内容摘要：More contentious is the UK's desire to sign what's called a 'veterinary' deal to remove some border checks on food and drink. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister leading these negotiations, told the Commons this week that the objective to lower food and drink costs is in the manifesto, so there is a mandate for it.

More contentious is the UK's desire to sign what's called a 'veterinary' deal to remove some border checks on food and drink. Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister leading these negotiations, told the Commons this week that the objective to lower food and drink costs is in the manifesto, so there is a mandate for it.

His experiences chime with a recent study by Dartmouth College researchers looking at the impact of chatbots on people diagnosed with anxiety, depression or an eating disorder, versus a control group with the same conditions.After four weeks, bot users showed significant reductions in their symptoms – including a 51% reduction in depressive symptoms - and reported a level of trust and collaboration akin to a human therapist.

Despite this, the study's senior author commented there is no replacement for in-person care.Aside from the debate around the value of their advice, there are also wider concerns about security and privacy, and whether the technology could be monetised."There's that little niggle of doubt that says, 'oh, what if someone takes the things that you're saying in therapy and then tries to blackmail you with them?'," says Kelly.

Psychologist Ian MacRae specialises in emerging technologies, and warns "some people are placing a lot of trust in these [bots] without it being necessarily earned"."Personally, I would never put any of my personal information, especially health, psychological information, into one of these large language models that's just hoovering up an absolute tonne of data, and you're not entirely sure how it's being used, what you're consenting to."

"It's not to say in the future, there couldn't be tools like this that are private, well tested […] but I just don't think we're in the place yet where we have any of that evidence to show that a general purpose chatbot can be a good therapist," Mr MacRae says.

Wysa's managing director, John Tench, says Wysa does not collect any personally identifiable information, and users are not required to register or share personal data to use Wysa.Prof Lyall said: "The minister at the end of Sunset Song, in tribute to the local fallen war dead of World War One, indicates that we must remember the past and the dead to better understand our present condition and build a better future.

"It would be a sad irony then if the church, with its own long history, were to be neglected."It would be wonderful to see it as a cultural heritage site with Gibbon's life and reputation at its centre."

The Church of Scotland said it expected the main church building would go up for sale later this year.Its congregation for Sunday services is small, in what is a quiet rural area of just a few hundred people.