Due South - Mark Entwistle


Thursday, February 1, 2007
Community \| Obits \| Editorial & Columnists \| Society \| Sports \| Education \| Classified Ads \| Calendar of Events \| Features \| Newsbriefs \| Legals \| Archives \| Subscriptions \| Photo Gallery

Due South
By Mark Entwistle
The Southern Reporter
Selkirk, The Borders Scotland

Leading retailer in Scotland intends to ‘go green’

Newark Castle
Newark Castle sits on the south shore of the Firth of Clyde. It was built in 1478. (A firth is an inlet, bay or ford of a body of water.)

Climate change is the current hot topic and quite rightly too.

When you’ve still got butterflies flitting about your garden and flowers are blooming in December, something’s gone a bit crazy.

Over here in the UK, the big news on the climate front is that one of our leading retail chains - Marks & Spencer - says it intends spending millions of pounds to go completely ‘green’ and environmentally friendly.

This is forcing other major retailers and supermarkets, such as Tesco and Asda - this latter one is a subsidiary of Wal-Mart - to start following suit.

Whether this is from a genuine concern for the planet, or whether it’s a genuine concern to make sure they rake in their share of profits from consumers who spend their cash on ‘green’ products, is open to question.

But it does not matter, as long as it has the desired effect. Even here in our small part of Scotland, environmental issues are on the agenda.

Our local government - Scottish Borders Council - last week called a photocall for the official signing of its climate control pledge.

Let’s hope it’s all not too little too late and that we can at least halt things getting any worse.

I was beginning to worry that this winter was going to be wet and mild, although we have had some violent storms thanks to a jetstream pushing a stormfront across the Atlantic at a rapid rate of knots.

It saw 10 people killed in the UK last week as a result, mostly from drivers crashing into fallen trees.

At least last week also brought some proper traditional Scottish winter weather with our first snowfalls of the year and very picturesque it was too.

I have also sent a photograph from our paper of last week, which shows Newark Castle - just about five or six miles from where I am writing this in our office in Selkirk - covered in the first snows.

Newark Castle, which dates from 1465, belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch and is on his Bowhill Estate on the outskirts of Selkirk.

Over the last 12 months, a restoration project has been underway to try to make the castle stonework a bit more secure.

Let’s hope future generations will still be able to enjoy seeing its mighty battlements covered in winter snows.

Report News: (662) 252-4261 or south@dixie-net.com
Questions, comments, corrections: south@dixie-net.com
©2004, The South Reporter, All Rights Reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced in any way without permission.
The South Reporter is a member of the Mississippi Press Association.

Web Site managed and maintained by
South Reporter webmasters Linda Jones, Kristian Jones
Web Site Design - The South Reporter

Back | Top of Page