Nazish Saad

In the town centre in Wick, shop after shop is shuttered shut. "Even the Christian Charity Shop closed this summer", said one resident to me. "We have to drive for hours to go to a shoe shop, now", said Janet, another resident of the town. Wick had a thriving town centre some years ago - until a Tesco supermarket opened its doors. "Initially, we were all very happy with it", say some townspeople.

In the Scottish Highlands, perched on the far northern coast, Wick is known for its dramatic seascapes and its past as one of Europe's busiest herring ports. Fishing boats no longer crowd the harbour as they once did, but the maritime heritage remains woven into everyday life, and the Caithness town retains a strong sense of local identity and enduring connections to its past. Few institutions embody the richness of these traditions than the Old Pulteney Distillery.

The UK Government has confirmed that social media will be banned for children under 16 years of age. This makes perfect sense, coming from a government that seems increasingly out of touch with reality on the ground. The Australian experiment One trouble with this innovative idea is that it ... isn't. Australia has tried it since December 2025. The result? An initial study reported that 61% of under-16s found creative ways to bypass the law and still have full access to their accounts.