News Archive

19/10/2023

 
Dr John Campbell - Vaccination And Disease Transmission

Quantity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies exhaled per minute during natural breathing over the course of COVID-19 infection..  

19/10/2023

 
Buying A House? Watch Out For These Rightmove Red Flags!

Buying or Selling a house on Rightmove? Watch out for these RED FLAGS! If you are a BUYING A HOUSE this is how to spot misleading listings, and if you are a SELLING A HOUSE you need to know how your Rightmove listing could scare off potential buyers.   If you are buying a house in 2023 then you will also certainly be using the Rightmove property portal website to find a property.  

19/10/2023

 
Sellers Are Killing The Housing Market! UK House Price Crash 2023 - Watch The Video

The UK Housing Market is grinding to a halt as SELLERS REFUSE to DROP their house prices, even though a UK house price CRASH is looking increasingly likely.  House prices in the UK have been falling for over a year, yet there are still a large number of sellers continuing to incorrectly price their properties.  

19/10/2023

 
Policy Risks To The Fiscal Outlook

Pressures on both revenue and spending are skewed to add to borrowing over the next few years, and threaten the ‘centrality' of official forecasts.   1 Under the March 2023 Budget forecast, debt was forecast to stabilise at the end of the forecast horizon, leaving no scope for additional borrowing under the government's current set of fiscal rules.  

19/10/2023

 
Global Economic Outlook - How Hard Will We Land?

A report from The Institute for Fiscal Studies.   The fight against inflation continues to dominate the global economic policy agenda.  

19/10/2023

 
Now Is Not The Time For Tax Cuts

Carl Emerson, a Deputy Director, is an editor of the for Fiscal Studies Green Budget, is expert on the UK pension system and sits on the Social Security Advisory Committee.   In the current environment of high inflation and rising interest rates, tax cuts at the upcoming Budget would be extremely difficult to justify.  

19/10/2023 : Local Authority

Highland Winter Road Conditions Report - Thursday, 19 October

The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time.   It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.  

19/10/2023

Community Groups Benefit From Scottish Land Fund Awards

Community projects benefit from the latest round of Scottish Land Fund (SLF) approvals.   Nine community projects in the Highlands and Islands are among eleven in Scotland to benefit from the latest round of Scottish Land Fund (SLF) approvals.  

19/10/2023

Trading Standards Report On Boiler Scams

There have been recent reports of scammers visiting properties and telling householders that their boilers are faulty.  They say it will cost £500 to fix the boiler, but that this can be claimed back from the council at a later date.  

19/10/2023

 
HMRC Warning Self Assessment Scams

HMRC is reminding customers to be wary of scam emails, texts and phone calls in the run up to the Self Assessment deadline.   HMRC received over 130,000 reports about tax scams in the 12 months to September 2023, of which 58,000 were offering fake tax rebates.  

18/10/2023

 
Update - For Thursday 19 October - Met Office Weather Warning

The Met Office have updated the warning to say that the heavy rain will hit on Thursday with the wind gusting through Thursday and Friday.   But it looks like the gusts have already started today Wednesday The Met Office has advised that Storm Babet will bring a period of very strong southeasterly winds to much of central and northern Scotland.  

18/10/2023

Government Bonds To Issue In First For Scotland

The Scottish Government will take steps to issue its first ever bond to finance key infrastructure in Scotland, the First Minister has announced.   First Minister Humza Yousaf has commissioned initial work including due diligence assessments with the aim of making the bonds available to the market by the end of the current parliamentary session.  

18/10/2023

 
Consumer Price Inflation UK - September 2023 - Little Change From august

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) rose by 6.3% in the 12 months to September 2023, the same rate as in August.   On a monthly basis, CPIH rose by 0.5% in September 2023, compared with a rise of 0.4% in September 2022.  

18/10/2023

First Minister Announces More Cash For NHS, Arts And More

The First Minister Humza Yousaf also said his government would spend an additional £300m on tackling NHS waiting lists in the next three years and raise arts and culture funding by £100m over the next five years.   Other key announcements included plans to issue the first ever Scottish government bonds on the international bond market to raise funds for infrastructure projects, and plans to "anchor a new offshore wind supply chain" in Scotland with up to £500m in funding over five years - with the government aiming to ensure vital parts such as turbines are made at home instead of being imported from abroad.  

18/10/2023

Council Tax Frozen For 24-25

First Minister announces measure to protect household finances.   Council tax rates will be frozen in the next financial year to support people struggling with the effects of high inflation, the First Minister has announced.  

18/10/2023

First Minister Announces Another Council Tax Freeze In Scotland

Council tax in Scotland will be frozen next year, Humza Yousaf has announced in his speech to the SNP conference.   The Scottish Government had opened a consultation which could see council tax on the highest bands increased by between 7.5% and 22.5%.  

18/10/2023

£100 Million To Reduce Waiting Times - Plans to cut inpatient/day-case waiting lists by 100,000

New annual funding of £100 million to help reduce inpatient and day-case waiting lists by an estimated 100,000 patients over three years has been announced by the First Minister.   Subject to the outcome of the Scottish Budget process, the recurring annual revenue investment will run to the end of this Parliamentary session and help inform NHS Boards' multi-year planning to create capacity and accelerate treatment for patients.  

18/10/2023

Delivering Net Zero Energy Opportunities

Strategic investment to help create thousands of green jobs and deliver the full economic potential of offshore renewables projects is to be delivered over the next five years.   Up to £500 million will leverage private investment in ports, manufacturing and assembly work to support major supply chain opportunities to Scotland, the First Minister has announced.  

18/10/2023

Concerns Grow About One Year Council Tax Freeze

A COSLA Spokesperson said: "We have just heard the announcement made at the SNP Conference in relation to freezing council tax.   We were unaware of it in advance.  

18/10/2023

Temporary Pause In Inflation Falls Highlights Cost To Low And Middle Income Households Of Benefits Not Keeping Pace With Prices

Progress on getting inflation back down to target stalled in September as CPI inflation remained at 6.7 per cent, with a welcome monthly fall in food costs offset by rising petrol prices, the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday).   CPI inflation remained unchanged in September, defying market expectations of a slight fall.