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Our digital radios seem to have gone a bit mad. I know that when it's high pressure you get poor reception but when we retuned a couple of the radios we got a load of new stations (e.g. Planet Rock, Jazz FM) but all the BBC national ones disappeared. Anybody know why?

Thanks very much. I've talked to a few people and it looks as if a T&N or Bulter and Mulhern door is the way to go. Several people have said to me that NorDan windows are great but the doors aren't quite as good.

Thanks very much.

We are just starting to build our new house and I am trying to work out what type of door to get for the outside door at the back of the garage. Several people have said to get a locally made hardwood door but they start at about £750. Has anybody got a GRP composite door and, if so, do they keep the weather out? Thanks AA

I am about to do a bit of roofing and I am unsure what headlap to go for. The roof pitch is 45 degrees and the slate size is 400x250. The slates are about 8mm thick so the roof pitch is effectively closer to 40 degrees than 45. The guide from the slate supplier says use a minimum headlap of 80mm for a 40 degree pitch in an exposed area but I was wondering what headlap is commonly used here? Do people go with the minimum or increase it? Thanks very much. Andrew

Thanks for the suggestion. AA

Can anybody recommend a good control unit for the immersion heater as our ancient one (Schlumberger Sangamo) seems to be on its last legs. By good I mean easy to program and easy to understand! Thanks Andrew

I do a speed test every morning to check our internet connection. For the last year we have consistently had a download connection of about 7000 kbps which gives us an IP profile of 6000 kbps and a download speed of about 5500 kbps. About two weeks ago our ADSL connection rate dropped to about 4400 kbps and seems to have been stuck there since. Having done all sorts of tests I am pretty sure that it is a BT thing and not us. I just had a call from a BT guy and he was trying to tell me that it was due to congestion on the line. Has anybody else noticed a big drop in their connection speed in the last couple of weeks? (We are in Whiteness and are connected to the exchange at Veensgarth). (*** Mod - merged ***)

I'm not sure that Wills latest letter is available online but I have to agree with the comments criticising it. I am a strong supporter of Jonathan Wills but his letter to the Shetland Times on Friday was really childish and unnecessary. (It was a letter offering to write a reference for Mr Clark). It did him (Wills) absolutely no favours as it just reduced the matter to playground name-calling when the issues at stake are much, much more serious.

Just been down to the Market Cross and I thought that it was a disappointing turnout. There were fewer people than on Monday.

Me and my neighbours will be there.

How?

Does anybody know whether it is possible for some sort of complaint for maladminsitration to be brought against the council? I don't know what grounds could be used.

Don't forget that there is a rally at the Market Cross on Saturday at 12.00 to let our councillors know what we think of them.

Maybe I am being thick but how is Jonathan Wills responsible for this?

Sorry, but I don't understand why the leaking of a possible proposed settlement makes it more likely that the council will have to pay up. Personally, I am grateful to people such as Jonathan Wills and Gary Robinson as they seem to be the only people amongst our councillors who expect a degree of professionalism in the way that our council is run. My beef is not with David Clarke. I believe that some of the things that he was trying to do made sense, e.g. remove what appears to be a redundant post (i.e. deputy chief exec) and bring better process and greater control to the council's capital expenditure programme. I don't know enough to comment on all the disciplinary matters. My argument is with our council's apparent incompetence. They appear to be desperate to do some sort of deal to make it all go away, regardless of how much it costs. It is hard not to infer from that that they have something to hide, either in their incompetence in the way that they have handled either the disciplinary process or the contract that DC was given. There have been several posts today talking about mob rule. Today wasn't like that at all. There were a couple of people who suggested that the assembled group should enter the town hall and demand to speak to their councillors but I did not sense any appetite for that. What I sensed was a feeling of immense frustration that the council appears to have lost any remaining vestige of common sense. I think that people are upset because they do not believe that their councillors share their own interests. I was there today because, like most of the people there, I am not prepared to stand idly by while I sense that my elected representatives appear to be willing to spend large amounts of money for no reason than to hide their own incompetence.

All the people that I have spoken to are incensed at the council's proposal. Me and my neighbours are going to the rally at the Market Cross tomorrow to show our disgust with the council. If there is a decent turnout then they might start to get the message.

I spoke to one of my neighbours tonight and we both feel that we would rather see DC sacked and it go to a tribunal, even if it eventually costs more. Seemingly rolling over like this and paying him nearly three times his annual salary is just beyond belief. We will be there on Monday.

Does anybody know of a pet boarding business for small animals in Shetland (e.g. hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits etc.)? Preferably Lerwick area or Westside. There is an advert at the vets for a pet-sitting service based at Sullom but I was hoping to find something nearer.

Does anybody know of a good joiner who could do a nice neat job of fitting a lock to a new door? Thanks AA

The article from Energy Tribune linked to above says: I am not a fan of VE's proposals but that article has some amazing distortions in it. The UK suffered disproportionate spikes in energy prices because we can't store much gas and so have to buy at the spot market price. From what I can remember, Germany has the ability to store up to 70 days worth of gas, which means that it can fill up in summer when gas is cheaper and then top up during the winter when spot market prices are relatively low (i.e. mild periods). The UK can only store 14 days of gas which means that we can't buy much in the summer and we have to buy gas when demand is at its highest and so spot prices are high. To imply, as the article does, that the UK suffered high energy prices because we have more wind turbines is complete tosh.

We are moving up to Shetland in January and I will need a mobile phone that works well up there. I expect to spend most of my time in Lerwick, Whiteness and Brae. I am currently on O2 and, the last time I was there, I had no problem in Lerwick but could not get a signal in Brae at all. My other half is on T-Mobile and she couldn't get a signal in Brae either. Can anybody who lives in or around Brae tell me whether any of the providers give a decent service there? Looking at the coverage map, Vodafone looks like it would work in Brae but I would much rather trust somebody who lives / works there than the Vodafone web site! Thanks for your help.

I'm an outsider but I do find it strange that the council would consider spending £40m just to benefit 400 people? Why do the project's supporters feel that there is such a pressing need for a permanent link?

I read the article in the Shetland Times this week and agreed with quite a bit of it. I am an outsider who is planning to move to Shetland but I must confess that I don't understand the Council's apparent eagerness for the project. It really does seem to be a case of all the eggs in one basket. If there were other parties who appeared to be keen to get in on the deal, then I could understand the council's eagerness to get a slice of the action as a way of guaranteeing some prosperity in a post-Sullom Voe future. The fact that other developers don't appear to be falling over themselves to develop similar projects makes me suspect that the sums can't be that compelling. In that case, why take such an almighty gamble?

It's not just Cornwall. A friend of mine had to move around quite a bit for his job and he got posted to Anglesey for a couple of years. His wife reckoned that it took about a year before they started paying the same prices that the locals paid to local tradespeople.