App-based cognitive tests found to be proficient at detecting frontotemporal dementia in those most at risk

A smartphone app could help detect a leading cause of early-onset dementia in people who are at high risk of developing it, data suggests.

Scientists have demonstrated that cognitive tests done via a smartphone app are at least as sensitive at detecting early signs of frontotemporal dementia in people with a genetic predisposition to the condition as medical evaluations performed in clinics.

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Group working with Labour and Lib Dem MPs oppose government’s move to introduce harsher measures

Rough sleeping could be fully decriminalised after 200 years under proposals from rebel Conservative MPs to repeal legislation dating from the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars.

A group of Tories working with Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs want to strip out proposed and existing legislation that criminalises homelessness.

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The Scottish government’s legislation is frankly unworkable. I worry it may stifle honestly expressed, contentious views

It is right that expressions of hatred against groups based on race and ethnicity are illegal. Whether these laws have ended hatred or merely driven it underground – a not unwelcome outcome – is a matter of opinion. But Scotland’s law against hate crime , implemented this week, extends state intervention to the “stirring of hatred” against a range of groups defined by age, disability, faith, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. Controversially, it does not extend to women – the Scottish government says a separate misogyny law is in the works.

The pitfalls in the new law have led to three years of heated debate in the Scottish parliament. The prosecution need only prove that a remark was “likely” rather than “intended” to offend. A crime could be committed if “a reasonable person would consider it threatening, abusive or insulting”.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

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Nick Thomas-Symonds says party would not reduce number of hours of government-funded childcare in England

Labour would keep the government’s expanded childcare hours, a shadow minister has insisted, after suggestions the party would review the scheme.

Nick Thomas-Symonds said Labour would not reduce the number of hours of government-funded childcare that working parents would be entitled to in England.

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Lowest-paid will be £1,000 short of the figure paid by some employers to reflect actual household costs

Millions of UK workers will still be left more than £1,000 a year short of a real living wage, despite the biggest cash boost in the minimum wage set by the government for more than a decade.

The “national living wage” (NLW) is increasing from Monday from £10.42 to £11.44 an hour , and is being expanded to cover younger workers with a cut in the age threshold from 23 to 21. The increase is worth £1,800 a year for a full-time adult worker.

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Viral X thread highlighted prevalence of apple juice in drinks – but why is it so popular?

Last week, an X user shocked the internet in a viral thread by pointing out that most mixed juices and smoothies are mainly made from apples.

The post looked at 13 juices in a supermarket aisle, noting that the majority were made with 50% apple juice or more, despite not having any apple in the name. It was described as “applejuiceification and the illusion of choice”.

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Police in England and Wales to be given powers to fine homeless people deemed to be causing a ‘nuisance’

Ministers are facing a revolt from their own MPs over plans to criminalise homelessness in upcoming legislation.

Under proposals that form part of the UK government’s flagship crime bill, police in England and Wales are to be given powers to fine or move on rough sleepers deemed to be causing a “nuisance”.

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Possible charity highlights financial savings and environmental benefits for low-paid staff

Ministers should consider a social leasing scheme for care workers in rural areas across the UK to use electric cars, a climate charity has argued, saying this would save often low-paid staff large sums, also bringing a big environmental boost.

A focus group of carers in rural and semi-rural parts of the UK, carried out as part of the study, found that one woman earning less than £20,000 a year as a mobile carer drove four hours a day on average, spending £100-£150 a month on petrol.

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A biologist, a postal worker and a farmer are a charismatic trio at the heart of a documentary that builds an emotional connection between film-maker and subject

Bordering Poland and Slovakia, Stuzhytsya is a remote, sleepy village situated near the Carpathian mountains in Ukraine; it literally means “cold place”. Within the already tiny local population, there exists a gender imbalance: most of the men have left for better job opportunities in the EU and elsewhere. Centring on the women who have stayed behind, Maksym Melnyk’s documentary is an intimate exploration of the hopes, dreams and loneliness that swell in a place seemingly forgotten by the outside world.

Initially observational in style, the film introduces us to a charismatic trio of women. Nelya, a biologist, sweetly lights up whenever she comes across a pile of animal excrement, rich with valuable samples for her sadly underfunded research into the ecosystem of insects. The lack of government support also plagues Maria, Stuzhytsya’s only postal worker. In charge of distributing meagre pensions to the villagers, she is constantly anxious about the lack of stamps provided by the state. Such a shortage would mean a delay in welfare support, which would be catastrophic for the residents.

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