The centre received an unannounced inspection in January and came out with superb marks with the centre receiving ‘very good’ in two categories and ‘good’ in two others.

A Wishaw nursery has been hailed in a new report from the Care Inspectorate.

Craigneuk Family Learning Centre received an unannounced inspection in January and came out with superb marks with the centre receiving ‘very good’ in two categories and ‘good’ in two others.

The report states: “The vision, values and aims of the service were clearly embedded and consistently reflected in the nurturing, responsive and inclusive practice observed throughout the inspection.

“Leaders had taken an inclusive approach to developing the settings vision and values by consulting with staff, children and families about what was important to them. This supported staff to provide the care and support children needed to flourish.

“Leaders had created conditions where staff felt empowered and confident to lead and initiate change. Staff worked well as a team and demonstrated a commitment to provide a high quality service.

“They were motivated, enthusiastic and spoke positively of how continuous professional development, including using current guidance and research helped to inform their practice.

“Children’s health and wellbeing was supported through daily outdoor play opportunities. We asked the service to monitor the temperature of the playroom when children were moving freely between indoor and outdoor spaces.

“Children enjoyed playing with water, bikes and construction toys outdoors.”

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Inspectors suggested the centre should continue to review outdoor play spaces, through consultation with children, to provide challenges that would support their holistic development. This could include opportunities for adventurous play.

The report also said the children within the setting were having fun and were engaged in their learning.

The report adds: “Staff were knowledgeable and demonstrated a good understanding of what children need to learn and develop. They were responsive to children and interacted in a way that supported their thinking and learning.

“Children’s numeracy and literacy skills were promoted through varied approaches. Children enjoyed listening to stories and singing with staff.

“The use of props helped aid fun and enjoyment, whilst helping to support language development.

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“Children experienced warm, caring and nurturing interactions that helped them feel safe and secure. Staff were gentle and nurturing, narrating and talking to children throughout routines and experiences.

“Relationships with families were strong, respectful and meaningful. Staff valued their connections with families and strived to create a warm, welcoming and inclusive environment, which was mindful of cultural sensitivity and accessibility.”

Since the last inspection the service had underwent extensive refurbishment. This included replacing flooring, painting playrooms and reviewing the layout of all playrooms.

The setting was bright, clean and well maintained, which was contributing towards a warm, safe and well looked after environment.

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“We are not contenders to be in the top five,” Emery said last month.

“There are other teams with more potential than us.”

That was followed by silence when he was asked why other teams had more Champions League potential than Villa.

Yet Villa have continued to outstrip expectation after making their worst start to a Premier League season in 28 years with just two points and no goals after four games.

Emery is their biggest asset, having raised the levels and standards at the club since replacing Steven Gerrard in November 2023.

Having taken them to the Champions League for the first time since 1982-83, when it was the European Cup – and then to last season’s quarter-finals – workaholic Emery has transformed Villa.

Of the managers who have taken charge of more than 100 Premier League games, he sits 10th, having earned 1.8 points per game during his 179 games with Arsenal and Villa.

And of the nine above him, only Mikel Arteta, who succeeded Emery at the Gunners, is not a title winner, with Pep Guardiola top on 2.28 points per game.

Emery has improved players, signing Morgan Rogers for £16m from Middlesbrough – when he was not even a guaranteed starter for Boro – and turning him into an England regular within two years.

He drives the players, meticulously planning, and while Villa’s performances have not been exceptional this season, they have found ways to win consistently.

According to Opta, Villa should be 12th – they have an expected points score of 33.8 – demonstrating how Emery has got them overperforming.

He is now doing it without Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and captain John McGinn after losing all three to injury last month while battling financial restrictions as Villa look to comply with Premier League and Uefa rules.

Emery is also trying to end Villa’s 30-year trophy drought, with winning the Europa League a real possibility.

“We are setting our standards high and sometimes we can become frustrated because we are not achieving during the process some results,” Emery said.

“But overall, our consistency is still there and our demand is still there.

“If we are third, it is because we are being consistent and we are being demanding.

“Of course, maybe we can change something but tactically and in our idea of how we are building the team, everything we built before makes sense.

“It is not easy now to change everything. No, it is completely wrong if we are feeling that.”

It comes after a shocking brawl occurred during the under-14s match between Aberkenfig BGC and Trefelin BGC

Adults involved in a shocking brawl which saw them throw punches during an under-14s match in Bridgend have been banned for life following the conclusion of an internal investigation.

Violence broke out late on in Saturday’s fixture between Aberkenfig BGC and Trefelin BGC, with video footage widely shared on social media showing adults running onto the pitch and becoming involved in a physical altercation in front of children.

The match, held at Coleg Cymunedol Y Ddderwen in Tondu, was abandoned by the referee after fighting continued for around 90 seconds.

Onlookers could be heard shouting “it’s just a game” and “you’ve got your boys watching” as several adults grappled and threw punches.

Both clubs confirmed over the weekend that internal investigations were under way. Trefelin BGC has now announced its investigation had concluded, with individuals involved handed lifetime bans.

In a statement posted on social media, the club said: “Following the incident on the weekend an internal investigation has been conducted and individuals involved have been handed a life ban by Trefelin BGC.

“Further investigations are in the hands of the relevant governing bodies.

“We will not be making any further comments.”

Aberkenfig BGC previously described themselves as “extremely disappointed” by the incident and apologised to match officials, players and the wider football community, confirming they would compile a full report for the relevant authorities.

In a statement released on Sunday evening, Trefelin BGC said: “As a club we have been made aware of an incident on social media.

“Trefelin BGC certainly don’t condone this behaviour and are awaiting reports from the relevant match and league officials.

“We are also conducting an internal investigation. Updates will be made in due course.”

The governing bodies are now understood to be examining the matter, with potential further sanctions possible following their review.

The incident is believed to have occurred shortly after a player was sent off late in the game, though both clubs have now stressed that investigations are ongoing.

The footage prompted widespread condemnation online, with many expressing concern at the example set in front of young players.

Further updates are expected once the governing bodies conclude their inquiries.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has delivered the State of the Union. Now the challenge for him is to make that message stick.

His address Tuesday was a declaration of pride in the achievements of his still-young second term, as he boasted of an economic renaissance at home while he’s imposed a new world order abroad. Trump is getting his first opportunity to test drive that midterm year message later this week, when he travels to Texas, where the Latino voters whose shift toward Trump in his successful 2024 reelection campaign highlighted how he had reshaped the Republican coalition.

The White House aims to promote that message to a broader electorate that’s largely disenchanted with Trump’s job performance, while a looming conflict in the Middle East threatens to shift focus from his domestic priorities. Trump also has a proclivity to go off-script during political rallies, such as during a speech last week in Rome, Georgia, asserting he’s “solved” affordability when high prices remain a chief concern for voters.

Still, the themes of economic prosperity and a more secure America that Trump emphasized in his 108-minute speech Tuesday will underpin the broader narrative he and his fellow Republicans will seek to sell to voters this November. A slew of Cabinet officials — including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins — blanketed the airwaves Wednesday, promoting the highlights from Trump’s address.

“This is going to be setting the tone for the following year,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who has close ties with Trump, told The Associated Press.

Presidents often travel immediately after delivering the State of the Union to amplify their agenda. President Joe Biden, for instance, went to swing states such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania the day after his speech in the last two years of his term.

Vice President JD Vance will be first to hit the road with a Thursday visit to a Wisconsin factory. Trump won’t leave the Washington area until Friday, when he heads to Texas, to talk about the economy and energy policies just days ahead of the state’s March 3 congressional primaries. On the day after the State of the Union, the president will spend much of his time participating in meetings at the White House, including policy sessions and a sit-down with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

But Trump — who wove a series of made-for-social media surprises into his address — is known for being able to command attention in a fractured news environment, and he’s likely to find other ways to break through aside from the usual post-State of the Union blitz.

“Donald Trump is a master at the big moments, so he obviously cares a lot about how the speech goes, but what he cares a lot about are the clips that get replayed over and over again from the State of the Union,” said Austin Cantrell, who served as an assistant White House press secretary in Trump’s first term.

Cantrell, who’s now with the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based firm Bridge Public Affairs, said: “I don’t expect this to be some Aaron Sorkin-esque, perfectly choreographed post-State of the Union media fan-out.”

Six years ago, it was Trump’s move to award conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor, that surprised the audience. Tuesday’s address — record-breaking in its length — included similar attention-grabbing moments. He said he’d give the same honor to Connor Hellebuyck, goaltender for the U.S. men’s hockey team, fresh off winning a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy. Trump called Hellebuyck and his teammates into the House chamber, where they were greeted with applause.

White House says Trump will get out on the trail for his party

Trump also used his speech to roll out new proposals to address affordability concerns, while castigating Democrats for opposing policies he said have led to a more prosperous, safer America. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, in Democrats’ response, argued costs remain high for many Americans and families are still struggling under Trump’s policies.

Trump called on both parties to “protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,” and pushed for measures to limit mail-in ballots and tighten voter identification rules, while warning about the dangers of unchecked, illegal migration.

“I do think a lot of the success outlined in the State of the Union will be a part of the Republican message in the fall,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., another close Trump ally, told the AP, pointing to the GOP’s achievements on tax policy and border security. “As far as the president is concerned, I think he’ll be anxious to get on the road and talk about the success.”

Senior White House officials have promised that Trump will travel the country regularly until the midterms. He so far has hit critical battleground states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina on his economy tour, but he also traveled to reliably conservative Iowa and the congressional district of former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. He has boosted candidates — in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, he bantered with Republican Michael Whatley and promoted his Senate run — while sometimes veering far away from the economic points the trips are meant to emphasize.

Just the optics of leaving Washington can help telegraph to voters that a president cares about connecting with them. Edward Frantz, a historian at the University of Indianapolis, said Herbert Hoover — an engineer, self-made millionaire and technocrat — believed he could solve the nation’s ills by working with his team in isolation and rarely leaving Washington. That led to a perception among voters that Hoover simply didn’t care, because they didn’t see him connecting with Americans.

“If you think about a call and response … the call is the State of the Union, and if you really do care about being in touch with others, then what’s the response?” Frantz said. “The best way to be able to see that is by hitting the road.”

How Americans feel about Trump has remained relatively stable throughout his second term, making it unlikely that one speech will meaningfully shift the way he’s perceived. His approval rating has changed very little during his second term, Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling has found, falling only slightly from 42% in March 2025 to 36% in early February.

Nevertheless, the annual address offers Trump the chance to reframe his message, just as it has for presidents who came before him.

Presidential historian Timothy Naftali pointed out that in 1996, Bill Clinton used his State of the Union to set the themes of his Democratic reelection campaign. After George W. Bush’s midterm drubbing in November 2006, the Republican struck a noticeably more conciliatory tone toward the new Democratic leadership that had just taken charge on Capitol Hill.

“The State of the Union, they’re less important than they once were because with a president like Trump, he’s always available,” said Naftali, a senior research scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. “But the State of the Union is an opportunity to reset the president’s agenda or to reaffirm it, and resetting an agenda in the social media era is different from resetting it in previous times.”

___

Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux contributed to this report.

The first Ukrainian drone production factory started operations in Suffolk on Wednesday in a boost for Britain’s defence industry.

Ukrainian firm Ukrspecsystems started work on Wednesday after investing £200m into sites in Mildenhall and Elmsett, expected to create up to 500 British jobs at the sites and the wider UK supply chain.

Luke Pollard, minister for defence readiness and industry, said: “Ukrspecsystems’ new factory is a vote of confidence in UK support and underlines the deepening cooperation between our nations’ defence industries.

“This investment will create up to 500 new jobs in the East of England, drive defence as an engine for growth, and help Ukraine defend itself against Putin’s aggression.”

The UK has previously ordered over 80 SHARK and Mini-SHARK drones from Ukrspecystems’ factories in Ukraine, and hailed the plant opening as a “clear demonstration” of the 100 Year Partnership between the two countries.

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The firm, founded in 2014, produces a variety of drones, which have caused almost $3 billion in damage to Putin’s war machine since February 2022, according to the British ministry of defence.

Valerit Zaluzhnyi, the Ukrainian ambassador to Britain, said on Wednesday the plant represented an expansion of cooperation between the two countries.

“Ukraine is fighting a war amid constant missile strikes, infrastructure destruction and threats to production facilities. Therefore, the launch of production in the UK has a deep strategic logic,” he said on social media.

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“This is not a shift of the centre of gravity away from Ukraine. It is an expansion of our joint capabilities and the creation of a second line of defence that guarantees continuity of production.”

Zaluzhnyi said the centre of engineering expertise would remain in Ukraine while production would be integrated into Britain’s defence industry.

Ukraine’s defence industry has grown fast during the four years of the war with Russia. Its production capacity is estimated at $50–55 billion this year, meeting more than 50% of the Ukrainian army’s needs.

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Kyiv is also now preparing to resume exporting materiel and services for the first time in four years.

Davyd Aloian, deputy secretary of Kyiv’s National Security and Defence Council, said last week that the country could export several billion dollars worth of goods and services in 2026, with a “significantly higher” potential than pre-war exports allowed.

Ukrspecsystems said on its website that it was working in the UK as part of the 1Force consortium, jointly with British Eagle Eye Innovations Ltd and Digital Concepts Engineering Ltd.