WHAT A WEEK...

The discovery of a 40-year-old Twix wrapper near Thurso made me nostalgic for a time when chocolate bars were bigger, music was better and if you wanted to socialise, you popped out to the pub.

Things are oh so different now and yet oh so much the same.

The wrapper was found by Kimberley McDonald as she walked her dog on Dunnet Beach.

The price was 13p and the sell-by date was August 1984.

Kimberley said her children, aged 11 and 12, were most amazed by its bigger size.

Shrinkflation isn’t new but there has been a lot more of it, on everything from butter to bathroom cleaner, during the cost-ofliving crisis.

It’s when manufacturers attempt to cut their costs by reducing the size of a product but not the price.

TWIX WRAPPER A TIMELY FIND

With chocolate, the picture is more complex and is linked to climate change as the price of cocoa hit a record high after crop failures in West Africa.

Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest producer and, together with Ghana, is responsible for two thirds of the world’s cocoa supplies.

Climate change, and the El Niño phenomenon which sees the Pacific warm up, has caused adverse weather and disease in both countries, ultimately leaving farmers short of beans.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, Scottish ministers have scrapped the goal to cut carbon emissions by 75% by 2030.

The idea of rich countries paying for climate “reparations” to compensate developing nations who have contributed much less to global warming, is the subject of debate.

But sometimes all it takes is a chocolate wrapper found on a far north beach to remind us that, when it comes to saving the planet, everything and everyone is interconnected.

We are more aware these