland to become independent by legal means, it could join the Union." "There seems no basis in EU law for the assertion that membership would be impossible, as Scotland meets the criteria and not since de Gaulle’s veto on UK membership in the 1960s has a democratic country respecting the rule of law been refused admission." "No member state suggested that it would veto Scotland’s membership and none has done so since." "Some opponents of independence have said that Scotland would have to join a ‘queue’ behind the Balkan countries. EU accession has never worked on the basis of a queue. Applicants are accepted when they are ready, not on the basis of when they applied." Capeesh, This is just "waffle" as we all KNOW that Scotland could join the EU. What Scotland CANNOT do at the moment (as others have pointed out repeatedly) is QUALIFY for membership as our economy just doesn't match the standards required. IMHO, it would take many years of really painful "austerity" just to get Scotland close to qualifying. The SNP might be wanting to have their cake and eat it but, I think that they would choke on the first mouthful. What you and others have (mistakenly) repeatedly pointed out is the criteria for joining the Euro (currency).The criteria for joining the EU is completely different it's called the Copenhagen Criteria, Scotland ticks every single box and more because as existing members Scotland also has complete alignment with EU laws (acquis communitaire), that's why the EU themselves have said "Scotland meets the criteria" To make things absolutely crystal clear there are currently 9 member countries in the EU right now who haven't adopted the Euro.

@Ghostrider SNP published policy... "We believe that the best way to build a more prosperous and equal Scotland is to be a full independent member of the EU." The quote above from the European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs that said..."..as Scotland meets the criteria.." wasn't made up, it can be found by anyone, the report was published, it's in the public domain.You're maybe confusing EU membership criteria with Euro (currency) membership criteria, Scotland already meets the criteria expected from all EU applicants, we wouldn't be in the EU as we speak if we didn't. Here's whats required... The Copenhagen Criteria are a set of conditions and standards which the EU demands that member states adhere to. These conditions relate amongst other things to the strength of a country’s democratic institutions, freedom of the press, protections for national and ethnic minorities, respect for human rights, and having a functioning market economy. Finally, although this is technically outwith the Copenhagen Criteria, the applicant country must also be in legislative alignment with the body of EU law which has been built up over the decades, known as the acquis communitaire.

No they don't, they've been promoting "Independence in Europe" since the mid 80's The European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs did a report on it here's some quotes... "There now seems to be a consensus that, were Scotland to become independent by legal means, it could join the Union." "There seems no basis in EU law for the assertion that membership would be impossible, as Scotland meets the criteria and not since de Gaulle’s veto on UK membership in the 1960s has a democratic country respecting the rule of law been refused admission." "No member state suggested that it would veto Scotland’s membership and none has done so since." "Some opponents of independence have said that Scotland would have to join a ‘queue’ behind the Balkan countries. EU accession has never worked on the basis of a queue. Applicants are accepted when they are ready, not on the basis of when they applied."

The EU would bend over backwards to have the honour of having Scotand as its 27th member in the event of independence, we'd not only be invited, we'd be fast tracked back into the club. Of course the people against Scottish independence have their own agenda and that's to try and convince the gullible how impossible everything will be, telling them how useless and pitiful they are and how nobody else would have them is the order of the day for most of the naysayers. The reality of course is a million miles from this, the goodwill Scotland has from their friends in every European capital is phenomenal. Scotland's been a member of the EU for 40+ years as part of the UK, they don't want us or anybody else to leave.

Scotland's basically got an open invitation to join the EU if it chooses independence, especially after the Brexit vote showed Scotland voted to remain.

I know Brexit will dominate this election but what about the other things? Ever since the Libdem/Tory coalition there's been a huge increase in food banks. Why are there families with children in Shetland having to rely on charity to feed themselves? After the LibDems/Tories sold of the Post Office is there anything left in this country apart from the NHS to flog to the highest bidder?

^^Nope, I'm saying Scotland in the UK is not the same as France, Germany or Spain in the EU. The UK is a unitary state with very limited devolution, the EU on the other hand is a union of independent nations. It was a reply to those who say if Scotland became independent it would be giving that independence up again by joining the EU.