America's car-finance market is beginning to attract attention for a reason that will sound familiar to anyone who remembers the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. People are borrowing large sums to buy increasingly expensive vehicles.
Inverness will welcome government representatives, investors, business leaders and economic development partners later this week as it hosts the Scottish Cities Alliance Autumn Investor Event. A two-day programme designed to showcase investment opportunities across Inverness, the Highlands and Scotland's city regions.
Virgin Media is putting a new cost on keeping some long-established email addresses. But is this the start of a wider change?.
Walk through almost any British town centre and you can see the evidence of change. There are empty shops where there were once businesses.
American universities have long attracted some of the brightest students from around the world. But international students considering studying in the United States now have another question to ask alongside tuition fees, accommodation and the quality of the university: how certain is my future once I get there?.
Chancellor John Healey used his first Labour Party conference speech as Chancellor to set out an ambition for what he called a “new age of industrialisation”, with government spending, defence and British manufacturing placed at the centre of his economic strategy. For Scotland, there was an important announcement.
If you think your energy costs are high now, the situation may be about to get a whole lot worse. With traffic in the Strait of Hormuz – normally the primary route for oil leaving the Middle East – hovering below 15% of prewar levels, oil prices have increased from US$65 a barrel before the conflict in Iran began in February 2026 to more than $100 a barrel in mid-September.
Dog owners across Scotland need to be aware of a change in the law coming into force on 1 November 2026. Despite much of the publicity about the new rules being generated south of the border, the change does apply in Scotland.
Smokers and vapers are about to face another increase in the cost of their habit, but this time the change is particularly significant because the Government is introducing a completely new tax on vaping at the same time as increasing tobacco duty. From 1 October 2026, Vaping Products Duty will come into force at £2.20 for every 10ml of vaping liquid.
Britain has a strange energy problem. We produce large quantities of renewable electricity, yet households and businesses continue to face some of the highest energy costs in Europe.
There have been headlines suggesting that households with more than £12,000 in savings could face new charges. That sounds alarming, particularly at a time when many people are trying to build up an emergency fund rather than spend everything they have.
Andy Burnham is putting a much bigger question on the political agenda than simply how Britain runs its electricity grid. His proposals point towards greater public control of essential services including energy, water, transport and housing.
For millions of pensioners, the State Pension has suddenly become part of a much bigger political argument. The immediate message is reassuring.
For most British motorists, the immediate problem with diesel is the price. The average UK price has now reached a record 199.18p a litre, pushing the cost of filling an average family car to almost £110.
For years, one of the simplest pieces of advice given to car owners was: check when your cambelt is due and change it before it breaks. It was usually a straightforward figure.
The energy price cap changes again on 1 October, and households are being told to expect another increase in their bills. But the most useful question isn't simply how much the cap is going up.
For anyone who remembers working life a few decades ago, lunchtime was fairly simple. You worked through the morning, stopped for lunch, and then went back to work.
If you run a small business website, you might assume that nobody is interested in hacking it. After all, why would a criminal spend time attacking a small business in Caithness, Wick or Thurso when there are much bigger organisations to go after?.
The Last Landline Users Could End Up Paying More as Britain Goes Digital For generations, having a telephone in the home was regarded as almost as essential as having electricity or running water. That is changing rapidly.
Will the Christmas Card Die This Year? Rising postage, fuel and household costs are putting another old Christmas tradition under pressure Will this be the year when the Christmas card finally starts to disappear?. Perhaps not completely.