Of my various parliamentary com­mit­ments, my role as the Liberal Democrat front bench spokesman on Northern Ireland is one which in normal circumstances does not demand too much of my time. In terms of parliamentary and press activity it is fair to say that my main role as shadow secretary of state for Scotland is…

Visitors to my office in the House of Commons can see framed copies of the ballot papers from the general elections of 2001 and 2005. They are not, of course, proper ballot papers but copies of the large specimen papers that are displayed in polling stations. I keep them for a number of reasons, mostly…

In general terms I think that laws to prevent the exploitation of workers by employers are a good thing.

It must be wrong, for example, that BMW can sack workers who have been in their employment for four or five years with just one hour’s notice simply because they are “agency workers”. Agency work­ing is…

Invitations to show your support for this cause, that one or the other drop into my mailbag on a fairly regular basis. Most of them are politely declined, while a few are accepted.

One I accepted recently was to sign the Holocaust Educational Trust’s book of remem­brance for Holocaust Memorial Day.

I was glad I…

There was no politics on Tuesday of this week. Sure, the House of Commons sat as usual, the House of Lords were there and the Scottish Parliament did its stuff, but it all passed largely unnoticed. The only real politics was happening in Washington as Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the…

THE SMALL town of Sderot lies just inside Israel on the border with Gaza. From it you can see Gaza City and every day the townspeople of Sderot see the Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip streaking across the sky towards their town.

Sderot is a town that is quite literally terrorised. It is…

THE HOOPER Review of postal delivery market which was pub­lished last week did not make pleasant reading. The Royal Mail (the delivery network as opposed to the Post Offices) has yo-yoed in and out of profit in recent years. Since the opening up of the letter market to private sector competition it has haemorrhaged business…

I HAVE a confession to make. Many years ago, while a trainee soli­citor working at the Crown Office in Edinburgh, I “leaked” to Jim Wallace the outrageous cost of the new cur­tains in the Lord Advocate’s office.

I can’t now remember what the figure was but I do recall that it was thousands rather than…

THE LIFE of a member of parlia­ment may be many things but no-one could ever suggest that it lacks variety.

That thought came to me last Thursday as I listened to my friend, human rights lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, and newscaster John Snow talk about the campaign to close the US camp at Guantanamo Bay.

The…

FROM time to time my mailbag produces invitations to embassy parties. Never having been a great lover of Ferrero Rocher most of these get politely declined.

I did, however, make one ex­ception to that last week when the US ambassador requested the plea­sure of my company at an election night party. It was always going…

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SHETLAND

Thursday, 29 July 2010 at 11:25

HEADLINES

TODAY: PATCHY DRIZZLE, BRIGHTER SPELLS
TONIGHT: CLOUDY, SOME DRIZZLE
TOMORROW: SOME BRIGHTNESS, RAIN LATER
DAYS 2-5: RAIN THEN SCATTERED SHOWERS
DAYS 6-10: CHANGEABLE

What’s on in Shetland in July 2010

What’s on in Shetland in August 2010 and on