Terry Murden: Few areas immune from high street trauma THE suffering on the high street goes on and the choice of victims is proving to be less discriminatory than hitherto believed. Aquascutum, a classic British brand, perhaps ought to have survived the bloodbath as others at the top end of the market, such as Burberry, continue to do well. But Aquascutum's owner Harold Tillman has been forced to put the loss-making business into administration, despite investing an estimated £20 million since acquiring it just over two years ago. Analysts believe the rot set in when he sold the Asian rights to the brand, and thereby passed up the opportunity to cash in on the demand from a booming region. He also lost Belinda Earl, the chief executive, to ill health. Tillman united Aquascutum with Jaeger, another top-of-the-range chain in which he sold 90 per cent of his stake on Monday for next to nothing to the private equity entrepreneur Jon Moulton. Tillman managed to revive the struggling Jaeger business but the £19.5m he received for it just about matched its debt. He had hoped to sell it for five times that sum, but he didn't anticipate the crisis that has afflicted the retail sector. Putting Aquascutum into administration at least may have helped save Jaeger from sharing the same fate, Councils should focus on their top priorities Jobs are at the top of every political party's manifesto commitments for the forthcoming local elections, yet few tell us exactly how they intend to create them. In any case, they should leave job creation to the numerous agencies paid to stimulate economic activity: Scottish Enterprise, Business Gateway and Skills Development Scotland. Surely it's the role of our councillors to mend the roads, clean up the litter, provide social services and empty the bins. In other words, make sure the infrastructure is fit for purpose. These are important issues for creating a pleasant working environment that encourages investment. If they can do that, the jobs may follow. Transformation could prove a plus for M&S Those who shop regularly at the Marks & Spencer outlet in Edinburgh's Gyle will have noticed the upheaval as it undergoes a transformation into one of chief executive Marc Bolland's new-look stores. A lot rests on the revamp, which will include some new or beefed up features and better store navigation, but early reaction to the pilot stores is positive and analysts expect £100 million to be trimmed off the initial £600m estimate for completing the work. Few expect the tough retail environment to ease any time soon and the fourth-quarter figures were weak, but M&S's older and more affluent demographic is likely to be in its favour as this age range tend to be more resilient and habitual in their shopping patterns. Dovetailing this stability with a solid online performance should underpin the shares which look inexpensive and continue to provide a good dividend yield. Powerful arguments for unsightly infrastructure IT SEEMS that whichever form of energy we choose it doesn't come without its downside risks. Coal? Dirty and dangerous. Wind? Unsightly and noisy. Nuclear? Expensive to get up and running. Pylons, pit heads and power stations are ugly intrusions on the landscape and no designer will make them look pretty. The latest controversy concerns fracking, a new word in the energy lexicon and a new system for extracting gas from shale deep in the ground. Naturally, it divides opinion. Early tests in Lancashire have already caused two earthquakes and there were well-documented tales from America of fire emerging from householders" taps. But it has managed to garner support from a cross-section of the community on the grounds that it is an affordable, reliable and secure source of energy. Shale gas is certainly plentiful and may prove the answer to the energy gap that renewables will struggle to achieve.