For me, the most depressing thing about the growth of Tesco in Shetland is not the threat the company poses to local businesses, to consumer choice and to the local economy, nor the fact that they have, apparently, outsmarted the council’s planning department with an application that gave them free reign to do whatsoever they wished. No, for me, the most depressing thing has been the response to these developments from the general public.

If the Queen lands on Fair Isle on her way north to Lerwick, she will be the first member of the Royal Family to do so for 175 years.

It was in 1785 that H.R.H. Prince William, third son of George III and later William the IV landed on the island. Today the population is only about one fifth of what it was on the former visit but she will find most of the islanders going about their daily tasks and the young men will not be hiding in the cliffs.

This is my last Media Matters column. The reason for this is simple. As from August (this is written in July) the Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company Limited will start to operate, although the radio station won’t be on the air before the end of the year.
Since I have a large shareholding in the firm it would be unreasonable for me to comment on other media and on the SIBC and expect to be regarded as objective (if ever I was).

Is it worthwhile continuing a free reading room in the county library headquarters? There was a divergence of opinion at the annual meeting of the Feuars and Heritors of Lerwick on Wednesday afternoon, when there was a suggestion that the grant to the reading room should be cut by half.

When I was a child, listening to the Foula folk counting kin, one name that often cropped up was that of Jean Jack. It seemed to me that name was pronounced with an air of satisfied finality and since all family trees appeared to lead back to her, I grew up with the impression that she was the Foula equivalent of Adam and Eve.

It seems that after years of hesitation the council may finally be pressing ahead with school closures in the islands.

This month, hundreds of Shetlanders and Shetland families from across the world will be arriving in the islands to take part in the Hamefarin celebrations, 50 years after the first such event (see James W. Irvine’s article).

The occasion is a useful reminder of just how much things have changed here since the days when many thousands of islanders were forced to emigrate, often to the other side of the world, escaping poverty and hardship, leaving behind family, friends and homes. Today Shetland is a prosperous community, with jobs, opportunities and amenities. Today people leave only through choice, not necessity.

Huxter,
23rd March, 1864.

My Dear Cousin,

I write you these few lines to let you know that we are all in our usual good health, and thank God, and I hope you and your husband and dear child are enjoying the same blessings.

THREE B.B.C. T.V. experts arrived for Hamefarin – but without any equipment. They just wanted “to have a look at it so we can do it properly in 1961”!

As though the havoc wreaked by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano last month were not enough to convince us, two more disastrous events have since unfolded that demonstrate precisely how vulnerable we in the West have allowed ourselves to become.

A former Lerwick optician is suing his estranged wife and erstwhile business partner for more than £800,000, claiming that her actions after they went their separate ways six years ago effectively left him out of work.

New SIC chief executive Alistair Buchan came face to face with all councillors this week for the first time since taking up the post for what he described as “very positive” initial discussions about how to react to major criticisms in the Accounts Commission’s recent report on the local authority.

Multiple Grammy winner Steve Earle, the outspoken singer-song­writer responsible for a host of classic Americana songs including Copperhead Road, Guitar Town and Galway Girl, will be stopping off in Lerwick next Thursday for a re-arranged show at Clickimin.