Luke Skywalker

From Shetlopedia: http://shetlopedia.com/Shetland_Times In 2006 Jonathan Lee, formerly of the Aberdeen Evening Express, took over as editor of the paper from Vaila Wishart. But Lee left the Shetland Times in 2008 following a period of turmoil at the paper culminating in a vote of no confidence in him being passed by newsroom staff[1][2][3]. He was succeeded by Paul Riddell, a former assistant editor of The Scotsman[4].

The weblink to the Shetland News article mentioned above has been changed to: http://force10.co.uk/sn_test/archives/news_01_2008/Shetland%20Times%20editor%20abandons%20ship.htm THE EDITOR of Shetland's weekly newspaper is leaving the company after a period of turmoil at the prestigious title. Jonathan Lee is leaving The Shetland Times after two years at the helm to edit the daily North Western Evening Mail, based in the ship building town of Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria. After just one year at the Times Mr Lee picked up the paper's second consecutive 'Newspaper of the Year' prize at the Highlands and Islands Media Awards, last January. However the past few months have seen an erosion of goodwill in the paper's Lerwick newsroom, leading to the recent departure of two members of its five strong reporting team in an atmosphere of "unrest". Mr Lee's resignation was announced to staff on New Years Eve, and came just two weeks after the loss of reporter Mark Latham who had been involved in a long running dispute with the editor. Morale inside the newsroom had fallen to an "all time low", culminating in journalists handing a vote of "no confidence" in Mr Lee to the Times' managing director Brian Johnston last month. Yesterday (Wednesday) Mr Johnston denied there was any connection between recent events at the Times and Mr Lee's decision to go. "He is away to a new job and we will be advertising for a new editor. We have not discussed the fine detail but he will be working a period of notice," he said. Mr Lee refused to make any comment about his plans when approached at home, saying that he was on holiday. National Union of Journalists representative John Robertson described recent events as "a sensitive, internal issue". Mr Robertson said: "It didn't work out between the newsroom staff and Jonathan Lee and we now hope to work with management towards a better future." Mr Lee's resignation comes as a shock as he only moved to Shetland last summer after spending the first year and a half commuting from the Scottish mainland. He arrived after working at Aberdeen's Evening Express, for whom he still writes a weekly column. His period in charge of the 136 year old paper saw an abrupt change in style, which aroused much comment and criticism around the islands, some of which manifested on the publication's own letters page. Mr Lee introduced a more populist, "tabloid" feel, shying away from the political controversy the paper had been noted for in the past under previous editors Jonathan Wills and Vaila Wishart, opting instead for more human interest stories with larger photographs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shetland_Times From February 2006 until February 2008 the newspaper was edited by Jonathan Lee, formerly of the Aberdeen Evening Express. Lee left the Shetland Times following a period of turmoil at the paper culminating in a vote of no confidence in him being passed by newsroom staff[1]. He was succeeded by Paul Riddell, a former assistant editor of The Scotsman.

Actually Shetland News was first with the story. Here´s the link: http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_01_2008/Shetland%20Times%20editor%20abandons%20ship.htm And here are some more: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=39907 http://www.societyofeditors.co.uk/page-view.php?page_id=1&parent_page_id=0&news_id=385&numbertoprintfrom=1 http://www.allmediascotland.com/articles/2156/08012008/lee_leaving_but_on_low_note

The other interesting point is that Grains's house at Hoove is only a few minutes walk from a bus stop with regular buses to Lerwick. I doubt whether she has ever used the service.

Anyone tried the new museum restaurant? Pretty disappointing if you go there at lunchtime: the only thing on the menu is soup and sannies. As if there weren't enough food emporiums in Lerwick all producing soup and sannies. The difference at the new musuem is that the sannies costs a fiver and are made by real chefs- who can't be bothered to do some really imaginative cooking in return for their wages. If you go to the Weisdale Mill cafe, on the other hand, there's a really good selection of warm dishes on offer every lunchtime. They seem to make more effort out there - and they've only got a tiny kitchen to make it in.

Assuming that she has been spending £10,000 a year on taxi fares for the 25 years she has been a councillor she will, by my calculations, have spent over a quarter of a million pouns on taxi fares over the last quarter century. It's seems incredible that she's never bothered to learn to drive or that anyone at the council took her to one side and suggested she try.

The fact that he didn't raise it on the doorsteps of voters in the run-up to the election may have something to do with the fact that he was away on a council jaunt to Portugal only two weeks before the election. In fairness to him he's been an excellent councillor for Dunrossness. He has experience in the airline industry and held important transport roles in the last council and managed to make sure that the Scottish Executive's call for a debate on the best long-term location for Shetland's main airport (Scaststa, Tingwall or Sumburgh) was stifled at an early stage. As you say, though, he's clearly biased.

This fortnight's edition of Private Eye is worth getting hold of for its nicely phrased coverage of SIC councillors' jaunts abroad. The Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, attended on an almost monthly basis by Leslie "Gussie" Angus and Josie Simpson (most recenly on trips to Crete, Madeira, Gotland, and the Azores), is described as a "a talking shop which enables public servants from EU countries to listen to high-grade Eurowaffle in agreeable surroundings".