DID you know that motorists who use a mobile phone while driving are four times more likely to crash, injuring or killing themselves and/or other people?


This sobering statistic alone ought to be enough to put the brakes on such irresponsible behaviour. Unfortunately not. Scores of Teries continue to break the law on a daily basis, and, clearly exacerbated by the problem, Inspector John Scott is this week steering towards taking a far tougher line on those who persist in driving while on the phone.

Hammering home his message in this week's paper, Inspector Scott said: “Speaking on the phone while driving could cost you your life, or the life of someone else."

So you have been warned. If you're not prepared to pack in this dangerous habit, you'll either end up dead, injuring or killing someone else or, at the very least, with a £60 fine and three penalty points.

Is it really worth the risk . . .?

HAWICK has been rocked to the core this week over claims that the poison of match-fixing has seeped into the local football scene.

Splattered all over the front pages of local and national papers, news of the illegal betting probe which has centred on Royal Albert FC’s Scottish Cup tie against Huntly has not only cast the club in a dreadful light but also put Hawick’s sporting integrity on the line.

Also on the line is the very future of a once-proud club, a club that was once a force to be reckoned with, and a club that once attracted the cream of Hawick’s footballers.

It seems pride has gone out of the window, with the team no longer commanding any respect, and the town’s best players avoiding the club like the plague. It’s all gone wrong, but let’s be honest, it all went wrong years ago.

And this week's furore over an alleged betting scam is merely symptomatic of a wider malaise that has been allowed to fester at Albert Park for more than two decades.

What would the late Paddy Dunne have made of it all? What indeed.