For me, along with many others, it's the economics that matter most.It's all fine and well having an estimated exchequer balance of £82m, but it does seem to be missing quite a few large things. Firstly, it appears to miss large expenditure items that are currently the responsibility of central government, with the two most significant off the top of my head being, the north boat, and crofters grants. The grants for the north boats, is about £36m for the whole shooting match, so it'd be safe to assume circa £20m for only the Shetland connection. Similarly, crofters grants (if they ever get paid) are between £8m-£9m per annum. Straightaway that's almost £30m gone from the positive balance, and I'm fairly sure if you started looking at aspects such as the NHS (which has an annual budget of over £50m, offset against National Insurance contributions of around £40m) you'd soon start to run out of cash. Similarly, state pensions are a pretty big cost, and I can't see folk being happy not getting their pension. Lastly my most acute fear that I doubt can be assuaged is population. Currently, the Shetland population is growing, partly thanks to immigration from the rest of the UK and more exotic locales. If Shetland removed itself from the jurisdiction of the UK, it would certainly put people off from moving up here. A quick look at the census data indicates that 1308 people (people who weren't born in Scotland) moved to Shetland between 2001 and 2011, and the real number will be higher as there's no distinction between where people were born in Scotland. Without this immigration, and assuming that emigration, such as youngsters going to uni and not returning, stayed roughly level, there would be a decline in the Shetland population. If this was to happen, then it would be very difficult to reverse, and I think would harm Shetland in every way for future generations.