Letters / False polls
Can anyone give something they don’t have?
Both the Shetland Times and Shetland News are currently running polls asking for votes on whether Shetland should seek more autonomy.
The Shetland Times asks, “Should Shetland seek greater independence along similar lines to Faroe?” and Shetland News asks “Should more powers be handed over to Shetland?
Both polls beg the questions “Can anyone give Shetland greater independence?” and “Can anyone hand Shetland any more powers?”
The first question in any negotiation on ‘more autonomy’ must be “Do you have what we are asking for?”
Neither the UK nor Scotland can show they have any legitimate authority to give to Shetland. They certainly appear to rule here, but any authority is based on mere presumption, backed by nothing at all.
That may come as a surprise and certainly runs against what looks like the reality, but what really matters is what the law says. Scots law (on which everything here is run) says that sovereignty is the same as land ownership.
The Crown does not and cannot own Shetland because it is owned by Shetlanders. Over 550 years of patient deception cannot overturn the law.
The fact that ministers, lairds and sheriffs over the centuries have (and do) pretend to work under the authority of a monarch who did not have it to give, does not make that authority real, it is only a presumption – long and widely held, but still only a presumption. Because we own the land, we are sovereign in our own right – by their definition.
We can choose whatever relationship they wish with any other country – or none. The reality, which nobody seems to want to confront, is that we already have all the autonomy we could wish for.
Freedom of Information requests reveal that no organisation pretending to have authority here holds information showing that the Crown owns Shetland or that Shetland is part of Scotland. Most of those proposing ‘more autonomy’ hold positions that rely on the preservation of the existing system, so what they offer is a sop. They have no interest in upsetting their political masters.
Every time we ask for ‘more autonomy’, the UK and Scotland laugh up their sleeves. They’re thinking; “Those stupid people still haven’t realised. Just carry on, give them a few sops and they’ll think they’ve gained something. Don’t say a word.”
Shetland does not need more autonomy. It cannot be given more autonomy because, by the definition in Scots law, we already have total autonomy, total sovereignty.
If we keep asking for something, we only reinforce the presumption that we don’t already have it. It may not look like it, but those in power are exercising authority they do not have (and bending the rules to keep it).
They are not going to tell you, neither is the SIC or anyone else with their snouts in the trough. Forget all the wishful thinking. We already have what we need – we only have to stand up and ask “Do you have what we want?” Not too difficult, is it?
Stuart Hill
Cunningsburgh
Note from the editor:
Stuart was one of the first to respond to our ‘false poll’ making very much the same points he does here.
The survey is still open until Friday (see link below).
So far, we have received almost 300 responses. We are aiming to report back with some of the results by the end of next week.
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