Colin

"Im sure the SIC will be quite happy to see you set up a group to provide allotments provided it is privately funded.  There is unlikely to be any protests from anyone. Go for it!

I watch with interest."

Watch away all you like.  It's your time  that wil be wasted..

Where did I suggest that I was going to try and start some sort of allotment group. ?

A long time ago,  in a land far away, I had an allotment.  The effort you have to put into one is not that great, and once you realise that the work you have to do does NOT have to be done in one day, doesn't amount to much at all.

The rewards far exceed the relatively little effort that goes into maintaining one.

Even if you do not have an allotment, things like potatoes can be grown very succesfully if a large bucket or barrel.  Even in a growbag if you wish.  Very little effort required.

It is a great shame that the SIC "pumped money" into an allotment scheme that suffered from such a poor take up but, where did I suggest that the SIC paid for allotments ?

The scheme in Sandwick was, I believe, organised and funded etc. by private individuals who set up their own agreement with the land owner.

FWIW, I know that there are "rules" concerning the provision of allotments that councils have to adhere to.

One of the biggest problems faced on Shetland is that any suitable ground is either well used, or is being sold as housing plots.

Should have kept the greenhouses at Tingwall and where are the allotments.

Greenhouses are very easily placed if you have a little garden space.  It's amazing the amount of stuff you can grow in them.  Not just tomatoes but, peppers, cucumbers etc.

Allotments are a silghtly different matter.  Land has to be acquired and a whole heap of SIC rules and regs have to be addressed.  A person you might ask would be Leslie Watt (Sandwick).  He might be able to help as he has been through the process.

I would guess that our governments have very little to do with sourcing green beans and pineapples etc. and that most trade deals are just an "umbrella" to protect private businesses that trade in other countries.

Hard to think that Westminster would be buying bananas and then selling them on to Tesco, Morrisons and all the rest. 

Anyway, if they do buy lots of bananas, then they should keep a percentage to feed the idiots who get elected to the place. 

My take is that they are far to busy selling arms and financial services to worry themselves to much about other things

The "real" trade deals are done by individual businesses trading internationally.

Totally agree.  A councillors first responsibility should be to his/her electorate and they are NOT elected to satisfy the whims of the SIC heirachy.

However, I am slightly disappointed that both Steven Leask and Ian Scott resigned their positions.  I feel that they would have been better to remain in place and force(?) a few issues into the public domain.

"There appears to be an error with the database"

Anyone else getting this when trying to get in to the Forums?

Clicking on "Recently Added Posts" seems to side step the issue.

"Regardless, the EU loves to send the European fishing boats up here to strip our our waters bare, and who cares what the British governent come up with!!!"

Plainly, you care, otherwise you wouldn't keep on insisting that Anthony Eden signed the original EU Treaty, which he didn't...

Maybe because Eden didn't sign anything ?

OR

possibly, because they had established an  equal  trading zone with each other ?

Does it matter what the Britsh Government decided what to call it when the Europeans, plainly, didn't agree.

Checked both links.   NO MENTION OF ANTHONY EDEN...  UK NOT NAMED AS A SIGNATORY...

 

 

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union was signed by Anthony Eden, 25 March 1957, and became effective on the 1st of January, 1958.

You keep telling us this George, but I can find no evidence that Eden actually signed anything of the sort!!!

The original treaty was between 6 countries who wanted to set up a "Common Market", and GB WAS NOT one of the six (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany).

This treaty was a follow-on from an earlier treaty signed in 1951 (European Coal and Steel Community).

When GB did eventually decide to try and join, they were vetoed by France.

The only thing close(?) to your claim is that GB tried to set up a "Free Trade Area" in 1956. 

Give me your source please...

 refusing to put on masks or sanitize there hands when asked by staff in the premises.  What can be done about this?

Quite simply, if they are that concerned, then the staff should refuse to serve them and ask them to leave...

Well done to the "flea " he has done a damned sight more than most of us would have .

Yes, most of us would have had the good sense not to visit Lerwick after midnight and go "creeping around the place"  in order to "observe" what is going on, particularly as the police were already "on the job".  

Do we need a "crusader" when the local police are obviously aware of things ?

He appears to have dates, times and numbers.  Surprised that he did not take photographs as well.

There might have been a few "kids" there but I guess that at just after 01:00am most of the "crowd" who appeared from "3 different directions" were coming out of local pubs and getting a chip supper on their way home.

No masks.  Bad news for the pubs maybe.

No social distancing (?) More bad news for the pubs maybe.

I wonder if the man has an "agenda"

He has accused others of being "idiots".  I also wonder if he owns a mirror ?

"After leaving his home in Dunrossness just before midnight, councillor Duncan arrived at the Victoria Pier car park at half past midnight and took up position to watch the Harrison Square area."

You should have gone to Specsavers.. 

https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2020/09/14/councillor-appalled-by-what-he-saw-at-harrison-square/

Several questions here.  The main(?) one (for me anyway) is "what business has Councillor Duncan got in travelling 30 miles (or so) at past midnight on a weekend to just to 'observe' events in the town" ?   (Guess that he might be breaking one or more of the 'rules' by doing that.  Hope that he feels 'good' about himself)  We already have a police force that is supposed to do that (observe) and I don't think that we need 'curtain twitchers'...

Disappointing though that so many 'young uns' have so much disregard for the health and safety of others.  At Mr Duncan's age, I would have stayed well clear of the lot of them... 

 

On a brighter note for the future;

There are over 800 local wool producers still operating and 1 lerwick business buys over 80% of the Shetland wool clip.  That is a fairly good basis for some kind of 'revival'.

That is because the 800 odd wool producers all rely on EU subsidy to remain viable. Once that is lost in a year or so from now there will be very few, if any, left.

Good luck with your 'revival'.

 

In the main, wool is just a by product of the food industry so it will still be there but, it is used for far more than just 'woolly jumpers'.

Insulation, fillings, other clothing, etc. These are just some of it's uses that come to mind.

I believe that Henry VIII built a navy on the back of it.!

In a wider context, are you trying to say that there will be no sheep farmers left in the UK once we withdraw from the EU or that wool will just be ploughed into the ground (if it's gathered at all) ?

I would accept that a lot of local crofters (as elsewhere) may be (?) 'subsidy junkies' but, I would question whether the UK Government would be allowed to just abandon them.  The agricultural industry in general holds a lot of 'clout' and we ALL need to eat.  

 

UK vessels were decommissioned and burnt wholesale, while Spain received millions from the EU to exploit UK waters.

 

I wonder what pecentage of the U.K vessels are Scottish, what percentage are Shetlandic or if they don't now the difference?

 

I did see some kind of figures (a long time ago) that seemed to show that the spread was fairly even (on a pro-rata basis).

I have no direct knowledge  as such but;

The main problem is that the boats were scrapped (and jobs lost) but their  Fishing Licences were being bought by 'foreign' interests.  The net effect was to reduce the British fishing effort in favour of 'big business' type foreign interests.  The scrappage scheme simply 'sold' our fishing industry to places outwith our direct control.

I guess that is one of the reasons that the EU is desperate to retain fishing rights.   Having exhausted their own(?) fishing grounds, they NEED the food it provides.

The CFP was also a disaster(?) for British fishing.

It was cheap, and imho, poor quality knitwear from East Europe and china that did the most damage. 

It took a long time for the locals to wake up to the idea of trying to protect the 'Shetland' brand, and by the time they did, it was way to late.

A quick check (and some simple arithmatic) will reveal far more 'Shetland Kniitwear' available than is capable of being produced locally.

Matters were not helped either by local knitwear companies and stockists buying their wool from the mainland.

On a brighter note for the future;

There are over 800 local wool producers still operating and 1 lerwick business buys over 80% of the Shetland wool clip.  That is a fairly good basis for some kind of 'revival'.

This 'Japan Trade Deal' is really nothing 'new' for Shetland.

Those with longer memories might remember the time when Shetland Knitwear was a firm favourite with Japanese customers, and just about every knitwear company on the Island had strong trading links with Japan.

I didn't bother reading to many of the comments though.

Kinda stopped at the "lets put it up Krankie" etc. brigade getting a little ahead of themselves.

Nobody seems to realise (yet) that Shetland has NOT had the opportunity to vote for anything.

Guess it sells newspapers .. ?

Looks like it made YouTube.

Loads of comments. 

It's an "academic" point anyway.   I put my comma's anywhere I please to...  Some punctuation is better than no punctuation at all..

.....but, but, but........

You sound like a cheap 2-stroke...  

Touche...

My A Level English Language is well rusty, but I seem to remember being told to preceed "but" with a comma.. 

 

What will happen first Leaving the European union or Ending of the Lockdown?

 

Hopefully, learning grammar will do the job but it is only hope.

 

Did you miss a comma in there George ?

 

BTW;  Just where is "Westinster".  

 

It's just up the street from the letter, "M", or so I'm led to believe.

 

Bet that hundreds of "kids" gather there...