Scorrie

I reckon the link on post 65 negates any conspiracy theory quite well. Plus no well trained and organised outfit is going to forget to cover the basics in as much that: 1: The active troops may be challenged for Id in an unrelated incident (say, minor car bump) before reaching the target area, they'd be hoping to get past that obstacle quietly by having a passport as positive ID. 2: The mission could possibly be aborted, the troops may have to leave the country quickly, thus requiring a passport. They'd be pretty piss poor if they hadn't got those basics covered.

In the land of the 'Free' ( a country noted for it's belief that its citizens have the right to bear arms for self defence) there were 33,563 deaths recorded that were caused by firearms in 2012. That's 10.69 per 100,000. In France there were 1856 deaths in 2012, that's 2.83 per 100,000. In the UK there were 146 deaths in 2011 - 0.23 per 100,000. Now, lets rank those three countries in order of weapons in civilian hands and try to work out if arming Joe Bloke leads to greater 'self defence' benefits or just a lot more dead people....... ISIS would have to blow up a hell of a lot more people than they have so far to justify handing out guns to people who struggle to cope with everyday matters such as crossing the road or behaving rationally every time some poor Asian sod walks past them with a rucksack, never mind becoming responsible gun owners. FFS.

Ghostie, regarding traffic lights vs roundabout: Roundabouts are always a preferable option as they keep the traffic flowing. Even with lights that are sensor/intelligence based, there will always be a longer delay whilst the light sequences changes to allow, say, one or two cars through the system that have been sat waiting for the main flow to be halted. With roundabouts folk will just slot into the gaps. I'd say that the roundabout is the more expensive option, but the benefits will become apparent at skool chucking out time on a busy Friday evening on what is already quite a busy through road. And given SIC's inability to maintain traffic light systems........

Ok, I see where you're coming from, Urabug. That's a fair comment - I thought you were speaking generally and not specifically about the houses affected by the roundabout. But how much further down is the layby now? Is it still a do-able distance? I'm racking my brains and can't picture how far away the dropoff/layby now is.

If you look at the photo above, you will be able to see the large central islands with dropped kerbs - creating safe areas half way across. Something that certainly didn't exist beforehand. An improvement, I'd say.

It should be a definite 'No' for anyone driving a car. But the adverse camber is going to be pretty interesting for any bikers if there's any ice or diesel spill.....

Another option would be to ask at the marinas if you can hook your 3 pin into their 240v berth supplies - bring an extension lead. No shortage of marinas around Shetland. Try caravan sites on the same basis.

"..... none knows the real story here. odds are its somewhere in between the papers story and what the hospital said..... " At last, took some getting there, but some people are getting it......

I think Westminster would be quite keen on Shetland having more fiscal control at least, for the simple reason that it would weaken the Indy movements available revenue streams (and therfore, it's popularity).

But...... SIC (in the 2013/14 figures) alone had a financial defecit of £18.31m on provision of services alone, they had to draw down on £21m reserves to meet the costs: "2. In 2012/13, as recorded in the comprehensive income and expenditure statement, the council spent £178.725 million on the provision of public services and had an overall deficit on provision of services of £18.531 million. After taking account of statutory adjustments, the overall draw on reserves was £21.407 million,....." http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/local/2013/fa_1213_shetland.pdf That's a 20% of the extra £80m revenue generated in self-governing taxes smoked before we even start rebuilding Shetland. I'm wary of any stats giving potential generated income, I'll lay money that the figures quoted will be at the top end of an pretty optimistic range. I'm probably not alone in remembering the hype generated by the SNP drones in the runup to the Indy ref regarding how much extra oil money every Scotch person would receive in a 'brave new world'...... apparently we would all be eating with solid gold knives and forks and riding round on hover-llamas if we voted 'Yes', thanks to the extra oil revenue that would be arriving Tsunami-like upon the shores of Scotchland. But now, with oil prices being where they are? To use a footie chant: " It's all gone quiet over there". However, Shetland on the same footing with the UK as Faroe is with Denmark? I'd go for that.

Phone the voicebank: http://www.shetland.gov.uk/ferries/bookings.asp You can sign up for text messages as well - very handy.

That went over my head, Colin, (unlike a Logan Air flight it would seem ) Do you mean the linky is giving statistics already? If so, I've missed them. I thought it was just listings without any statistics regarding size of fleet/incident ratios. Or am I just being a bit thick...again..... ?

OK, so we have a list of reportable incidents. In itself, it is meaningless unless it is compared to other airlines on a like for like basis. So what we need is a calculation that takes into account how many aircraft are operated by companies, how many incidents are recorded across the fleet and then convert this into a incident percentage figure. Then we need to categorise these incidents into weather related, pilot error or mechanical/electrical failure. We can then compare these figures across companies and come up with a set of statistics that either prove or disprove your concerns. Until that takes place, everything is pure conjecture.

Rather than wondering if there are 'maintenance' or airworthiness issues - perhaps you could enlighten us regarding the 'disproportionate number of flight incidents'? ie: evidence to support your opinion.

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/showcases/7556-hillside-motors-full-service-for-the-islands

Unfortunately, as you can see by this post, we also have swivel-eyed dipsticks - just the same as the rest of the UK. Back on topic, property is much cheaper on the outer Isles as opposed to 'Mainland' Shetland and the sense of community is very good on the whole. But bearing your wife's condition in mind I'd think very carefully about possible issues getting medical assistance. We're pretty well furnished with doctors and medical centres on the outer isles.....but....at 3 in the morning, when it's a callout for the doc and then another to get the ferry fired up or possibly a helicopter ride to the hospital in Lerwick..... Whatever you decide, I hope you have a good trip.

That would make sense, there's lots of Balaclava, Alma and Sebastapol street names in the UK. And I used to work for an engineering firm called Alma Engineering many years ago.

Oh FFS, here we go again: Tinfoil hatters and 'outraged' persons at 6 o'clock high.....

Agree or disagree, some interesting stuff here: http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/about-us

What about the probable British thieves, fraudsters, rapists and the like that are travelling on, or moving to, the Continent? Are you suggesting that no-one should be allowed to travel or move countries as they 'might' be unsavoury characters based upon their present situation? Or is it just the old line that foreigners are all the same - untrustworthy - not like us honest and industrious Brits?

First post on their timeline "Don't you find it sickening that all these liberals bleating on about how they'd happily share their house with homeless Muslim migrants from another continent will happily walk around their home towns and cities ignoring Brits who have lost everything and are living homeless on their own streets. Goes to show the contempt these people have for natives and how they'd rather put migrants first. So much for being "do gooders." Oh you can tell who is behind such a page as to assume that everyone trying to come into Europe is a muslim and even though they were in some way this is important as to whether we help them or not. If right wing horse crap like this is allowed to breathe and gain momentum then very soon our biggest problem won't be accepting refugees from Syria it will be stopping poor buggars who've lived all their days here getting their windows panned in by halfwits going after anyone with a head dress. Britain Furst/EDL/DickheadsUK - the usual bigoted morons.

Used them a few times and and the only issue I've had is that I'm 6'2" and cannot stretch my legs completely straight out on the footbar. Probably not an issue for anybody else, but the old knees are knackered and I like to be able to straighten them out occasionally. Noise? Never had any issues when I've been there and if there had been, a swift "shut the ----- up, this is a quiet area", would have been forthcoming followed by a complaint to the crew if they didn't comply. They're quite large width wise and recline not completely flat out but enough to relax - and the design means the don't interfere with the passenger behind. I wouldn't say you get an excellent nights kip - well, I don't anyway, but they're more restful than the normal seating and you haven't got idiots tramping past all the time as it is accessed by an exclusive card-controlled door in a corner of the forard bar area. I tend to use a cabin on the way down so I'm definitely fresh to do what I want to do and a pod on the way back. HTH.

Hardly 'great', but right on a few points regarding practices elsewhere on the planet. The main thrust by the author is still the hackneyed 'tradition' line, with romantic pish about 'hardy islanders' being thrown in as well. Probably thinks the Faroese all have turf carpets in their low-roofed hovels and ride around on the backs of guillemots. Why don't SS & co tackle the whale shark or manta ray issues? Logistics: There's not a single focal point at sea for these operations, difficult to get any mileage out of targeting a single small boat at sea that may or may not have the naughty fish on board. But...hopefully the author's right that the tradition will die out. Remember the Faroese do not have 100% support at home on this one, with most of the opposition coming from the younger folk.

I really do like that, gave me a good laugh and I now have a picture in my head of a brick stood in the dock whilst the Sheriff gives it a good stonesing (ball ock ing ) and a £300 fine.

I really do like that, gave me a good laugh and I now have a picture in my head of a brick stood in the dock whilst the Sheriff gives it a good stonesing and a £300 fine.