The UK Government has announced plans to change the Fit Note system in England, including shifting responsibility away from GPs and potentially introducing new assessment hubs. But here’s the key point for Caithness and the Highlands.
first Great British Railways-branded train unveiled as Britain’s biggest train operator’s services are nationalised. Union Jack livery and branding will begin rolling out gradually across England’s rail network once GTR transfers, more than 11,000 services that GBR will ultimately be responsible for will run each weekday.
SilentGlass is a plug-and-play cyber security device developed by NCSC and commercialised with support from GOTT, now licensed to a UK firm for global use. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), is the UK’s National Technical Authority on cyber security.
Responding to the Government’s announcement on fuel duty today, Jonny Marshall, Principal Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said,"The best that can be said of today’s announcement is that the Chancellor’s has wisely ignored calls for an expensive blanket cancellation of the temporary 5p cut to fuel duty. “Nonetheless, even this modest extension will cost £210 million this year.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.