24 July 2025

Local Headlines - 24th July 2025

Vodafone customers are still experiencing disruption to their service, despite the company being aware of the issue for almost a month and promising a speedy remedy to the problem.

In a statement, the company apologised to customers who are affected by issues with their services, adding that their infrastructure partner is aware of the network issues in the Gairloch area and is working hard to restore services.

They encourage customers to sign up to Network Checker to receive status updates regarding network issues.

A Vodafone representative also explained that the problems stem from a site hosted by Virgin Media 02.

Requests relating to compensation are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Customers can call 191 via the customer care channels.

 

Student numbers at the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) fell by more than six thousand in the academic year 2023/24.

There was a similar sharp drop in the year 2019/2020 although, in both cases, numbers remained higher than they were at the peak of the Covid crisis, when they fell below thirty-three thousand.

The figures have been released at a time when the whole sector is facing severe challenges with some institutions facing questions about their future.

UHI said it had been investing resources into student recruitment.

 

To coincide with International Self-Care Day, today, the stark generation gap around attitudes to self-care is to be published by PAGB, the consumer healthcare association.

The Self-Care Census Report 2025, indicates that GEN Zs and Millennials, are three times more likely than adults aged 65 and over to seek a GP appointment for a minor health problem, and 30 percent less likely to visit a pharmacy for health care advice.

A spokesperson for PAGB said that one of the main drivers of this was reliance on social media as a trusted source of information.  

As a result, cyberchondria, an anxiety illness, can lead to people convincing themselves that their headache is a brain tumour, or indigestion is an imminent heart attack.