Paignton Community Information Portal

6. Welcome to the infinite workday. The traditional workday is vanishing. Microsoft’s latest data reveals a striking shift: one in five meetings now occurs outside core business hours. Even more telling? The average employee sends or receives over 50 messages during that “off” time. A full 16% of meetings happen after 8pm., and nearly 60% are unscheduled. Despite efforts to return to the office, the boundary between work and personal life continues to blur. Researchers put it plainly: “For many, the workday now feels like navigating chaos.” As leaders, this is a call to action. Are we fostering productivity - or just exhaustion? It's time to rethink not just where we work, but when and how we work to sustain engagement, focus, and well-being in the long run. Editor

7. Too much sleep could be worse for your health than not enough. A major study analysing data from over 3 million people found that those who regularly got less than seven hours of sleep per night had a 14% higher risk of dying from any cause. But those who typically slept for more than nine hours were 34% more likely to die early. The researchers, including a team from Keele University, also found links between long sleep and a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, suggesting a “J-shaped” relationship between sleep duration and health outcomes. While chronic sleep deprivation is known to have negative effects, this study suggests that oversleeping might be just as harmful - if not more so. The takeaway? Aim for balance. Around 7–8 hours of sleep per night appears to be the healthiest range. The Telegraph

8. Smart devices, dump privacy. The Information Commissioner’s Office is preparing to issue new guidelines for smart device manufacturers amid concerns over excessive data collection. This follows a Which? investigation revealing that products like air fryers, smart TVs, and smartwatches - particularly from Chinese brands - were requesting unnecessary personal data. While there’s no suggestion of illegal activity, data was being gathered with “reckless abandon” and little transparency, citing cases like air fryers seeking permission to record audio via users’ phones without clear justification. The upcoming guidelines will require manufacturers to embed privacy throughout a device’s lifecycle, adopting a “data protection by design and default” approach to better safeguard consumers’ personal information. Expect a shift in how smart devices handle user data. Editor

9. C. Technically a letter rather than a word, but an important one in the world of secret intelligence. Blaise Metreweli has become the first woman to be appointed as “C”, the new chief of MI6. “No, Judi Dench didn’t count,”. And despite Dench’s character in the James Bond series being known as “M”, in reality “C” is “customary for the nation’s top spook. Politico

10. The bottom line. Today marks nine years since the Brexit referendum—and it turns out that, much like a questionable tattoo or a lockdown puppy, a growing number of Brits are having second thoughts. A new YouGov poll finds that 56% now believe Brexit was a mistake, while just 31% still think it was the right decision. That makes us, officially, a Bregretful nation. Leadership lesson? Decisions made in haste - or hype - tend to have long tails. And the longer the tail, the more likely it is to trip you up down the road.