Parenting advice on social media is often poor quality, says Phillipson

Parents who turn to TikTok influencers and Instagram gurus for advice on everything from potty training to childhood vaccination are at risk of falling victim to misleading and poor quality information, the education secretary has warned.Bridget Phillipson was speaking at the launch of the government’s “Best Start in Life” campaign – sometimes described as Sure Start Mark 2 after the last Labour government’s early years policy, regarded by many as its finest achievement.“Becoming a parent for the first time, especially if you’re in a less well-off community, can be incredibly isolating and very lonely, and it’s therefore understandable that parents seek to access support online,” she said during a visit to a family hub in Peterborough on Monday.“But some of that information can really vary in quality. Some of it will be poor quality or misleading,” she said, adding: “I’m concerned that parents often see conflicting advice online that makes them worry about whether they’re doing the right thing

‘Frightened to get out of their cars’: Britain’s toxic race debates threaten overseas care workers

They have travelled thousands of miles to care for the most vulnerable people in society. But care workers recruited overseas to fill much-needed roles are increasingly facing racist abuse in the UK, industry insiders have warned, as the country’s immigration debate becomes increasingly toxic.Staff working with elderly and disabled service users have been advised to travel to work in racially mixed groups and carry panic alarms. The measures follow a surge in reports of “verbal abuse and spitting” from strangers since the summer, said Nadra Ahmed, the executive chair of the National Care Association (NCA), which represents about 5,000 providers.It comes against a backdrop of charities also warning of growing intimidation, racial abuse and threats of violence towards staff and beneficiaries

Dementia risk for people who quit smoking in middle age ‘same as someone who never smoked’

People who stop smoking in middle age can reduce their cognitive decline so dramatically that within 10 years their chances of developing dementia are the same as someone who has never smoked, research has found.Kicking the habit halves the rate of decline in verbal fluency and slows the loss of memory by 20%, according to a study of 9,436 people in England, the US and 10 other European countries.The findings add to a growing body of evidence that quitting smoking can slow the rate of mental deterioration that ageing brings and thus help prevent the onset of dementia.“Our study suggests that quitting smoking may help people to maintain better cognitive health over the long term even when we are in our 50s or older when we quit”, said Dr Mikaela Bloomberg of University College London, the lead researcher.“We already know that quitting smoking, even later in life, is often followed by improvements in physical health and wellbeing

Education cuts in prisons ultimately endanger the public, watchdog says

Cuts to education in prisons are derailing offenders’ work and training and ultimately endangering the public, the prisons watchdog has warned.Repeat offenders “cause mayhem” in their communities because of the failure of prisons to provide education, training and work that could help to break the cycle of offending, the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said.A thematic report from the inspectorate said “this already unacceptable situation” was only likely to get worse as real-terms cuts began to “eat into already stretched education provision”.The Guardian disclosed last month that prisons were cutting frontline spending on education by up to 50%, despite promises from Keir Starmer to improve “access to learning” in last year’s general election manifesto.The spending cuts are being introduced as the government rolls out new education contracts across prisons in England and Wales

Woman, 53, becomes UK’s longest survivor of heart and lung transplant

At the age of 15, Katie Mitchell was told by medics that she was nearing the end of her life after suffering irreversible lung damage and heart failure from a rare congenital disease.But she defied the odds thanks to a heart and lung transplant, and at the age of 53 she has become the UK’s longest-surviving recipient of such a procedure.Mitchell was diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome when she was 11. She had high blood pressure in her pulmonary arteries, which caused an increased resistance to blood flow through the lungs, which led to irreversible lung damage and heart failure.Mitchell had her combined transplant at Royal Papworth hospital in September 1987, a procedure so rare that only about five are carried out in the UK each year

Two years after school phone bans were implemented in Australia, what has changed?

Phone bans are now well-established in many Australian primary and secondary schools. Have they made a difference?Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen Australian Christian College, a high school in the Melbourne outer suburb of Casey, implemented a phone ban on its campus, there were multiple reasons for the crackdown. Peer conflicts between students were escalating online, students were struggling to focus and teachers observed “notification-driven code-switching” in their students.“When a phone is within reach, a student’s mind is only ever half in the room,” the school’s principal, Caleb Peterson, says. “We wanted their whole attention back