News Archive
30/5/2024
Visitor Levy Bill Passed By Scottish Parliament And Highland Council Welcomes It
MSPs have backed legislation giving councils a new power to introduce a visitor levy that would raise funding for local visitor facilities and services. The Visitor Levy (Scotland) Bill will enable local authorities to apply a levy on overnight stays with all money raised to be reinvested in services and facilities largely used by tourists and business visitors.30/5/2024
Draft Community Wealth Building Strategy - Your Chance To Have Your Say
The Highland Council has today (Wednesday 29 May 2024) launched a survey to capture comments on its' draft strategy on Community Wealth Building. Community Wealth Building provides an alternative approach to economic development and a practical response that aims to keep wealth within a local area.
30/5/2024
How Israel Uses Financial Control As A Tool Of Collective Punishment Against Palestine
Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced on May 22 that Israel will withhold Palestinian tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank "until further notice". The move came on the same day that Norway, Spain and Ireland announced that they will recognise a Palestinian state.
30/5/2024
Electric Cars - Swappable Batteries Could Be The Way To Revive Flagging Sales
The rate of adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in western countries continues to wane. In the UK, EVs' market share of all new cars for 2024 will barely hit 20%, somewhat below the government goal of 22%.
30/5/2024
The Bank Of England Is Using Quantitative Tightening To Push Up Interest Rates
The Bank of England's vast sale of government bonds is causing a shortage of cash in corners of the money markets and may need to end, investors have warned. Over the past two years, the BoE has shrunk its balance sheet from nearly £1tn to about £760bn largely by reducing its holdings of government debt it bought under numerous rounds of quantitative easing stimulus.30/5/2024
Royal Mail On The Brink Of Takeover By Foreign Investor
Given the disasters for the public of private ownership of some of the country's important infrastructure like water and energy should we care about the possible take-over Royal Mail. New Křetínský bid creates headache for UK government amid growing scrutiny on foreign takeovers of critical infrastructure.30/5/2024
Fears Over Future Of The Car Industry As Sales Fall And Spare Parts Become Scarce
Much money and time has been spent recently persuading people not to be so reliant on cars. And there are certainly good reasons - for our health and the environment - to move about more on foot, by bike or on trains.
30/5/2024
Does The State Of The UK Economy Inspire Confidence? An Expert Crunches The Numbers
The most recent UK inflation figures, released towards the end of May 2024, saw a drop in the official rate of price rises to 2.3%, not that far off the Bank of England's target level of 2%. Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer, said the figures were encouraging.
30/5/2024
Improving The Lives Of People With Diabetes
Access to technologies which will transform the lives of those living with Type 1 Diabetes is set to be expanded. Up to £8.8 million will be used to rollout of loop systems this year to support all children living with Type 1 Diabetes access Closed Loop System technology and increase the provision of these life changing technologies for adults with this condition.30/5/2024
Monthly Scottish Gdp Estimates For March
Scotland's onshore GDP grew by 0.4% in March 2024, according to statistics announced by the Chief Statistician. This follows growth of 0.1% in February 2024.30/5/2024
Trading Standards Warning On Solar Panel Email Scams
There has been a recent increase in reports of scam emails offering grants or funding for solar panels. Some say that having the panels installed will increase your property value and decrease your energy bills, while others mention 'free electricity'.
30/5/2024
Energy Performance Scams By Trading Standards
There has been a recent increase in scam letters and leaflets which say that a property's 'energy performance rating' is highly inefficient and offer a free energy assessment. They say that energy efficiency measures such as insulation, solar panels, heat pumps and heating upgrades are available for free to local residents through government grants if they suffer from a range of medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, mobility issues, cancer, cardiac conditions or even high cholesterol.
30/5/2024
Ticket Fraud Soars Warns Trading Standards
hose hoping to attend popular events this summer, such as the Euros, the Olympics, music festivals and concerts including Taylor Swift's Eras tour, are being warned to be wary of ticket fraud. According to recent figures from UK Finance, there was a 28% increase in cases of purchase fraud in the UK last year, where consumers paid for goods or services online - such as event tickets - which were never received.
29/5/2024
Dingwall, Highland Marts Ltd - Sale 28 May 2024
DINGWALL, Dingwall, Highland Marts Ltd., (May 28th) sold 467 Prime Sheep. New Season Lambs (14) averaged 403.6p per kg and sold to 416.0p per kg and £214 gross.29/5/2024
Is Labour Ready For Government? Understanding Keir Starmer's Narrative Of Renewal
Is Labour ready for government?. This question is being asked regularly of the public by pollsters YouGov, especially as the UK approaches the general election on July 4.29/5/2024
The ‘Triple Lock Plus' Undoes All The Budget's Good Work In Making A Tory Case To Working-age Voters
If ever there was a case of trying to bribe some voters it is the Tory latest called Triple Lock Plus attempting to get the pensioner votes. Will it work? Well pensioner are mostly not stupid ad can see the damage to their younger relatives incomes recently with cost of living and vastly increasing mortgage and rent payments.29/5/2024
Caithness, Sutherland And Easter Ross - One Of The Marginal Seats In Scotland
A lot of eyes will be on the most northerly mainland seat in the general election on 4 July as its one of the top marginals. Can Jamie Stone hang on in the face of a new SNP candidate and rising Labour showings in the polls.29/5/2024
New UK Trains Timetable Starts This Sunday 2 June 2024
An updated UK timetable starts Sunday 2nd June 2024. You can check it all out on Trainline for any changes to your journey before you travel.29/5/2024
Politics Is About Ideas, Not Brands - Richard Murphy
Politics should be about ideas. Instead, it's become about brands.
29/5/2024
