Seventies were the best of times, Althing decides

A teenager has helped convince over a dozen folk that the seventies were a time when we never had it so good.

Anderson High School pupil Joe Smith, who was never born in the 20th century, made a successful debut appearance at the Lerwick Town Hall on Saturday.

There, he supported the motion that the decade of flared trousers and platform shoes was a time when – as the motion put it – “we never had it so good”.

Joe spoke of the perils of cyberbullying and online scamming in society today.

He spoke of a BBC Panorama programme which highlighted the problem.

“In the 1970s, doing this was quite simply impossible,” he told the audience.

Also speaking for the motion was Ryan Taylor, while against it were Chris Horrix and Iain Souter.

Ms Horrix said the seventies had been a “rocky” decade of “widespread unrest and hardship”.

Mr Souter spoke of the consequences of corporal punishment, and recalled the time he was given the belt in P2 because he did not know the three times table.

The vote before the debate saw seven hands go up in favour of the motion and five against.

Another six people were undecided.

But by the end those who were uncertain had mostly made up their minds.

The final vote went 12-4 for the motion, with only two undecided.