Letters / Shetland deserves better
THE front door closes and there is yet more junk mail on the mat. Top of the pile is someone leading the fight on every issue which affects Shetland; with so many unresolved issues one wonders what has been happening over the last 16 years!
“Leading the fight to get fair ferry fares for Shetland” – really?
I would contend it is Shetland Islands Council doing that. Through Our Islands Our Future along with Orkney and the Western Isles the SIC has managed to gain access at a level within the Scottish Government which is unprecedented, in spite of, rather than supported by anyone purporting to be “leading the fight”.
Additionally, Transport Scotland, ZetTrans, Hitrans, Shetland Islands Council and Orkney Islands Council are meaningfully engaged on all transport issues, be it internal ferries and long term solutions to internal links or external lifeline ferries and air service.
We have an islands minister and an Islands Bill currently being consulted on, again unprecedented.
The nationalist doctrine is not one I subscribe to but more measures fit for Shetland…….yes.
To achieve that one must work with whoever is in power and use the political scene to best advantage.
Lambasting any sitting government belligerently will get us nowhere and, as we can see, you can end up in a political wilderness.
Opportunistic populist politics abounds these days, nowhere more so than in the northern isles. When there is a whiff of possible success on any of the issues there is a scramble to take credit where little or none is due.
Folk aren’t that gullible, past records are plain to see and Shetland deserves better representation in Holyrood than we are getting these days.
By necessity that is someone who understands and will work with the council, not look to score points at their expense or successes.
Billy Fox
Quarff
Shetland
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