Euro blah, blah, blah (Vic Thomas)

Listening to all the claptrap from the sitting and wannabe MSPs associated with the Scottish parliamentary elections, I come to the conclusion that one would need to be brain dead not to see that Shetland voters face a real political dilemma.

Shetland in the EU is like a flea on the backside of a bigger flea that’s on the backside of an elephant. Ever since the UK signed up to the world’s most expensive con trick, the UK has lost control over its own affairs on an ever increasing slide, far greater than other EU states who stand up occasionally and say no.

On top of this we are contributing billions of pounds more than we ever see back; in fact the amount that the UK has contributed over the years is so big, that if we had kept it we would have no borrowing deficit, despite the best efforts of the rogue bankers.

The EU is the prime European dictator. Westminster rubber stamps its directives without question and instructs Holyrood, Belfast and Cardiff which at best can only tinker with toy-town/play-school parliaments that cost the taxpayer far more than any value we get back.

EU state aid rules have nothing to do with fairness or democracy. They are a one-size-fits-all tool safeguarding the jobs of the 10,000-plus bureaucrats, translating all the new rules (rubbish) into all the different languages, who then go on to treat communities like Burra, Barra or Benbecula exactly the same as Barcelona, Berlin or Birmingham. It is no wonder the tsunami of rules, regulations and associated costs are shutting down the viability and sustainability of islands and remote or rural communities.

Until small places such as the Scottish islands, the remote or rural communities within the UK have significantly more say in the things that can and cannot work in their environments, it matters not who or what party we vote for as none of them have any real say or influence on the first flea never mind the second one. The Lib-Cons and all the other parties need Shetland far more than we need them.

I am totally convinced that in years to come when islands such as Shetland are too expensive to subsidise, mainly because the things that worked well here have been outlawed by the EU and rubber-stamped by Westminster (Play Skool Parliament Holyrood will have no say on any of this) we will be moved to Aberdeenshire or somewhere like that, where we can fit into a “recognised scale of economy” and Shetland will become a bird sanctuary.

Shetland’s only real future lies in its ties with our geographic and climatically challenged neighbours despite the fishing wars, which is just another of the hundreds of EU-inspired conflicts.

So back to the election!

Every vote in Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles and the whole of the north of Scotland is a completely wasted vote because we have no say in the system that actually affects us and I take my hat off to those that choose not to vote because they recognise the whole rotten sham.

It is a shame that it might take a real low or mass non-turnout to get the notice of our so called “elected representatives” and deal with the issues from the EU that are choking us to death in a swamp of rules, regulations, licences and their associated costs.

As an incomer who has been here in Shetland for 35 years I’m amazed beyond belief that Shetland folk who are so close to their traditions and environment that has kept them going for so long, can roll over so easily to the destruction of their ways by the EU and Westminster, in the relentless pursuit of European harmonisation, euro tatties, euro sheep, euro fish, euro seaweed, euro soap, euro water, euro blah, blah, blah.

The real political issue here is what Shetland needs is more control over its own affairs such as our local fishing grounds, our local agriculture, local investment free from state aid rules, freedom and encouragement to do things that work here even if it doesn’t work in Berlin or Bradford, and a total scrapping of all the rules that only work for businesses that have a thousand folk walk past their doors every day and can trade 365 days a year.

While I love the fact that the SNP is focused on Scotland, it’s a wasted vote at present. UKIP is the only party which recognises the utter destruction that has befallen the UK as a net contributor to the most corrupt and undemocratic system that is the United State Of Europe.

Vic Thomas
Clousta.