The United Kingdom stands alone in Europe — and across NATO — as the only country that still recruits 16-year-olds into its armed forces. It's a policy steeped in history and wrapped in the language of opportunity, yet shadowed by growing evidence of mental-health harm and social inequality.
The record number of journeys (337,441) exceeded previous peaks achieved in August during the Oasis concerts and the Edinburgh Festivals, which saw around 326,000 journeys made. It also marks the train operator's second-busiest day under public ownership, which began in April 2022.
The NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in England are planning to eliminate around 18,000 administrative and managerial posts. The cuts are part of a broader endeavour to reduce "unnecessary bureaucracy" within the NHS, and to save more than £1 billion per year through these reforms.
There's no simple "yes or no" answer to whether businesses offering "free boilers" are scammers. The reality is some of these offers are legitimate, but many contain big red flags and some are outright scams.
The labour market is weakening on multiple fronts with the number of payrolled jobs falling by 64,000 in the past two months. Short-term private sector pay growth falling to 2.7 per cent, and unemployment hitting 5 per cent for the first time (outside of the pandemic) since 2016, the Resolution Foundation said on Tuesday 11 November 2025 The number of payrolled jobs fell by 32,000 in each of September and October (though initial data points are prone to revision), and including those months has now shed 180,000 jobs since its peak in October 2024.
Nine million pensioners are to benefit from vital support for energy costs during the colder months as Winter Fuel Payments start hitting bank accounts from today. Nine million pensioners will benefit from Winter Fuel Payments from today.
Ofcom is inviting views on future approaches to stamp pricing, to ensure people have access to an affordable universal postal service. We periodically review the affordability of postal services in the UK.
Ampeak Energy was delighted to host Gillian Martin MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, at its tidal stream operations and maintenance facility at Nigg Energy Park. The visit served as an opportunity to discuss how the MeyGen tidal stream site has led the world in developing tidal stream technology, which is now ready to be scaled up to provide essential, predictable renewable power.
The Committee's report warns the Government that the UK's failure to retain and scale its science and technology companies has now reached crisis point and is causing the UK economy to bleed out. Without urgent and radical reform, the Government risks acting too late to fix long-standing failures to scale, to retain the economic benefits of R&D in the UK, and to seize the enormous opportunities for technological and economic growth that are currently slipping through its fingers.
A robust recovery plan for the delivery of Children's Service of The Highland Council has been approved by Members of the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Committee. The Plan provides reassurance as it outlines the delivery of improvements that will also have a positive financial impact, it is not about making cuts to service.
Lochaber Short Term Let Control Area agreed as justified by local members. 'Lochaber has significantly higher short term let properties than the Highland wide average and demonstrates justification for a review to assist with the Highland Housing Challenge.' Following a detailed review of current housing data and short term let (STL) activity, the Lochaber Area Committee unanimously agreed that there is justification for consulting on the introduction a Short Term Let Control Area in Lochaber.
Rising star from North Scotland honoured at event to celebrate brightest and best in industry. An electrical apprentice from North Scotland is celebrating after being recognised for her contribution to industry at the 13th annual Engineering Construction Industry ECI Training and Development Awards in London.
As Highland Council's Education Committee prepares for its 19 November meeting, one theme quietly threads through the agenda: balancing the books by leaving posts unfilled. The Quarter 2 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report reveals that vacancy management deliberately holding open staff positions is being used to offset financial pressures across the education service.
The Highland Council's Education Committee meeting on 19 November 2025 will tackle major updates in school infrastructure, budget oversight, and strategic planning for youth and community development. The upcoming Education Committee meeting promises a robust agenda that reflects both the challenges and ambitions of Highland Council's educational strategy.
In a packed House of Commons today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her much-anticipated budget with all the solemnity of someone cleaning up after a particularly rowdy house party. The speech, titled "A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away", laid out a fiscal roadmap that mostly involved pointing at the wreckage and saying, "Well, it wasn't me." Reeves began by surveying the economic carnage: ballooning debt, crumbling public services, and a Treasury cupboard so bare it echoes.
New plan backs researchers to seize on new and developing opportunities to phase out animal tests with specific commitments for the coming years. Government vows to phase out animal tests as alternative methods come on stream with new strategy welcomed as ‘ambitious' and ‘timely' by animal welfare and life sciences organisations.
Vacancy numbers are broadly unchanged on the quarter; early estimates suggest a small increase of just 2,000 (0.2%) vacancies to 723,000 in August to October 2025. Vacancies estimates increased on the quarter in half of the 18 industry sectors in August to October 2025, with the largest increase in the professional scientific and technical activities sector, and in the education sector.
Early estimates for October 2025 indicate that the number of payrolled employees was 30.3 million, which is a fall of 0.6% from October 2024; this is equivalent to 180,000 fewer employees. The largest increase was in the public administration and defence sector, with a rise of 16,000 employees; the largest decrease was in the wholesale and retail sector, with a fall of 71,000 employees.
Until the end of October, China had refused to purchase a single soya bean from the US's 2025 harvest. It usually spends tens of billions of dollars on the crop, which is a key ingredient in animal feed, so the boycott hit US farmers hard - and affected food systems far beyond US and Chinese borders.
In July to September 2025, the estimated UK employment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 75.0%. The UK unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 5.0%.
