Colin

Looks like you got sh*t on one way or another..

Don't know if this would apply up here. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/birds-sully-rats-feeding-court-21357427 Seems that some local authorities are trying to tackle it.

OK, didn't realise that his son was the head baker. Thanks. As for the quote.. Why not, don't Tesco do something similar?

Fair comment but who's to say that, as the current owner is kicking the butt end out of 70, he will not jack it all in anyway sometime soon? The Co-op, and others of a similar ilk, have no empathy towards existing business. Hoping for such is pie in the sky. It's all about money...

Flying Rats and natural scavengers. Nowhere near as bad (generally) as they used to be, although they do tend to gather where there is food available. Anyone else remember the days when 'Sea Crown' was moored at the Victoria Pier, or when the harbour was full of fishing boats? It was a bit of a nightmare. Fish Factories were another magnet, and not just to gulls! Perhaps your neighbour sees them as a very efficient way to dispose of household food waste? I could easily be wrong but, I thought that you could be 'done' under some kind of Public Nuisance legislation for deliberately attracting them. Not an easy one to push though.

To launder 600 million, he would have to deal with some pretty dodgy people, and would spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.

Or, possibly, that the hacker realised that 600 million was going to be way to difficult and dangerous to dispose of. He was a marked man in that respect. Something about the whoe story doesn't seem to ring 'true' with me.

Trying to buy their money back, I guess... To me, the worrying thing about all these fancy virtual currencies is that they are just that, "virtual" in so much as they do not really exist as anything more than a "concept". If the power goes off, you're broke.... In fairness, most other currencies are the same. Just promises on bits of paper. Where is the "real" wealth, I wonder.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58163917 Food for thought... ?

Fair comment but, often, the so called 'little guys' don't help themselves. Scalloway already has two fairly decent shops. Both are pretty well stocked/run and the staff are always friendly and helpfull. However, pricing seems to be an issue, and most customers are looking for value for their spend. eg; Cigarette filter tips. OK, it's maybe not the best example but, it is one that irritates me personally. Co-op in Lerwick charges £1 per packet. Shop 1 in Scalloway charges £1 per packet. Shop 2 in Scalloway charges £1.50. Why the 50% extra markup in Shop 2? (They also charge a bit extra for ciggies etc. ) Are they trying to drive smokers out? If this was the only incident, it could be accepted, but it isn't, and it's not to defficult to see which one would be most hurt by the addition of an extra store. Shop 2 is already being 'hurt' as it is very rare for me to by just tobacco stuff on it's own as I nearly always buy something else as well, and that happens in Shop 1. Personally, I have no intention of traipsing down to the East Voe for anything at all unless I have no other option, but will continue to buy my filter tips at Shop 1. A new store would be goods news for folk living around the East Voe and would also help those living on Trondra/Burra. How much, I don't know but you can bet that somebody has tried to work it out. Everybody is talking about the effects of an extra shop, but nobody is really considering the customer here. It's up to the smaller guys to compete for their footfall. Only time will tell if a new store would be a success.

https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2021/08/09/new-supermarkets-would-have-no-impact-on-smaller-shops-developer-insists/ I'm not for or against either development but, I think that the first paragraph of this article is so plainly 'wrong' and misleading that it beggars belief. How can the opening of a new store have no 'detriment' towards existing establishments? Are they trying to convince us that there is a pool of potential customers with unspent money just lying around for them to hoover up? etc. etc. etc. It is plainly obvious (to me anyway) that any customer who switches allegiance from one store to another will have an impact on the 'loser'. Maybe they are just going to magic up some new customers for these stores... Problem solved...

Somebody is probably going to make a fair bit of money out of it. Odds are that it will NOT BE YOU. To many cash savvy crooks in there for comfort I think.

Particularly as they couldn't be bothered to show up for the unveiling of the Shetland Bus Memorial a few years back. Not 'important' enough I guess.. PS; I wonder why you refer to him as a 'fool'?

To me, it is just another step on the road to having to 'prove' who you are to anyone and everyone. Bet the police will love this one.

This is an old topic but, I think that it is still relevant. https://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2021/07/23/carmichael-concerns-over-photo-id Looks like our elected 'betters' might be trying another attempt at this one. They don't give in, do they ?

Beats me as to why anyone would want to do this kind of thing. It's really dumb and only serves to alienate anyone who 'might' have supported their cause(?). Interesting that plod is appealing for any CCTV footage that might be out there. I seem to remember 250K + being spent on a system just so they could use it in situations like the aforesaid. What happened I wonder ?

After trying a number of differet sprays, all ineffective to the point where I might as well hit the flies with the tin.. I found some stuff that might be of use.. It's called RAID and it takes the little buggers out of the air with no problem. One quick spray around, and less than 10 minutes later, no files.... Mind you, I have no idea (yet) what it does to the wife and cat. Hope the cat survives..

Do flies have bones? A good hard smack might be more productive..

Traditional fly papers seem to be moderately successful, but fly sprays seem to be ineffective. Might as well try and hit them with the tin... I tend to wait until they settle(?) and whack them with a traditional rolled up newspaper. Only problem with this approach is that, although it's good excercise, the wife gets a little 'excited' by the mess I leave on walls and the rather coarse expressions of jubilation when I get one.. I have an electronic fly killer, but that doesn't seem to work as well as it might. One or two have suffered an excruciatingly painful death as they get 'zapped', but it seems that most of them tend to avoid it.

A related issue... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57628322 Seems that is not just the 'ne'er do wells' that have been pushing the stuff..

Just so long as you don't get an extra 10 days. That's overkill...

I'm not here at all.. ?

It's been more than 24 hours George, and I'm still trying to work out the link. Can you explain please ?

I wouldn't have quite put it that way but, if the cap fits, wear it. It might also be worth noting that just outside of living memory, the British Government fought a war with China in order to gain a market for Opium. Ho hum... Pick your poison.. FWIW; it is obvious (to me anyway) that the so called 'War on Drugs' has failed. I have thought for years that the best way to deal with addictions is to put the same substances (clean) in the hands of the NHS. That way, registered addicts are taken out of the hands of the drug 'overlords' and into the community where they can be supervised and maybe weaned off the stuff. This approach should(?) cause the dealers to be faced with a shrinking market for their poisons and, if there is no money in it, they will move on. If that fails, just build a bunch of padded cells and chuck the addicts inside them.

It's not just VAT, there is also 'Duty' on tobacco and alcohol that further pushes the price up. If they made them both 'illegal', then a good portion of the governments income would disappear. Looks like we're stuck the 'societies drugs of choice'...