Letters / Cheated and angry
We are drawing close to polling day and I can see some interesting and colourful language and views beginning to come out in the letters page: www.shetnews.co.uk/letters
For what it is worth I thought I would chip into the debate and share what I think in response to some of the views being expressed.
Firstly what did I vote last time: I voted LibDems; chiefly because I consider myself a left of centre democrat.
My views to be honest haven’t changed since I started voting in the 1980s having first voted Labour. In 2010 I voted for the LibDems because I regarded them as more left wing than Labour (which was a wrench to say the least).
But what did I get for this leap of faith…David Cameron as Prime Minister.
I cannot begin to say how cheated and angry I felt (and still feel) about this). I remember the day after the announcement of the Con-Dem Pact I was speaking to a well-known LibDems activist who was almost in tears saying this was going to put the party back 40 years. How right he was. I will never, ever vote LibDems again.
I have always believed in small is beautiful. Despite my left of centre views I have never quite been able to fully agree with the principles of internationalism.
It is too ideologically constrained for me and does not, in my opinion, recognise there are regional variations in how people think, how their lives are affected by geography, climate and natural resources.
We all know living in Shetland poses different problems to say someone living in a city in the south of England. That is not to say we all share common concerns as well and my eyes were opened during last year’s referendum debate as to what this actually means.
Nationalism does not need to be inward looking. In fact it needs to be outward looking. This is what I believe the Yes movement and the SNP advocate.
Government needs to be smaller, be nimble on its feet and adapt quickly to the needs of the people. Britain does not do this anymore. London is the richest region in Northern Europe yet, grotesquely, nine out of 10 of the poorest regions in Northern Europe are in Great Britain.
This have and have not system of ours is broken and has been for some time. It has not been fixed by any of the successive governments run by the main Westminster parties precisely because they are not outward looking or progressive.
I think people now see that despite the colour of the rosette at number 10 the Establishment run the country.
I believe that Scotland has to take the lead in addressing the issue starting on Thursday. I would urge you to vote SNP.
Iain Malcolmson
Nesting
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