Letters / Which planet is he on?
How does a former sell-out coalition partner of the most reactionary Tory party and government ever in its history (yes, worse than even Thatcher!) intend to have any influence in relation to the Labour Government, when all this new Lib-Dem colleagues were elected by dedicated Tory voters in the south of England?
C’mon Alistair. Who are you trying to kid? It’s not working on me, pal.
The Lib Dems have no say and no sway especially in Scotland or in fact in the UK. Had he seen the size of the majority under a system he supports. Your new young guns are going to be very hungry for time and influence. Natural selection political style. It’s over for you.
So a whole new group of Tory-Lites – new Lib Dem practitioners. More powers for Shetland? Money for ferries and tunnels? Do you think they will give any credit to you if it comes?
Compared to everywhere else in the UK, we are the second wealthiest local authority after Kensington and Chelsea. The civil service and cabinet know that.
Carmichael asserts he is ‘confident that with a change in the political culture reasonable and rational arguments are more likely to be listened to than in the previous 14 years of Tory rule’.
He was part of that 14 years as Secretary of State for Scotland [between 2013 and 2015] until he blew it. He was irrational and unreasonable. What pure hypocrisy! Has he forgotten? Which planet is he on? This is really scary.
Maybe he is right. Maybe all of Orkney and Shetland has collective amnesia, being very oil, gas, wind, fish, seafood , tourism wealthy with £1.5 billion, roughly, in the collective kitty.
Did you Shetlanders had no idea of the carnage he gave support to, even if tacitly, the devastation of millions of lives, that they tried to blame Labour for. At least Labour borrowed huge amounts before being ousted. There was money. It’s called the Bank of England! They or the Treasury then gave it to the banks to give to us.
But Alistair and his Tory chums stop the banks giving it to us and businesses and builders and mortgage lenders (I know I worked in Skipton building society in 2016). Hence, homelessness, joblessness and deaths they caused.
Anyone reading this, did you walk through central London or any major city 2013-20, pre-Covid, mid-winter, and see the horror of homelessness, joblessness, ill-health, mental health devastation, suicides. All of this at your door Alistair. I suggest with all this time on your hands you read The Black Report 2978/79 to reacquaint yourself with the cost in human life of poverty.
So, Alistair, put your feet up. Standing up in parliament and getting parliamentary time this past five years was of course a complete and utter waste of time.
I’m not forgetting, not forgiving. I lost my job directly because of you and the abolition of federalising England on which I spent eight years of my life. This was you abandoning your own key policy!
Now back to that BT enquiry you said you’d help our neighbourhood association with in Nov 2021. Any news?
James J Paton
Lerwick
