Fewer under-25s leaving home, and older renters being priced out of ownership or solo renting, is fuelling a change in house-share demographics

When Nicola Whyte first moved into a four-bedroom house share in Balham 16 years ago, she never imagined she would still be living there at 45. But with rents soaring, and ongoing challenges in saving up for a house deposit, she has ended up as a housemate far longer than she anticipated.

“I didn’t think I was going to be here 16 years later, but I’m not unhappy,” she said. “My friends sometimes think I’m a bit weird, they ask me how I can still do it. But I really enjoy it. The rent is really reasonable, it’s close to work and I think it gives you a deeper understanding of people.”

Susan and John Letby question use of arrest footage filmed at their house in programme about daughter’s crimes

The parents of Lucy Letby have criticised the use of footage due to be aired in a new Netflix documentary about their daughter’s crimes as a “complete invasion of privacy” and said watching it would “likely kill us”.

Susan and John Letby questioned why police had released video of Letby’s arrest, which took place in the couple’s house, and said they were worried it would make their home a “tourist attraction”.

Judge says claim brought by Sex Matters should be made instead by individual who says they have faced discrimination

A legal challenge brought by a charity over transgender people’s access to single-sex facilities at swimming ponds in Hampstead Heath has failed at the high court.

Sex Matters, a UK-wide gender-critical campaign group, sought to take legal action against the City of London, which manages the bathing ponds in north London, arguing that allowing trans people to use the facilities for the gender with which they identified amounted to sex discrimination.

Giel Malual and John Kuei trekked from Dungeness to John o’Groats to raise funds for new schools in Sudan

When Giel Malual set out to walk the length of the UK to raise money to open a school for displaced children from his home country of Sudan, he did not expect the welcome he would receive from the British public.

“All the houses that we slept in, all the welcome that we were given, all the warmth and the support, the cheers and the encouragement that we have received, it has been overwhelming,” said Malual, who completed the 900-mile walk over a month with his friend John Kuei, who is also from Sudan.

Government replaces recruitment goal with plan to increase ‘education exports’ to £40bn a year by 2030

Ministers are scrapping target numbers for international students in the UK and will instead focus on encouraging universities to open hubs abroad, as part of a plan to bring British education to people “on their own doorsteps”.

The government’s new international education strategy will set a target of increasing global “education exports” to £40bn a year by 2030, replacing the previous target – set in 2019 – of recruiting 600,000 international students a year to study in the UK.

For those who have spent years trying to raise awareness, Wes Streeting’s intervention is ‘bittersweet’

When former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson announced her twins had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1), a rare genetic condition that causes muscle wastage, the news quickly made front page news.

The call for SMA to be added to newborn screening sprang to national attention and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, was quick to respond, saying Nelson was “right to challenge and criticise how long it takes to get a diagnosis”.

Housing crisis reaches UK’s oldest generations as high private rents and lack of social housing hits pensioners

The housing crisis has reached the country’s oldest generations, charities have warned, with a growing number of people over the age of 60 seeking help for homelessness.

Housing charities said they had seen cases of people over-60 developing health problems from being forced to sleep in their car for months, having to sleep on camp beds in emergency shelters and seeking homelessness support even while suffering illnesses such as cancer.

Exclusive: Planners behind postwar new towns hit out at government over lack of ambition and commitment to social housing

Senior planners involved in building the country’s postwar new towns have raised concerns about the government’s new towns programme, criticising a lack of ambition and insufficient commitment to social housing.

Lee Shostak, former director of planning at Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) in the 1970s and later chair of the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), said the current plan for the new towns may not help people who need homes the most.

Kernewek submitted by government for part III status under European charter for regional or minority languages

The Cornish language is due to be given the same status as Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic after the government submitted it for greater protections under a European charter.

Kernewek, spoken as a first language by 563 people according to the last census, has been recommended by the government for part III status under the European charter for regional or minority languages, the highest level of protection available.

TV personality wants homeowners and businesses to shun ‘dishonest’ firms Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex

Grenfell United and the TV architect George Clarke are calling on businesses and homeowners to take a “moral decision” and boycott the companies criticised in the Grenfell inquiry for “systematic dishonesty”.

Clarke, best known for his series George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, said he had made the decision not to use products from Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex, three companies that were heavily criticised in the findings of the Grenfell inquiry published last year and who have continued to deny wrongdoing.

With a rise in people opting for non-monogamy, experts suggest the idea of the traditional couple is radically changing

“We had an arrangement, be discreet and don’t be blatant. There had to be payment, it had to be with strangers,” sings Lily Allen in her surprisingly candid and detailed album thought to be about her open relationship with her ex-husband.

The album has catapulted the concept of non-monogamous relationships into the spotlight, and couples therapists report that an increasing number of their clients are choosing to go down this route.