The letter The Orcadian refused to print

[To put this letter in context, both the gentlemen named are very regular contributors to the said newspaper’s Postbag.]

If —

A long time ago I used to be like them, Leslie Sinclair and Jim Leitch.  I would write letters to the newspaper (although not quite on their industrial scale) criticising Orkney Islands Council and questioning councillors’ decisions.

But then I was elected to the Council and became a councillor.  I quickly learned (and a salutary lesson it was) about the constraints under which the Council has to operate, our responsibilities to manage Orkney’s reserves prudently, the difficult decisions councillors have to make (sometimes requiring the Wisdom of Solomon), and the frustrations we have to bear. 

I also learned to be unappreciated, demoralised and discouraged, and how to soldier on in the face of unwarranted criticism based on misunderstanding, misinformation and occasionally malice.  Yet (in common with my colleagues) I willingly put up with all of this because my priority is my duty to do my utmost for the people of Orkney and be an effective advocate for my ward. 

To misquote Rudyard Kipling:

If you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, 
If you can trust yourself when all folk doubt you, 
But make allowance for their doubting too; 
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, 
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, 
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; 
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; 
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster 
And treat those two impostors just the same; 
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken 
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, 
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, 
If all folk count with you, but none too much; 
If you can work within the unforgiving budget 
And keep all services running ’til year end, 
Yours is School Place and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Councillor, my friend!

I give all credit to Leslie for having stood for the Council, and I look forward to seeing Jim do the same.  If they ever do get elected, of one thing I can be sure:  they will be in for a healthy dose of reality!

CLLR DR STEPHEN CLACKSON
(Councillor for the North Isles Ward)
West Manse, Sanday