Spy Central

On the face of things Melrose looks like a sleepy wee Borders town that people visit to view the abbey and take tea and cake.

On the contrary; this is a hotbed of international espionage, where highly trained spies from all over the world skulk about passing messages and making devious plans.

This is one such agent who has been kept under constant observations since her arrival on a tour bus on Monday. As one of Britain's top covert MI5 officers (codename: Cameron) was taking this photo, an unmanned spy-drone was flying overhead taking high-resolution images of the note she is writing.

The wording is as follows:

Dear Agnes,
Having a lovely holiday in Melrose. The guest house is very comfortable and the food very tasty. The other people staying there are very friendly and we play cards in the evening. Hoping to visit Kelso tomorrow.
See you on my return,
All the best
Cynthia. xx

This message is currently being examined by our top cryptographers, and we expect the code to be broken any hour now. The local Police are on stand-by outside the SunnyView Guest House and an arrest is imminent.

Isn't it great knowing that Britain still leads the world in counter-espionage .