tirvaluk

The thing that stopped me from ever trying any harder drugs was the Police coming to our Church Youth Fellowship one night with a film about drugs - I was about 13 and can only remember one bit, but it was so graphic, it put me off the idea for life: There was a grotty smoky room with filthy, stained mattresses and a group of grubby-looking folk lying about injecting heroin. One very close-up shot of a guy injecting into the front of his shin {ouch!} , then seeing this blood coming out the needle hole, and then him staring into space whilst absent-mindedly rubbing his sore shin, unaware he was smearing blood all over his leg... yeuch!!
 
If you still have that piece of film you could take around schools and youth clubs, I am sure a lot more youngsters would think twice about buying heroin or any other harder drug in the first place.

I have a different view on the "value" of the Drugs Dogs. They do excellent work and have contributed to the seizure of "illegal" drugs as well as helping to deal with alcohol related offences as well as those associated with "synthetic" highs. As the Area Commander I can assure everyone who has contributed to funding the drugs dogs that they are getting value for money and I will work with the drugs dog charity and others to ensure this continues to happen in the coming year.
 
I am very aware that there is still a lot of work to be done in relation to "substance misuse" and that was one of the main factors in grouping "alcohol, dugs and synthetic highs" together and working to deal with impact they have in our community. I believe we should all work to ensure that everyone - the police, the drugs dogs and those that provide assistance for people with addiction issues (not just drugs but also alcohol and synthetic highs) is making best use of the money they receive.
 
Angus

The Shetland Classifieds page on Facebook says that you have to stay in Shetland to use it, it could be that you don't have enough proof on your page to verify this. It is obviously to avoid sales transaction problems that could occur from outwith Shetland.

If it's any consolation 'anyone' signed up as a member to Shetlink can post in Shetlink's classifieds section. You can add as many pictures as you can to a 5Mb overall limit.
 
Not just registered members but, 'anyone', can view your classified. It is even indexed by the major search engines; especially Google, pulling in even more people to view your Shetland classified advertisement.
 
Shetlink's online community is not like Facebook's closed nature either - you don't even have to be a member to view - most things that is; if you do register you get added functionality such as Private Messaging, notifications, and additional forums for instance.
 
As an added bonus, all Shetlink classified adverts are displayed automagically on Shetlink's Facebook Page thereby providing access directly to your Shetland adverts from Shetlink across Facebook's integrated user functionality. i.e. one can like, discuss, etc. Shetlink classifieds directly in Facebook.
 
Now with login functionality, anyone whom is a member of Facebook can also log into (+register if not already) Shetlink simply by using their Facebook login. You can connect your current Shetlink account through this mechanism also if desired.
 
 
Yep, I know!   It was an advertisement opportunity! You can't slide Shetlink for that 

How can Simon Boker-Ingram or what ever his name is totally ignore the wishes of 85% of staff? He has totally ignored their opinion on staff rotas and done what he wants.

Thought I'd put this up in case folks don't know. Shetland FC won against Thurso at the weekend 1-1 after extra time 5-3 on penalties. The next game will be played at Thurso again (Shetland's home ground for the North Caledonian Cup) on Saturday 5th October, kick off should be 2,30pm. So if you're in the area or would like to travel to watch the game I'm sure the team would appreciate the support   
 
If the kick off times change I'll update the post.

Offense is such a personal thing though, Mr Sissay was offended while many other people who could claim offense on the same grounds haven't been. Everyones sensitivity to these things is different, when I get called a sweaty sock by an English client I take it as banter and nothing more, another one of my colleagues finds it crosses the line and is offensive. What we have found is Mr Sissay feels gollywogs cross the line but we've also found not everyone is offended to anything like the same degree. Yeah Thelma Leask should take on board it could be viewed as racially sensitive but by the same token Mr Sissay has managed to offend people with his behaviour.
 
While a community should be sensitive to other peoples opinions it also shouldn't feel the need to blindly apologise for offense taken. I can see why he was offended but at the same time I don't agree the sale of gollywogs was intended to offend.

FinnBlack wrote "I've seen it happen- folk laughing and playing along with racist comments so they don't isolate themselves, so they 'fit"
 
surely its the context of what is being said that is the important thing in such a situation, for instance I'm one of the least sexist people you could meet and if i come across someone who displays genuine sexism towards someone in the workplace or home i wont hesitate to shout them down, but in a group of friends having a laugh i can come across as a throwback to 1950s male chauvinism if the situation arises that we're having a conversation about sexism and i know my friends will take it in the humour intended.
 
this is the same way I view these dolls, although they may when used in a certain context be a vessel for racism, the mere act of being doesn't automatically make them or the possession of one an act of racism. Also when you consider that the dolls were seen in one of the photos next to a picture of Muhammad Ali after he's knocked out an opponent, a photo that shows a great symbol and an amazing person in the fight against racism, i find it quite hard to believe that an accusation of racism should then be thrown in the direction of the shops owner and at Shetland in general.

Hat's off to Trout for the number of hours he's spent up to his fishy oxters in code and databases of late. He's a real troo(t)per!

The best advice we can offer to folk about the new functionality is to have a good (t)root around and get used to all the new bits n pieces while we get things in order.
 
Thanks for your patience and we hope you enjoy the overhaul.