A rallying call has been made for a fuel lobby group to be established which will stand up to high prices. Owner of Tagon Stores, Scott Preston, says the time is right for someone to lead a protest organisation similar to Fair Fuel Solutions in the Western Isles where fuel is supplied by the same company as Shetland and similar high costs are endured by islanders. Mr Preston took a stand against high prices last year when he and his wife Phoebe slashed ...
NewsThe Scottish government has advised local authorities that they should avoid consulting on school closures while a commission on the future of rural education finalises its recommendations. It comes after the Olnafirth Parent Council this week criticised the SIC for leaving its school under threat of closure while it conducts a wholesale review of all schools in Shetland. Consultation on shutting the primary school at Olnafirth had been due to take place last autumn before education minister Mike Russell imposed a year-long moratorium on all rural closures last summer. The SIC had planned to set out a timetable for consulting on the closure at the end of this month, but the government’s new advice may force the local authority into a rethink. A Scottish...
NewsPeople in Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles are among the most satisfied with life, according to the government’s first national study into well-being. The three island groups had the lowest percentages of folk with low or very low life satisfaction ratings (14.8 per cent) and the highest average rating for life satisfaction (8.1 out of 10) in the survey by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), followed by people in Rutland, Anglesey, Wiltshire and West Berkshire. By contrast, people in Blackpool, County Durham, Swansea, Blaenau Gwent and North Ayrshire were among the least happy. The ONS also found that people who are married, have jobs and own ...
NewsJul 21 2012 By Douglas Alexander, Shadow Foreign Secretary syria douglas alexander Image 2 AS the world comes to together to celebrate the Olympics, we must not forget those trapped far away from the festivities. The suffering and tragedy the residents of the small Syrian village of Tarmesh have endured in recent days will likely make them doubt if they will ever be able to celebrate or rejoice again. In Tarmesh, 150 innocent people including women and children were massacred – many shot in the head at close range. The pictures were harrowing and the reality of the slaughter was unimaginable. While it is Syrian president Bashar Assad’s actions which left the streets of Tarmesh stained with blood, a dark cloud of blame will now hang over Beijing and Moscow. Their decision to veto this week’s UN Security Council...
NewsMay 16 2012 salmon Image 1 A FISH farm operator hopes to create 100 new jobs in an £80million expansion of their Scottish operation. Norway-based Marine Harvest already run 38 farms in Scotland, supporting about 460 jobs. Chairman Ole-Eirik Leroy said: "With people eating more salmon and the need to sustainably increase our production, we believe that further...
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