Consumer watchdogs to gain new investigatory powers. Chancellor introduces tougher measures to protect people from unjustified price hikes Consumer watchdogs to gain new rapid investigatory powers to target firms taking advantage of crises to unfairly raise costs.
The Government has announced a support package for motorists. Costs lower for millions of drivers as government holds pump prices down, extending the 5p fuel duty cut until the end of year Hauliers get a 12-month road tax holiday saving up to £912 per vehicle, red diesel slashed to its lowest rate in over 20 years until the end of the year Chancellor keeps taxes down for drivers after strong growth at the start of the year, showing government has right economic plan.
The Scottish housing market is currently defined by a striking contrast between national resilience and extreme regional fragmentation. On a macroeconomic level, Scotland continues to display steady, incremental growth despite broader economic headwinds.
Over recent months, YouTube has been flooded with adverts promising “free satellite internet”, “government‑funded broadband kits”, or even “Starlink free for life”. These ads are slick, professionally voiced, and often dressed up to look like genuine technology news.
The latest ONS labour‑market release, published today, confirms what many employers and jobseekers across the Highlands have sensed for months. The UK jobs market is cooling, vacancies are shrinking, and the slowdown is no longer confined to a few fragile sectors.
Over the past two years, Scotland’s private rented sector has been reshaped by a steady, unmistakable trend: landlords are selling up and leaving the market. The pattern is visible across the country, but some areas are feeling the pressure more sharply than others.
The drone strike on the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant happened on Sunday, 17 May 2026. UAE authorities said the drone hit an external electrical generator outside the inner perimeter of the plant.
The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board’s (ECITB) award-winning e-learning platform has been hailed as a great example of industry collaboration in action. To mark Learning at Work Week 2026, NRS Dounreay has highlighted how the ECITB’s Learning Experience Platform (LXP) has become a “go-to training solution” for its 1,400 workers.
Prof Steve Keen has been right so many times people should listen..
At $110 oil, Caithness fuel prices will sit well above the UK average, with petrol likely in the £1.75–£1.85/litre range and diesel in the £1.90–£2.05/litre range. The rural delivery premium, long‑distance logistics, and reduced competition mean Caithness always pays more and $110 crude locks that in.
The comparison is complicated because inflation, Covid and energy-crisis borrowing distort the figures. The last Conservative parliament (2019–2024) saw extraordinarily high borrowing because of: the Covid pandemic, furlough, energy support schemes, higher interest costs, and weaker growth.
The latest ONS producer price figures for April 2026 reveal a manufacturing sector caught in the crossfire of global energy turmoil. While consumer inflation has been easing, the story behind the factory gates is very different.
High Street banking has reached crisis point, with the planned closure of over 50 branches this month alone. The home delivery expert Parcelhero says it’s part of the High Street’s ongoing collapse amid the rise of e-commerce.
The April 2026 inflation figures mark another step in the UK’s slow return toward price stability. According to the latest ONS release, both headline measures—CPIH and CPI—fell for the second consecutive month, driven largely by reductions in household energy bills.
For drivers in Caithness, the question isn’t abstract. When global oil markets twitch, prices at the pumps in Wick and Thurso often move faster and higher than the Scottish average.
For months, the UK Government insisted that no drop of Russian oil not even a molecule refined abroad would be allowed into the country. Ministers called it a matter of principle, a line that would not be crossed.
UK inflation eased in April 2026, but the headline improvement masks a sharp rise in fuel costs, a looming July energy‑cap increase, and renewed global food‑price pressures. For businesses, the message is clear - short‑term relief, medium‑term risk.
CPI inflation surprised to the downside falling by half a percentage point to 2.8 per cent in April – having been 3.3 per cent in March – bringing inflation to its lowest level since March 2025. This puts the UK in the enviable position of being the only country in the G7 to see a fall in the rate of inflation since the war in the Middle East started in February.
April’s CPI drop looks good on paper, but for Caithness businesses it’s a short‑lived breather before fuel costs, transport charges, and the July energy‑cap rise push operating costs back up. Distance, freight dependency, and thin margins mean the Far North will feel the next inflation wave earlier and harder than the national averages suggest.
Livestock farming in Caithness isn’t “adapting to change” and it isn’t “transitioning” and It isn’t “modernising”. It is being systematically abandoned by a policy environment that treats the Far North as a footnote — a place where farmers are expected to absorb every global shock with a shrug and a prayer.