31/03/2026

LYFE TUESDAY | MAR 31, 2026

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Romantic marketing pitch o In London’s pubs, love gets PowerPoint makeover

F ED up of swiping left or right on dating apps, young London singles are returning to a classic British way of meeting people – the pub – with a modern twist: A PowerPoint presentation by a close friend pitching them as dating material. Putting together a slide deck is second nature for many younger millennials and older Gen Zers. Now, they are using that skill to enhance their mates’ love lives, just as dating apps are losing their appeal. “I hate the swiping,” said Annie, 27, adding she was keen to see if her friend’s two-minute pitch at a “Date My Mate” event could land her a boyfriend – or at least a first date. Organisers said all 150 tickets for the event, held at a north London pub, were sold in less than five minutes. And they are planning to roll out more, aiming for one a week across the country. Dating apps lose shine Dating apps are fading in popularity in the UK, with usage across the 10 biggest platforms falling 16% between 2023 and 2024, according to Global Dating Insights. Polling shows nearly half of users have had negative experiences on apps such as Tinder and Hinge. At the event, friends crowded around tables with glasses of wine, wearing “Date” or “Mate” stickers, as presenters clicked through slides of flattering holiday snaps and fun facts. “A bit more about Lauren. She’s 30. She’s a structural engineer, so even though she will stop walls from falling down, she’ll always be there to support you. Interesting fact, she’s just about to submit her sexy fantasy romance book to publishers,” said one friend. Having seen similar events in Australia and the US on social media, Emily Churchill, head of marketing at wine company Nice who helped arrange the event, said she knew she had to bring the concept to London. “It’s just so much fun,” she said, adding it gave coupled-up friends a way to help their single mates find love and escape “horrible dating stories.”

CHINA has announced the roll-out of a long-term care insurance system, a move aimed at easing the burden on families caring for the rapidly growing elderly population and bolstering the country’s social safety net. The plan, released by the China’s state council, pledges to provide services or financial support for basic nursing and medical care for people with sustained disabilities lasting six months or more. The official Xinhua news agency said the plan was an important component of China’s social security system and key to “actively addressing population ageing”. The announcement comes around three weeks after China’s National People’s Congress, where authorities said they would refine supportive policies for seniors, including pension financing, wellness and care. By 2035, the number of people aged over 60 in China is expected to reach 400 million – roughly equal to the combined populations of the US and Italy – meaning hundreds of millions of people are set to leave the workforce at a time when pension budgets are already under strain. Experts are warning of further declines in China’s population, which fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025, as the birth rate dropped to a record low. The long-term insurance framework sets a three-year target to build “a unified system covering the entire population”. It follows pilot programmes that began in 2016. For disabled individuals, the programme addresses a fundamental need and dramatically improves people’s quality of life, officials said. “Bathing, haircuts, eating, dressing changes – these are no longer distant hopes for those confined to a sickbed, but rather bedside, accessible, attentive care,” said Wang Wenjun, deputy head of the National Healthcare Security Administration during a recent press conference. Funding will come from employers, individuals and government subsidies, with a total contribution rate of roughly 0.3%. Residents in rural and urban areas will draw from the same fund pool and receive the same benefits, Wang said. China still faces wide discrepancies in care and services between rural and urban areas, and authorities have vowed to“markedly narrow”the rural-urban healthcare gap by 2035. – Reuters China launches long term care insurance system to alleviate ageing challenges An elderly woman wearing a face mask looks on amid blooming trees during cherry blossom season in a park in Beijing, China. OLDER adults who experience frequent disturbing dreams may have a higher risk of developing dementia, particularly men and those in their 60s, an international study has revealed, reported Xinhua. The research, led by the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW), found adults aged 60–69 who reported disturbing dreams were nearly four times more likely to develop

People are welcomed on arrival ahead of ‘Date My Mate’.

‘Vintage’ way of meeting people Those hunting for a match said it was easier for a friend to sell their best qualities – and poke fun at their flaws – with humour and honesty, reported Reuters. “It’s quite retro. It’s a vintage way of meeting people,” said Jonny, 28, a journalist, joking about how he tried to steer his own presentation.

His friend Patrick said the preparation involved “hundreds of photos over WhatsApp, hundreds, and him being incredibly specific about the ones that make him look good”. Laughing about whether the friendship would survive the pitch, Patrick said he was confident the slides were good enough to lead to a wedding some day.

People react as they watch a presentation during ‘Date My Mate’, a live dating night where friends pitch their single friends in north London. – ALL PICS FROM REUTERS

Frequent bad dreams linked to dementia risk in adults aged 60s: Study

The study controlled for a wide range of factors, including sleep problems, medications, physical and mental health, cognitive performance and genetic risk. Several possible explanations for the association are being explored, including early brain changes, overactive threat detection networks or changes in the body’s stress system that are associated with dementia risk. – Bernama-Xinhua

“We found the strongest association in people in their 60s, which may suggest that disturbing dreams could be an early marker of dementia risk for some individuals. It’s important to emphasise that not everyone who experiences disturbing dreams will go on to develop dementia,” said Darren Lipnicki, lead author and research fellow at CHeBA, adding that they may instead be an early warning sign of underlying brain changes.

dementia than those who did not, a UNSW statement said recently. Among men, weekly disturbing dreams were linked to a more than threefold increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to the study published in Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, which analysed data from more than 10,000 adults aged 60 to 89 years across Asia, Europe and South America.