Spreading gloom deliberately

Neil Grant, Shetland Islands Council’s development director, talks about the imminent and real threat to Shetland’s prosperity on leaving Europe (Immigration vital to keep isles economuy afloat; SN, 07/02/17).

Yet again we have someone deliberately spreading gloom and anxiety around Shetland and increasing the already considerable fears of our immigrant friends with his ignorant comment.

He somehow seems utterly indifferent to the multitude of other immigrant peoples who make up our diverse community. Many races and peoples who have absolutely no connection to the EU also form a very welcome part of our community…

Not a single reference, for example, to our Commonwealth, Gurkha, Thai, Chinese, African, Indian, Pakistani and South American friends! Why is that? Are they outside Neil’s Europhile bubble? These are the very peoples that the EU has discriminated against for years!

Then we have the usual babble from our disingenuous friend, Ali Carmichael, “he urges the UK government to give a unilateral guarantee to those EU nationals already living in this country.”

He utterly ignores the fact it was EU leaders, not the UK, that blocked a multilateral agreement, to guarantee domiciliary rights of all EU nationals!

Finally, “The SIC has confirmed that it is planning to use the Our Islands Our Future (OIOF) mechanism to lobby the UK Government, and Carmichael added that he was ready to make the islands’ case.”

Enough said, OIOF in four years has achieved not one thing of benefit to Shetland or her peoples.

Full autonomy is the way forward. Then we can look after all our peoples, clear of the politically correct Europhile hypocrites and the self-confessed disingenuous MP.

I for one welcome immigrants from wherever they come subject to their wishing to be equitable contributors of our society.

One must, however, remember Shetland is quite small, there has to be a limit on numbers and that has to be the democratic choice of the Shetland people, not Brussels, Westminster or Edinburgh.

Ian Tinkler
Clousta