Who guards the guards?

Before we know it there will be no democratic link between the people of Shetland and Shetland’s once wealthy charitable trusts.

The public’s right to a say over their oil money will have been taken away by a handful of unelected trustees who haven’t bothered to seek approval for their plan (OSCR seeks public views on charitable trust’s ‘undemocratic’ new governance proposals; SN, 16/01/17).

Any half organised group will be able to take control of the trust and use the money to bankroll their private ventures on the promise of a good hope of success, for as long as they care to. It has happened before and it will happen again.

When history repeats itself again it will be because Shetland’s Liberal Democrats allowed it to happen and Shetland’s other political parties couldn’t be bothered to speak up.

This all begs the ancient question councillor Mortimer Manson was known to ask: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Peter Hamilton
Scalloway