I shall not be sorry if I never have another week like last week. The decision of the council to remove its chief executive with a payoff has caused a reaction among the Shet­land population of the sort that I have never encountered in my time as Member of Parliament.

Off the Spike: The miner’s strike is over and the post-mortem’s started. There is no doubt the miners have suffered great financial loss as a result of their action. Likewise, as a result of going back to work with no coal board agreement not to close “uneconomic pits” a good number of them will lose their jobs.

Smoking Citroën

There’s a new rally car lookalike about to go on the market in the UK based on Citroën’s DS3 hatchback. It’s not just a cosmetic makeover either. There’s a major power boost at the heart of it and the rest of the gear has been upgraded to cope.

Mid Yell Bypass The new road that was intended to ease traffic congestion entering and leaving Mid Yell on the north side continues to cause concern and dissatisfaction.

Boddam SWRI can expect a fascinating evening on Monday, when Tim Noble will be showing two DVDs.

Tim now divides his time between his house in Spiggie and his home in Orkney, where he is a research fellow at Heriot-Watt University. He arrived in Shetland in 1974, as project manager for the first runway improvement at Sumburgh Airport.

This weekend Shetland Film Club is showing a double matinee at the Muckle Roe Hall.

Doors open at 2.30pm on Sunday and the first film, Simmer Dim, begins at 3pm. This is a documentary shot by the Home Mission Unit in 1953 and features footage of Shetland in the 1950s. There will then be a break of at least a half an hour before the showing of the next film at approximately 4.30pm.

There were bumper whitefish landings once again in Scalloway harbour, with a near record 3,639 boxes landed in the week to Friday. The week started with landings from four boats totalling over 850 boxes and the week progressed with consistently good landings each day.

March is the month of changes. The first change occurs at 5.32pm on the 20th and is the Vernal Equinox when the Sun comes north of the equator in the sky.

Nights become shorter so you have to stay up later to see the stars and eventually we get the consolation of the Simmer Dim – even if astronomy is difficult at that time.

Bigton artist Paul Bloomer lives in a croft house which he restored himself and turned into the family home that he shares with his wife and two daughters.

Yell Community Council is short of two members. George Nisbet from Mid Yell resigned last year because he found it very difficult to attend meetings on a regular basis. I resigned too because of our move to North Roe.