No man is an island
John Tulloch (SIC should declare fuel poverty emergency; SN, 17 January 2020) has once again reminded me of the beautiful 400 year old poem by John Donne: No man is an island
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Perhaps it has escaped John Tulloch’s attention that people, coastlines and climates are linked.
Shetland’s fate does not exist in isolation. There is no either or when it comes to global warming, the fuel poor and the oil terminal next door.
Peter Hamilton
Sundibanks
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