Shetland’s Most Wanted

Daniel Shailer embeds with the tiny separatist group “Shetland First,” whose members believe the Shetland Islands were never legitimately ceded to Scotland. Its 83‑year‑old leader, Stuart Hill—shipwreck survivor, serial litigant, self‑proclaimed weather‑controller—is such a compelling eccentric that Shailer ends up as absorbed in Hill’s own story as in the broader currents of populism on these remote isles. Previously, Hill has focused on relatively esoteric points of history and legalese. Now, on the advice of his chief campaign advisor, ChatGPT, he is meeting people where they are: should council tax go up while official salaries get bumped? Is it fair to live in fuel poverty at the footsteps of Britain’s largest onshore wind farm? ‘There are all these injustices, and once you read the history, you can see a basic injustice,’ Hill says. ‘Everybody seems to be kind of comfortable with it, but at the same time there’s a basic undercurrent of dissatisfaction.’ More picks on Scotland The Ferry Boat Children “For the children of south Mull, secondary school means leaving home age eleven. Their parents’ silence was never consent.” The Sea Eagles That Returned to Mull “Almost 50 years ago, conservationists reintroduced white-tailed eagles to Scotland. It’s gone well. Some say too well.” A Funeral for Fish and Chips: Why are Britain’s Chippies Disappearing? “Plenty of people will tell you the East Neuk of Fife in Scotland is the best place in the world to eat fish and chips. So what happens when its chippies—and chippies across the UK—start to close?” The Obsessive Life and Mysterious Death of the Fisherman Who Discovered The Loch Ness Monster “A humble Scotsman saw something strange in the water — and daringly set out to catch it — only to have lecherous out-of-towners steal his fame and upend his quest.” I Ran Away To a Remote Scottish Isle. It Was Perfect “Crowded out of the city by noise and stress, I embraced the wild solitude of a Hebridean island – and found a connection to nature.”