Archive for July 2025

Despite world-beating home ownership rates in CEE, generally exceeding 80 percent and often surpassing 90 percent in many states – for example, Romania (96 percent), Slovakia (94 percent), Croatia and Hungary (both 91 percent), Lithuania (88.8 percent), and Poland (87.3 percent) – these high averages obscure a critical imbalance. Ample housing exists in regions with few job opportunities, while select urban cores, offering robust work prospects, suffer from both a scarcity of housing and exorbitant prices.

Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Scotland recently celebrated a milestone event at its annual conference in June – its 45th anniversary. Above: Jacqueline Norwood, TPAS Scotland executive director, at the organisation’s annual conference

Working in partnership with all citizens is a core principle of government. Social Work England is a non-departmental public body, operating at arm’s length from government and in receipt of significant central government funding. Despite receiving significant public funding, Social Work England continues to operate with a substantial backlog of Fitness to Practise cases, leaving many social workers in prolonged uncertainty. BASW supports high social work standards and public protection, these must be delivered through a fair and timely regulatory system rooted in respect for those it regulates.

Tanya Plibersek has been urged to take a “deep dive” in her first 50 days as social services minister to explore reform.

Speaking to the media after a launch ceremony, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun (above) said the guide aims to help professionals report child abuse cases by providing them with practical guidelines so they can properly discharge their legal obligations.

An authoritarian bully will not be satisfied with just one trophy at Columbia University. For higher education to function, students, staff, and faculty must be free to think and speak their minds. All who care about higher education must stand up and fight back against this unprecedented continuing assault. To preserve our democracy, we have no choice.

As a professor of information systems who’s been working with AI for more than two decades, I’ve watched this transformation firsthand. And as many people increasingly delegate cognitive tasks to AI, I think it’s worth considering what exactly we’re gaining and what we are at risk of losing.

A new, purpose-built residential and dementia care home will open its doors this October, bringing with it a fresh approach to community-based care and creating 30 new local jobs in its first phase of recruitment. Above: Lindley Park Care Home, Huddersfield.