David Clark’s father Ian, who is renowned for securing Shetland’s multi-million pound oil funds while chief executive, has made a robust defence of his son, blaming an orchestrated campaign by a “coterie” of people who were determined to uncover faults and failures from his son’s past for his premature departure from the same post.

Shetland Islands Council chief executive David Clark has accepted the tax-free payoff of £250,000 offered to him by councillors and has now left his post amid a mounting public backlash against the decision.

The council is to offer £250,000 to controversial chief executive David Clark in return for his leaving the post, The Shetland Times has learned.

Inter-island ferry fares will have to rise by five per cent, the cost of school meals and meals on wheels will need to be increased by 15p and 20p respectively and an annual charge of £160 must be imposed for children wishing to learn to play musical instruments, if the council is to meet its strict budget targets.

Work on the new bird observatory in Fair Isle is set to be finished by the end of the year – several weeks ahead of schedule.

Viking Energy mislead members of the public with a series of statements in a leaflet about the financial and environmental benefits of its proposed 150-turbine windfarm in central Shetland, Britain’s advertising watchdog has ruled.

BP was blamed by MI5 for the lapse in security which allowed the Provisional IRA to plant a bomb in an attempt to assassinate the Queen at the official opening of the Sullom Voe oil terminal, according to the new authorised history of the service.

Frustration is growing in Shetland and Orkney at the length of time it is taking to carry out much-needed refurbishment work to the Islands Accommodation Unit at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.

Just under half of Shetland’s adult population is opposed to the huge windfarm proposed by Viking Energy, while less than a third is in favour and a fifth remains undecided, according to the results of The Shetland Times opinion poll on the issue.

Director Terence Davies is to attend Shetland’s third film festival, Screenplay, to discuss his work. His most recent film, Of Time and the City, a paean to his home city of Liverpool which has received high critical acclaim around the world, will close the 10-day event.