The UK Government's changes to the taxation of second homes and holiday lets will reshape rural Scotland in ways that Westminster has barely considered. But while councils cannot control national tax policy, they can shape how their communities absorb the impact.
In 2025, The Highland Council launched The Reuse and Repair Fund, with members agreeing to secure £500,000 across a two-year period for community groups across Highland. Round 1 of the fund is now closed, with 12 projects across Highland securing funding, totalling £272,366.
When the UK Government announced it would clamp down on "runaway" SEND spending in England particularly the spiralling fees paid to independent special schools. It was framed as a necessary correction to a system in financial freefall.
The UK Government's changes to the taxation of second homes, rental properties, and holiday lets may look like technical adjustments on paper, but in rural Scotland they will land with far greater force. What Westminster sees as a tidy fiscal reform will, in places like the Highlands, Moray, Aberdeenshire, Argyll, Skye, and the Western Isles, reshape housing markets, squeeze small operators, and expose the fragility of communities already struggling with depopulation, low wages, and a chronic shortage of affordable homes.
January 2026 delivered a mixed but revealing picture of the UK's public finances, showing both short‑term improvement and long‑term structural pressures. Government borrowing fell compared with last year, tax receipts continued to rise, and some spending categories stabilised but debt remained historically high, interest payments continued to weigh heavily on the budget, and local authorities faced ongoing financial strain.
Public debate about artificial intelligence in higher education has largely orbited a familiar worry: cheating. Will students use chatbots to write essays? Can instructors tell? Should universities ban the tech? Embrace it? These concerns are understandable.
The latest ONS figures on healthy life expectancy paint a stark picture of a country where people are living longer but spending more of those years in poor health. Between 2011-2013 and 2022-2024, every nation of the UK experienced a decline in the number of years people can expect to live in good health.
Nearly a third (31%) of trading businesses reported that their turnover had decreased in January 2026 compared with the previous month, which is broadly stable with December 2025, but has increased by 3 percentage points compared with January 2025; in contrast, 16% reported that their turnover had increased, up 3 percentage points from December 2025. Around one in eight (13%) trading businesses expect their turnover to decrease in March 2026, which is 7 percentage points down compared with February 2026, and the same proportion as March 2025; 21% of trading businesses reported that they expect their turnover to increase in March 2026, up 6 percentage points compared with expectations for February 2026.
People with visual impairments will receive care closer to home through a new Community Low Vision Service (CLVS). Development work has begun on the new national service which will allow patients with visual impairment, that cannot be managed through glasses, lenses or surgery, to be supported by community optometrists instead of in a hospital setting.
After reading our article following ONS information - Healthy Life Expectancy in the UK: A Decade of Decline - that is somewhat gloomy we now look at how things could be improved. The recent decline in healthy life expectancy across the UK has understandably caused alarm.
January is always a strong month for government revenues, but this year's figures contained a striking anomaly. Capital Gains Tax (CGT) receipts jumped to unusually high levels, far above the normal seasonal spike that accompanies self‑assessment payments.
New surveillance, detection and investigative capabilities rolled out by Environment Agency to tackle waste crime. Waste criminals will be detected and stopped before they even get started, thanks to a new package of surveillance and investigative measures announced by the Environment Agency (EA) today (Friday 20 February 2026).
When the UK Government announced its new "Pubs and Live Music Venue Relief" scheme for England a 15% business‑rates discount for 2026-27 it was presented as a lifeline for a sector battered by rising costs, falling footfall, and years of instability. The accompanying guidance to English local authorities set out how the relief should be applied, who qualifies, and how the Treasury expects councils to administer the scheme.
Retail sales at the start of 2026 offered a brief but telling snapshot of how households and businesses are coping with the wider economic climate. According to the latest ONS figures, sales volumes rose 1.8% in January, the strongest monthly increase since mid‑2024, and were 4.5% higher than a year earlier.
Private dinners, lobbying networks, and think‑tank alliances quietly shape policy and procurement long before transparency rules apply and leaving the public in the dark about how power truly works. Now look into this influence affecting our lives hidden in the shadows.
Average UK monthly private rents increased by 3.5%, to £1,367, in the 12 months to January 2026 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate is down from 4.0% in the 12 months to December 2025. Average rents increased to £1,423 (3.5%) in England, £826 (5.8%) in Wales, and £1,021 (2.6%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to January 2026.
Washing machines are great when the work and usually last a few years but some manufacturers have been introducing ways to ensure profits by doing things to make them harder or impossible to repair. Coming across a man on Youtube who has been making excellent videos on how to fix things like washing machines, tumble driers, cookers and much we took a closer look at washing machines.
At first glance, the healthcare systems of the United States and Scotland could hardly be more different. One is dominated by insurance markets, federal programmes, and private providers; the other rests on a universal, publicly funded model under the NHS Scotland, free at the point of use.
The next meeting of the Education Committee of Highland council on 25th February will discuss the next steps moving towards a new school. When might the it all be ready so we looked at how the Wick High school campus progressed below for comparison.
First-ever AI Strategy for UK Research and Innovation marks bold plan to make AI deliver for UK's cutting-edge science and research efforts. First-ever AI Strategy for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) marks bold plan to make AI deliver for UK's cutting-edge science and research efforts, supporting breakthroughs from health to clean energy and beyond.