Who Knows

The public health department at NHS Shetland organise group walks you could contact them for details of events they hold in different areas. http://www.healthyshetland.com/health-topics/exercise/walking

Congratulations to Whalsay on retaining the Parish Cup and winning for the third straight year in a row after a competitive game with Delting.

Including those who did not vote to suggest a decision or party does not have the majority is flawed. Their views are not declared so cannot assume they support in this instance remain or leave. Also as not declared assuming these individuals view would have split similar to those that voted also has no basis to support that view. Straight forward if you do not vote you end up with what those who voted decided and normally only have 5 years to suffer the consequences. The results of this vote are slightly longer lasting. The missing million votes is solely in Scotland as the turnout was down from the record high 85% from September 2014. The SNP may or may not have the mood of the country in respect of a second referendum however if you respect the will of the people of Scotland having a second referendum will decisively end the question and allow the country to move on inside or outside the current U.K.

Fundamentally flawed to assume those that did not vote are a homganeous group and you really know what they want. In terms of the U.K. 28% of the population did not vote so if you wish to include them in the total then roughly only 37% of eligible voters actually voted to leave the EU. On that basis less than 50% of eligible voters voted in favour of leaving the EU so where is that democratic mandate? The reality is if you did not vote you have to accept the out-turn based upon those who choose to vote to record their view. Those with a long enough memory back in 1979 there was a clause that required 40% of eligible voters had to vote Yes for the Scottish Assembly to be created. Although Shetland vote No in 1979 and Scotland did vote Yes the required 40% was not achieved. The other classic error people are making is that the September 2014 vote and June 2016 are linked. They are not, for starters a million less people voted and you cannot assume that 38% for leave is made up exclusively of No voters or that those who voted remain will favour Europe over the UK. Opinion polls may now show that the majority of Scotland now favour an independence that does not mean if another referendum is held it will vote for Scottish independence. However just as the UK can survive economically outside the EU so can Scotland survive outside the rUK.

Governments of all persuasions at both Westminister and Holyrood are probably guilty of not considering any of the Isles at the formation of their core policies. For example when the police service call centres were originally moved to Inverness was when they potentially lost the local knowledge. The same training those in Inverness were given are transferreble to elsewhere on the mainland. All Governments are guilty to varying degrees of the accusation that they centralise too much. Locally SIC are often receive criticism for being too Lerwick centric. WS if they want to win the debate need to concentrate on a positive campaign about the benefits and steer clear of political mud slinging in their message of another way is possible for Shetland.

I presume Wir Shetland would not want SIC to transfer the responsibility for the inter island ferries to the Scottish Government? Currently SIC receive around £6 million directly from the Scottish Government to run the inter island ferry service. The ferries in the Western Isles are directly run by SG arms length company Calmac. I believe WS favour a referendum on whether their should be fixed links or replacement ferries which if it is would be a positive step in the community deciding on a major investment project in the local infrastructure. There is also a sizeable subsidy built in to the Northlink Ferry contract and lessons would appeared to be learned from last tender as Zettrans involved in creating the service provision specification for the new tender. Only £21 billion of the £120 billion spent across the Uk in the NHS is funded form National insurance the rest is paid out of general tax and charges the Government makes. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472142/National_Insurance_Fund_Accounts_Great_Britain_2014_to_2015.pdf In England if you earn more than £16,000 and do not qualify for an exemption you have to pay prescription charges which currently is £8.40 for a single item or for those on long term conditions £29.10 for 3 months or £104 annually. http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/Prescriptioncosts.aspx However prescription charges were not brought in specifically to fund the NHS but to help fund a war. When the NHS was created in 1948 with the vision of providing free healthcare to all at the point of delivery there was no prescription charges. The founder of the NHS quit the Labour Government when they introduced prescription charges. To ask the people of Shetland to support the creation of an independent state/country these two subjects and taxation are areas people will want to know what the alternate other way has to offer over the status quo.

I think I am clear what you want whalsa but googling to find a website rather than a Facebook site I found Wir Shetland website https://wirshetland.org/wp/ Now that appears to be slightly different wanting British Overseas Terrority status. The website lack details and policies about WS vision is for an independent Shetland. I presume all the details will be published by the Spring of 2017 so that the vision and detail of that can be vigorously debated and discussed prior to the SIC elections? For the avoidance of doubt I am not anti WS I want to understand the "why, what and how" of the future before I can decide if the benefits of the argument are made just as we all had to do back in September 2014. The standards bar for level of information for major change have been set.

Rewriting history to support an argument that is weak does no-one any favours. Scotland got its independence referendum because the SNP won the 2011 Holyrood election with an overall majority. Westminister recognised the democratic mandate given to the SNP and agreed via the Edinburgh agreement to the terms of that referendum. The predesent has this been established at Westminister and if the SNP are reelected to Govern Scotland they would have to recognise the mandate given to the duly elected MSP for Shetland. There is no evidence only supposition to the statement that a WS MSP will not be welcomed and respected at Holyrood. Where there is a will there is always away. If something is worthwhile then investing time in achieving that is never a waste. Every journey needs to start with one small tentative step and the world would look remarkably different if those renowned figures from history who stood up to the establishment had not done so. In a democracy were the electorate truely hold their elected representatives to account there will never be a guarantee you are re-elected however the sitting candidate does statistically on past evidence hold a slight advantage. Please remember the Westminister seat takes includes Orkney so would be harder for WS to win. WS have 400 members so no doubt it is conceivable one of them could have the ability and skills to be a fully functioning constituency MSP. The electorate will expect whoever is elected to forfull the full job description and support both constituents who voted for them and those who did not. The problem may appear to be WS is actually not clear upon what powers it wants for Shetland or at least what it will do with these powers if granted and thus unclear upon what to seek a mandate from the electorate? Not sure what WS gains from taking sides on Lib dem / SNP fight when neither will form part of an independent Shetland future. Only sure think is that WS will need to talk to whoever governs Scotland and whoever controls power at Westminister. Unlikely to be the Lib Dems given their current representation at both parliaments and poll ratings.

with due respect I disagree about Wir Shetland not standing a candidate at these election. Firstly to get a referendum you need to prove there is a democratic mandate in Shetland wishing greater autonomy. The only way to do this is through the ballot box. If you believe the hype the re-election of the SNP at holyrood is inevitable, therefore making this election about what is best for Shetland future was an open door. I believe from the media WS have over 400 members so knocking doors and talking to their neighbours about WS message should not be a problem. That costs WS absolutely nothing. The conventional parties do not probably have 400 member between the four of them. You get a free mail shot, you got the two hustings one of which is on the radio, and the local media would have to report press and stories issued by the candidate generate more pubility for the cause. Further as the seat is a marginal the unique addition that a WS candidate standing may of generated publicity outside Shetland and featured on a TV news report as something different. Crowd funding and donations from the public at large is how the referendum campaign was mostly funded in 2014 so if WS do represent people's views then they would donate to the cause to help fund the campaign. If you want something badly enough you find ways to get it done. WS may not have won the seat but they would have had a platform to inform us all about exactly what WS sees the future and a base from which to grow.

Wir Shetland to achieve its aims will need to gain electoral support from the people of Shetland to evidence a clear and democratic mandate to speak for the people of Shetland. If Wir Shetland are a serious movement they are going to have get their hands "dirty" and stand in elections as a political party with the aim to furtherance Shetland's best interest with the ultimate aim of creating an independent country. As much as some comments emanating from WS is SNP bad the reality is both organisations actually have the same principles at heart. One for Scotland as the country requiring more local democracy and the other Shetland. Irrespective of whether political issues stem from Westminister or Holyrood WS should just concentrate on is it in Shetland best interest or not. If they do not the polite message coming from WS is with due respect we do not believe this is Shetland best interest as to address the needs of Shetland we need ............... The need being the positive message about the alternative strategy or plan that address the local needs of Shetland to inform us about possible alternate solutions that address the issue from a Shetland perspective. U.K. and Scottish Government in the long term are not WS solution for Shetland however standing and campaigning to inform those that live here why Shetland autonomy is in my humble opinion the only way for WS to take forward the case. WS made a serious error by not standing in the forthcoming election. Registering a party is not exactly difficult given the numerous groups standing on the list votes across Scotland . Remember it took the SNP 80 years to get a referendum on their principle aim and then failed to convince the majority to support them.

Yes, the United Nations recognises the right of people to claim the right for self determination when this is the clearly expressed free will of the people. http://www.un.org/en/decolonization/declaration.shtml Democratic referendum following an open transparent discussion would be the best way to clearly state that claim of right. Currently unclear how Wir Shetland aim to prove there is a significant democratic support to hold such a referendum. The current election would have given Wir Shetland a platform to inform the Shetland electorate of what was being proposed and the opertunity discuss this via a democratic process including hustings what is the best local governance model for the island.

No. However if you want to be constructive try filling in the Health Board Survey that is running to 30 August 2015. The results will be publically available on 14 September on the Board's website. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PrimaryCareinShetland

Congratulations to Whalsay in retaining the Parish Cup following a hard thought win over Burra this evening. The final score was Whalsay 2 Burra 1 following extra time. Full time score was 1-1 and there was a missed penalty by Whalsay in the second half after Burra had scored in the second half to bring the teams back level.

The normal protocol is that conversations between foreign diplomats and any part of the Government in the UK or the opposition leaders is that it remains strictly private and confidential. The only normal exception is if they make a joint press release. Our MP excuse for a serious breach with tradition was that the content of the memo was in the public interest. Now if that is the case how can you determine it is in the public interest if you have not read it. It is a significant break of protocol to release the memo on the alleged conversation so authorising this without reading it to determine in your own opinion the likely varsity of the public interest test would be a very incompetent and foolish act.

The Guardian in the link below reported that "Carmichael authorised his special adviser to release the memo" http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/22/lib-dem-alistair-carmichael-admits-responsibility-anti-sturgeon-leak-mp-snp-leader-david-cameron If the argument for the release was because it was in the public interest people should know the content of the memo how can you come to that conclusion without having read and undestood what was so important about the content that normal practice of conversations with foreign amdassorers remaining private should be breached?