Researchers say drugs may be able to increase lifespan by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageing

Not for nothing are dogs called man’s best friend: they are good for their owners’ mental and physical health, and some studies have shown that if you’re looking for a date and want to seem more attractive, it might be time to get a canine companion.

So what would it be like if dogs could live for ever – and what if that secret could help their owners live longer, healthier lives too?

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Leaders in health service should be able to bring in reforms to cut huge waiting times, says charity founder

The NHS is at risk of paralysis while it waits for Wes Streeting’s 10-year plan for reform and needs to be empowered to get on with change in the face of huge waiting times for care, a thinktank has said.

Victor Adebowale, a cross-bench peer and chair of the Institute for Public Policy Research, said a clear message is needed from Streeting that leaders in the health service should be able to start bringing in reforms where they are aligned with the government’s priorities.

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The ex-politician was admitted to hospital on Thursday after his health deteriorated

India’s former prime minister, Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program and a landmark nuclear deal with the US, has died aged 92.

Singh was admitted to New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences late Thursday after his health deteriorated due to “sudden loss of consciousness at home”, the hospital said in a statement, adding that he was “being treated for age-related medical conditions”.

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• Unbeaten runner silences doubters after a year off
• Banbridge takes King George prize back to Ireland

The delight and relief that swirled around Constitution Hill as he extended his unbeaten record to nine starts here on Thursday expressed itself in various ways. Nicky Henderson, his trainer, was teary, the punters who sent him off favourite were jubilant and Nico de Boinville, the winner’s jockey, was rounding on the critics . “It was definitely worth the wait,” he told an ITV racing reporter shortly after their handing only a second career defeat to the excellent mare, Lossiemouth. “And one more thing. Paddy Brennan, you can shove that where the sun don’t shine.”

It was, perhaps, a little unnecessary in what is, after all, a game of opinions, and his former weighing-room colleague’s pre-race view that Lossiemouth would emerge victorious was clearly shared by many, as she set off at 11-8. But it was a clear sign of the pressure that had been building in the weeks leading up to Constitution Hill’s oft-delayed return to action, and the immense relief that, as de Boinville had told Henderson after an impressive gallop in late November, “we’re back”.

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Only 25% of institution’s students are from Scotland, and they are more likely to be from working-class backgrounds

From the first day Shanley Breese started her law degree at Edinburgh University, she encountered demeaning comments about her accent. She was told she was hard to understand, and was asked to repeat herself in tutorials when she used words from the Scots language.

“It was just a little thing to differentiate us and point it out … It meant that I didn’t participate in my tutorials,” she says.

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Cook Islands-registered Eagle S was carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea

Finnish authorities have seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, and that it also damaged or broke four internet lines.

On Thursday, a Finnish coastguard crew boarded the Cook Islands-registered ship, named by authorities as the Eagle S. The crew took command and sailed the vessel to Finnish waters, a coastguard official told a press conference.

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Delicate 650-year-old pages to be preserved are some of the island’s most important historical texts

Work has begun to conserve and digitise one of the oldest paper documents still in existence on the island of Ireland.

The ecclesiastical register, which dates back to the medieval period, is about 650 years old. It belonged to the former archbishop of Armagh Milo Sweteman

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Communities shouldn’t have to buy assets they have already paid for, says Donald Stavert scam and Alan Hall says it mustn’t be used as a cover story for council underfunding. Plus letters from James Powney and Jeremy Cushing

“Community right to buy” is the cruellest joke in the political locker ( Editorial, 22 December ). It’s the biggest scam, where the scammer convinces you that your property, your asset, is worth you saving up your pennies, plus a few fundraising efforts, finished off with funding applications to several do-good organisations, to buy what’s yours already.

Every community centre, library, swimming pool and public building in the land was bought with the communities’ own money, as they paid through income tax and council tax to fund the public bodies that built them, as well as the running costs. It’s nothing short of a disgrace.

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Since they were piloted in 2008, these courts have expanded their reach across England, writes Miranda Paris

Jane Lawson ( Letters, 17 December ), extolled the virtues of the late Nicholas Crichton and his implementation of family drug and alcohol courts (FDACs) at Wells Street in London. However, FDACs were not “all destroyed” following the closure of courts like Wells Street. FDACs are still operating to this day. Since they were piloted in 2008, their reach has expanded: there are now 13 FDAC services that cover 38 local authorities across England and 21 family courts, with additional services due to open in 2025. A national evaluation of FDACs published in 2023 found that children were four times more likely to be reunited with their parents at the end of proceedings compared with similar families in non-FDAC care proceedings. More information can be found at fdac.org.uk
Miranda Paris
Centre for Justice Innovation

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