Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 19:33:55 GMT
Also, according to Google maps, Thurso station is 141.73km from the nearest point within the constituency whilst Bergen's station 332.54km from its nearest point within the Shetland constituency.
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Post by johnloony on Jun 26, 2019 19:36:49 GMT
Why was there a significant Independent candidate in 2011 (Billy Fox, came 2nd with 30% of the votes)? Might he stand again?
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Post by timrollpickering on Jun 26, 2019 19:41:39 GMT
Oh and on the trains, surely Thurso is the nearest station to the constituency? It includes Fair Isle. Bergen, at least according to Jo Grimond  Either he was being dodgy with the forms or perhaps he was referring to a constituency home further north? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 19:44:00 GMT
Why was there a significant Independent candidate in 2011 (Billy Fox, came 2nd with 30% of the votes)? Might he stand again? Because it's Shetland. |
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Post by timrollpickering on Jun 26, 2019 19:47:31 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 19:49:24 GMT
Oh and on the trains, surely Thurso is the nearest station to the constituency? It includes Fair Isle. There's an apocryphal tale that when parliamentary travel expenses were being allocated, on the (then, at least) standard question of the nearest station to his constituency home, Jo Grimond gave the answer of Bergen. Grimond's constituency home was actually in Orkney, and although the spread of the story was down to him, it didn't actually refer to himself. Allegedly, one of his first pieces of casework was from an ex-soldier constituent in northern Shetland, who was sanctioned after giving that answer upon the end of his WWII deployment. However, it is indeed the case that Thurso railway station (which existed back then as well) is nearer than Bergen - even in the outermost reaches of the archipelago, although it does get close (Skaw is ~180 miles from Thurso and ~210 miles from Bergen). EDIT: Although I admit it was a niche reference, a Google search of "Jo Grimond Bergen" does yield a lot of relevant results. |
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Eastwood
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Post by Eastwood on Jun 26, 2019 19:53:42 GMT
Bergen, at least according to Jo Grimond Either he was being dodgy with the forms or perhaps he was referring to a constituency home further north? He was making a sarcastic point because the parliamentary authorities had little understanding of the difficulties of getting to Shetland and had been complaining about his costs. Thurso is closer to all of the constituency than Bergen. Bergen is the closest major city though. Sadly the Smyril Line hasn’t called in Lerwick or Bergen for quite a few years now so there’s no easy connection these days. |
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Post by owainsutton on Jun 26, 2019 19:55:12 GMT
Will the Brexit Party bother to make an appearance? If they do then I wonder what they'll say about postal votes. Before the derestriction, one of the longest permitted reasons for having a postal vote was if a voter would otherwise need to cross water to get to a polling station. This is a situation that never appears on the standard "Only valid reasons!" list that anti-PV campaigners shout out, yet in a constituency with many inhabited islands, some quite small and not all having polling places of their own, this would have applied quite a bit before the relaxation in 2001. As an example, a glance at a past SOPN shows that the polling station for Fetlar was in Sellafirth on Yell and this may not be the only case. If nothing else it would make for a great YouTube hit to see a visiting Brexit Party campaigner telling postal voters in Fetlar that they don't need them and they just need to get better at managing their time around the ferry timetable to nip over and vote in person. (Note the ferry goes to Gutcher, not Sellafirth which is a couple of kilometres away.) Oh and on the trains, surely Thurso is the nearest station to the constituency? It includes Fair Isle. If it's one of the Thursdays when the Fair Isle ferry goes to Lerwick, it'd be a thirteen-hour round trip, ten of them at sea, most of the rest spent getting down to Dunrossness to vote and back again. Or in on the morning flight, out on the evening one, which narrows it down to about a 9-to-5 day. Then there's Foula, where the ferry to Walls is exceptionally weather-dependent....indeed I wonder how reliable even postal voting is for residents there in the case of a winter-months poll, given that they can be totally cut off for weeks at a time. RAF helicopter?! www.shetland.gov.uk/elections/documents/EPE-Notice-of-situation-of-polling-stations.pdf |
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peterl
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Post by peterl on Jun 26, 2019 20:02:56 GMT
Of course the sensible answer would be more polling stations. There was an article on the BBC site during the recent Australian elections about offiicials visiting even the smallest and remotest of communities with mobile ballot boxes. Surely something to be considered for places like the Shetlands?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 20:06:37 GMT
Of course the sensible answer would be more polling stations. There was an article on the BBC site during the recent Australian elections about offiicials visiting even the smallest and remotest of communities with mobile ballot boxes. Surely something to be considered for places like the Shetlands? India do something very similar. However, I reject the premise that widespread access to the option of a postal vote is in any way an issue. |
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Post by owainsutton on Jun 26, 2019 20:15:43 GMT
Of course the sensible answer would be more polling stations. There was an article on the BBC site during the recent Australian elections about offiicials visiting even the smallest and remotest of communities with mobile ballot boxes. Surely something to be considered for places like the Shetlands? India do something very similar. However, I reject the premise that widespread access to the option of a postal vote is in any way an issue. Likewise. However, the ability to decide one's mind right up until polling day is an important factor that "oh, they can vote by post" does somewhat overlook. Goodness knows what the cost would be of providing polling stations on all such islands, though. Overnight accommodation for staff, etc.!! Australia is different for two reasons: geographic remoteness on a whole different scale again, but also compulsory voting, which places a greater moral obligation on the administration to provide accessible polling places. |
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cogload
Lib Dem
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Post by cogload on Jun 26, 2019 20:22:07 GMT
Why was there a significant Independent candidate in 2011 (Billy Fox, came 2nd with 30% of the votes)? Might he stand again? Viking Energy and windfarms. |
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Post by carlton43 on Jun 26, 2019 21:53:36 GMT
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Post by carlton43 on Jun 26, 2019 21:57:15 GMT
Not sure of the party rules for ensuring a female candidate is selected for the defending party or not? By-elections might well be different to selecting a new candidate for an all out election but surely this is a great opportunity to bring a bit of gender diversity to the LD group at Holyrood? I didn't know you were an institutionally sexist party. When did that happen? |
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Post by timrollpickering on Jun 26, 2019 22:21:42 GMT
Of course the sensible answer would be more polling stations. Some of the islands have extremely small populations, and presumably even smaller electorates, that a dedicated polling station seems excessive & costly. If the Wikipedia list is at all accurate, eight islands each have less than 100 inhabitants, five of then 50 or less and one has just two people on it. There comes a point at which you have to say that travel or postal are the only options. (IIUC the old rule correctly it didn't just apply to islands but also detached parts of districts and seats that were on the other side of rivers or estuaries, either because of medieval tax arrangements or the boundary drawers doing strange things.) |
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Post by edgbaston on Jun 26, 2019 22:44:52 GMT
Why are Orkney and Shetland separated for the Scottish Parliment, I see no reason with regards to population
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2019 22:58:10 GMT
Why are Orkney and Shetland separated for the Scottish Parliment, I see no reason with regards to population I was just pondering this earlier, perhaps purely for geographic reasons? |
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jun 26, 2019 23:58:12 GMT
(IIUC the old rule correctly it didn't just apply to islands but also detached parts of districts and seats that were on the other side of rivers or estuaries, either because of medieval tax arrangements or the boundary drawers doing strange things.) What, falling out of the dresser, or getting stuck halfway in, that sort of thing?  |
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Post by yellowperil on Jun 27, 2019 0:48:08 GMT
(IIUC the old rule correctly it didn't just apply to islands but also detached parts of districts and seats that were on the other side of rivers or estuaries, either because of medieval tax arrangements or the boundary drawers doing strange things.) What, falling out of the dresser, or getting stuck halfway in, that sort of thing? falling down at embarrassing moments? |
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neilm
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Post by neilm on Jun 27, 2019 5:42:33 GMT
Either he was being dodgy with the forms or perhaps he was referring to a constituency home further north? He was making a sarcastic point because the parliamentary authorities had little understanding of the difficulties of getting to Shetland and had been complaining about his costs. Thurso is closer to all of the constituency than Bergen. Bergen is the closest major city though. Sadly the Smyril Line hasn’t called in Lerwick or Bergen for quite a few years now so there’s no easy connection these days. Isn't Smyril partly owned by Shetland Council? Or maybe the Shetland Charitable Trust? |
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