Mark Scratchmann's experience of the Northern Isles is very different from mine. Like him though, I am perplexed by the reaction. Everything and everywhere gets satirised at some time, and most are worth the effort some time. Orkney to me is a place with a high quality Festival, high quality arts and crafts, high quality literature, and high quality food. I don't want to sound like Visit Orkney but this is how it is to me.
Shetland is similar and for a high quality travel book about the islands I recommend Between Weathers: Travels In 21st Century Shetland by Ron McMillan.
Shetland Bus, Highland
Mr Scratchmann is clearly a "glass half-full" person, and that sure
ly is his undoing. I have spent time in both Shetland and Orkney, travelling extensively through both sets of islands, and I don't recognise the islands that Scratchmann has apparently experienced. Sure the islands live in something of a time-warp, but instead of dismissing that aspect of island life with contempt, another, equally valid view is to see it as a strength.
Instead of concentrating on the negatives, if the author was to focus upon the very real community values and community benefits that both sets of islands enjoy, then he might not only have a better book – he might actually have a book at all.
Shetland and Orkney are wonderful places whose communities are well aware of how much they benefit from incomers from outwith the islands.
Proper Job
I'd reckon the folk who would have laughed the loudest at this book would be the Orcadians. They'd probably recognise some of the characters in the book and have a good wee chuckle.
Pilrig, Livingston
I was talking to an old acquaintance on a Scottish island recently about the huge numbers of incomers. He summed up their lack of integration into the communities by telling me that they never attended funerals, even those of their neighbours.
Mark Scratchmann is one of these people who would not understand a community's value as he has never seen it in his life, coming from his sheltered background.
Rob Royston, Bishopbriggs
I suspect we would have laughed more at him than the Orcadians, which makes it a pity that the book has been suppressed.
Observer, Glasgow
