English councils seeking more help to pay for rise in Send transport costs

Councils in England urgently need more money to help them pay for school transport for children with special needs.Many councils have told the Guardian that their obligations under the wider special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system are financially unsustainable, with the rapid increase in pupil transport costs becoming a particular issue.Sources in councils and education said transporting the children was essential, but that the system, which was set up about a decade ago, had expanded beyond its original intention.With no extra funding to support these services, some councils are now spending as much on transporting children as they are filling potholes.By law, councils must provide transport to Send pupils if they live more than a set distance from their nearest suitable school, with the great majority of them travelling by taxi rather than buses

Speedy finger-prick tests to diagnose strokes trialled in Cambridgeshire

Ambulance crews in Cambridgeshire are piloting the use of finger-prick blood tests to diagnose the deadliest form of stroke, with preliminary data suggesting they may be up to twice as effective as relying on patients’ symptoms alone.The tests, which work on a similar principle to the lateral flow tests (LFTs) used to detect Covid, are designed to rapidly identify whether someone suspected of having a stroke has suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO), where a blood clot blocks a major artery in the brain.Although LVOs account for about a third of strokes, they are responsible for 95% of disabilities and deaths. However, a patient’s chances of recovery are markedly improved if they undergo a thrombectomy procedure to manually remove the clot within hours of symptom onset.The problem is that there are only 24 hospitals in the UK that can provide thrombectomy treatment, and LVO is difficult to diagnose without a brain scan because many other conditions show similar symptoms

UK housing associations accused of mis-selling ‘affordable’ homes as service charges soar by up to 400%

Housing associations are facing allegations of mis-selling so-called “affordable” homes, with service charges that have soared, in some cases by more than 400%, after residents moved in.Marketing and property documents examined by the Observer reveal how buyers who may be struggling financially are enticed to buy shared ownership homes with estimated monthly service charges as low as £120. Residents accuse housing associations of failing to accurately reflect the likely cost, which in some cases has risen to more than £650 a month.Shared ownership allows people to buy a proportion of a leasehold property, with buyers required to pass checks to ensure they have a low enough income to qualify and can afford the payments.When Patrick Duffy, who works in an art gallery, moved into his shared ownership property in Dalston, east London, the service charge was about £95 a month

High street opticians could use AI to spot dementia risk with eye scan

High street opticians could play a key role in pinpointing individuals at risk of dementia by spotting distinctive patterns in the retinas of those in the early stages of cognitive decline. These diagnoses would carried out during routine eye checks.The prospect follows the development of an AI technique known as Quartz that can be used to study eye scans and identify key differences in the shapes and sizes of retinal blood vessels in a few seconds. The technology automatically measures width and the extent to which these tiny veins and arteries – known as arterioles and venules – twist and turn.The blood vessels in the eye act as an extension of those in the brain and the development of Quartz gives researchers a unique opportunity to analyse retinal scans as a non-invasive way to assess the characteristics of blood vessels elsewhere

Mastercard and Visa linked to illegal gambling sites accused of scamming UK customers

Mastercard and Visa are processing payments for illegal gambling websites accused of scamming UK customers out of thousands of pounds.An investigation has found that the payment giants are failing to stop their networks being used to make transactions on unlicensed sites despite a previous pledge to do so.Last week, Mastercard was offered alongside cryptocurrency as a payment method on nine websites targeting UK customers with deals for casino games and live sports betting.Visa was also offered on two of those sites. Both companies are understood to profit from the arrangements, earning a small fee each time a transaction is made

I adore my children. I’m also scared that one day my son will kill me

I am staring at the faces of women on my screen, transfixed by emotions too complex to disentangle; discernible, though, are grief, rage... and fear.For the women pictured are some of the more than 170 who have been killed by their sons in the UK in the past 15 years