Good idea gone wrong

Councillor Amanda Westlake and others were absolutely correct to resign from Wir Shetland.

This group had said from the start that they were not a political party and all people from all parties were welcome. This, of course, has turned out to be nonsense.

They have actively and openly supported Tavish Scott, without allowing their members the opportunity for a democratic vote in whether or not to support the LibDems.

For as long as I can recall we’ve been subjected to the daily rantings of just how bad the SNP Scottish government are, whether from Tavish, (honest) Ali C, or the ‘usual suspects’ on ST/SN forums.

It is far easier to deflect from the LibDems own inadequacies than it is to show what little has been achieved by them.

The Wir Shetland group initially seemed like a good idea, fighting for the betterment of their community and working together to benefit these islands, while at the same time giving Shetland a real voice to those that have the power to make real changes.

However, the bizarre notion that by aligning yourself with a dying political party – both in Scotland and the rUK – is beyond understanding?

The perfect opportunity to ask, and to make their case, came with the recent visit from first minister Nicola Sturgeon: a Q&A session was available to whoever chose to take part.

Surely if Wir Shetland were serious about ‘improving and speaking up on behalf of Shetland’, did it never occur to anyone from Wir Shetland that it may be a pretty good idea to attend?

So not only have we the LibDems continuing to snipe from the sidelines while achieving nothing (as they’ve done for the last 66 years), not only do we have their foot soldiers doing all the arguing on their behalf, but now we’ve got the ‘new kid on the block’ doing ‘exactly’ what the LibDems have been doing for decades?

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Wir Shetland made sense, and credit is due to Mr Tulloch for launching it in the first place.

Sadly, what started as a good idea has been now been overshadowed by infighting, boycotting and associating itself with a political party that has had to do very little in order to retain their last stronghold in Scotland.

Robin Stevenson
Milngavie
Glasgow