Denmark's parliament passed a bill in May 2025 to raise the state pension age to 70 by 2040, making it the highest in Europe. This decision stems from the 2006 Welfare Reform, which links the retirement age automatically to life expectancy—specifically targeting a 14.5-year pension period—and mandates five-yearly adjustments with at least 15 years' notice.
In 2015 the Black Isle Farmers Society signed up to the ‘The Real Deal Scheme' and signed up to the voluntary charter in partnership with Highland Council Trading Standards, demonstrating a commitment to work together to prevent counterfeits and other illicit goods being sold at the show. The Real Deal campaign is a key aspect of the National Market Group's aim to recognise, reinforce and reward good practice at markets and car boot fairs throughout the UK that are working with local enforcement partners to keep their markets free from counterfeit and other illicit goods.
Advertising tells you every day that you're too old, too poor, too unfashionable. Why? Because unhappiness sells.
The abrupt suspension of new USAID funding and simultaneous cuts by major donors such as the UK have slashed development and humanitarian budgets across Africa, disrupting programs that once supported health, agriculture, governance, education, and conservation. These shifts threaten to reverse decades of progress in poverty reduction, public health, and stability.
Met Office warnings for Monday 4 August predict unseasonably strong winds and heavy rain across Scotland. Coastal and upland areas can expect gusts of 60-70 mph, with peaks up to 85 mph on exposed coastlines and hills.
Former Health Secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt has warned that the NHS is increasingly treating normal life stresses—bereavement, job loss—as medical conditions, signing off around 3,000 people a day with fit notes for anxiety and depression. Since 2019, disability benefit claims among working-age adults in England and Wales have risen by nearly one million, with about 500,000 of these new claims linked specifically to mental health issues like anxiety and depression.
Projections from the UN's World Population Prospects show China peaking around 2024-25 and then edging downwards by roughly 0.22% per year. Trends in China's Workforce Age Profile Working-age population (15-59) Peaked at about 925 million in 2011.
The beginning of August marks the latest deadline for US president Donald Trump's "liberation day" tariff policy. This era of chaos and uncertainty began on April 2 and the situation remaims fluid.
Consumer inflation in the United States has moderated since President Trump took office in January. For the 12-month period ending in June 2025, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 2.7 percent, down from peaks above 9 percent during the pandemic era.
Many recent reforms target inbound migration, tightening who can enter, work, and settle. Skilled Worker route now requires a degree-level role (RQF Level 6) and a salary threshold rising from £26,200 to £38,700, with limited exemptions for care and NHS professionals.
Scotland has shifted from a net exporter of people to a net importer in recent years. Net migration more than doubled from +22,200 in the year to mid-2022 to +55,100, then rose further to +61,600 in the year to mid-2023.
China's central government introduced a childcare subsidy on July 28 that will provide families with 3,000 yuan (around £312) a year for each child under the age of three. The announcement came days after plans were unveiled to roll out free preschool education across the country.
Young Scottish musicians will help to sell Scotland to Germany on Ian Murray trade trip. Young Scottish musicians will be centre stage in Germany this week as part of Scottish Secretary Ian Murray's Brand Scotland campaign.
New offence to target criminal gangs promoting dangerous journeys like Channel crossings to the UK on social media. In a blow to the people smugglers' business model, the government has outlined new measures through its Plan for Change to crack down on social media content which promotes small boat crossings and fuels organised immigration crime.
Rathbones' most recent analysis focuses on the government's upcoming state pension age review and its potential impact on people now in their early fifties. They calculate that bringing forward the rise from 68 to as early as 2039 could cost those aged 51-53 between £15,798 and £17,774 in foregone pension payments over a full year's delay.
UK goods exported to the US now face a blanket 10 percent reciprocal tariff (unless covered by a bilateral deal). Sector‐specific levies (e.g., 25 percent on cars above the annual quota, 25 percent on steel) may also apply under US trade defence rules.
Councils lost an estimated £5.5 billion in capital receipts through Right to Buy, plus ongoing loan-charge shortfalls. Servicing this historic HRA debt from rental income limits councils' capacity to fund new-build borrowing from their Housing Revenue Accounts.
The new law may make little difference to the smugglers of illegal immigrants as they operate abroad. Under a new amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently going through Parliament, a new, UK-wide offence will be introduced to criminalise the creation of material for publication online, which promotes or offers services facilitating a breach of UK immigration law.
Applications are now open for the 2025-26 Voluntary Sector Development Fund (VSDF), which helps employers cover the cost of essential qualifications for social care staff. The funding supports workers in gaining the qualifications required for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC)—the national regulator for the social care workforce.
Can growth fix our NHS? Will a booming private sector fund schools and care homes? Rachel Reeves thinks so. I don't.
