Pebbles Academy was graded ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ in two quality indicators.

An independent special school based in Muirkirk was placed under the microscope during a visit from the HMIE Scotland.

Pebbles Academy was graded ‘good’ across the quality indicator relating to learning, teaching and assessment and ‘satisfactory’ in the quality indicator relating to raising attainment and achievement.

According to the report, Pebbles Academy Muirkirk is an independent special school. The proprietor is Pebbles Care.

The school is registered to provide education for up to 25 secondary aged young people. There are 20 young people on the school roll.

All young people are care experienced and have faced “significant disruption” to their wellbeing and education, the report says.

An extract from the report outlined the school’s key strengths, saying senior leaders and staff successfully built a “respectful and nurturing” environment where young people form “positive relationships” with staff.

In addition, they ensure that they treat young people with “dignity,” helping young people engage in their learning and behave “respectfully.”

The report also notes how staff provide “motivating activities” which were “matched well” to young people’s needs and interests. They use digital technologies effectively to introduce and prepare young people for learning.

The praise continued; young people who regularly attend school achieve Qualifications Scotland National Qualification awards across a “range of subjects.”

And the young people are developing “valuable skills” for life beyond school including decision‑making, teamwork and vocational skills.

Areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from the head of education.

The report states: “Staff should further strengthen approaches to help young people become more independent when learning.

“Senior leaders and staff should work with partners to improve young people’s attendance and reduce late coming at school. They should work with local authority partners to ensure all young people receive their entitlement to a full-time education.

“Senior leaders and staff should continue to develop approaches to raising attainment. They should work to ensure that all young people leave school with appropriate qualifications.”

David McKellar, HM Inspector, said in a letter: “We are confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and so we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The proprietor will inform parents/carers about the school’s progress as part of its arrangements for reporting on the quality of its schools.”

The new club shop has officially opened at The Bridges, promising a fresh shopping experience for supporters and visitors alike.

The new store launched on Friday, June 12, and was opened by SAFC legend Gary Bennett MBE and club mascots Samson and Delilah.

(Image: The Bridges Sunderland)

The city centre shop complements the club’s flagship store at the Stadium of Light and will stock a wide range of gifts and merchandise, including the newly launched Hummel training wear collection.

More product ranges, including home, away, and third kits, are set to be released throughout the summer.

Saturday, June 13, saw further celebrations with giveaways and a mascot appearance.

(Image: The Bridges Sunderland)

Karen Eve, centre director at The Bridges, said: “The arrival of the official SAFC store is a fantastic addition to the centre and is highly anticipated by fans who are still celebrating the team qualifying for Europe.

“Sunderland AFC supporters are incredibly passionate, and we’re delighted to bring them a new store ahead of the new season.”

Terry Stephenson, head of marketing at Sunderland AFC, added: “This is about being where our supporters are.

(Image: The Bridges Sunderland)

“It’s great to have the club back in the city centre, and The Bridges is exactly the right home for our new store.

“Working with Fanatics, we now have two stores our fans can be proud of, and with the feel-good factor from the end of last season still alive and kicking, there’s never been a better time to open our doors.”

The opening marks the club’s permanent return to The Bridges since 2018, following several highly successful festive pop-up stores in Central Square.

(Image: The Bridges Sunderland)

Pamela Morrow, director of retail stores at Fanatics, said: “We’re excited to be opening a new official store in The Bridges, giving supporters an additional destination for official club merchandise in the heart of the city.

“Sunderland fans are incredibly passionate and deserve the best, and we’re committed to continuing to enhance their retail experience, both at this new store and at the Club Store at the Stadium of Light.”

The new store opens Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm, and Sundays from 10am to 4pm.

Mally Stubbings was on a family holiday with her three children, two grandchildren, son-in-law, brother and sister-in-law when she fell ill

A grandmother from Lincolnshire is stuck in Spain with no idea when she can return home after she had a brain haemorrhage on holiday in Benidorm. Mally Stubbings, from Boston in Lincolnshire, was placed in intensive care on Tuesday, June 9, following a CT scan which detected a minor bleed on her brain.

While she has since been moved from the intensive care unit, she continues to be hospitalised a week on, with her family uncertain about when she might be discharged, let alone able to travel home, reports Lincolnshire Live.

Her sister-in-law, Natalie Hancock, said: “She’s still stuck in the hospital in Benidorm, she’s not in intensive care any more, she’s on a normal ward, but they have told us she’s not allowed to fly back to England because of the air pressure. They’ve got no idea when she’s going to be discharged.”

The 50 year old had been enjoying a family break in Spain with her three children, two grandchildren, son-in-law, brother and sister-in-law when the incident occurred. Mally has stage three terminal lung cancer, and on Friday, May 8, she completed two years of treatment aimed at prolonging her life.

Natalie explained that owing to Mally’s treatment, they had been prevented from taking a proper family holiday and were keen to do something meaningful together to create lasting memories. Mally travelled out with her children and grandchildren on Tuesday, June 2, and was later joined by her brother Stuart and Natalie on Tuesday, June 9, which they had arranged as a surprise.

However, Mally became severely ill at the beginning of the holiday due to a stomach infection, and was taken into hospital on Monday, June 8, before being discharged the next day. Then on Wednesday, June 10, she lost the ability to walk and experienced several vacant seizures, prompting her family to rush her to A&E.

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Natalie said: “An ICU doctor came and said we are going to admit her to the ICU as she has a small bleed on the brain. She was in the ICU for a full day and night, and then she was moved to a normal ward and has been there since.”

Mally’s partner Carl, her daughter Gypsy and two grandchildren have remained in Benidorm to be with Mally. They were forced to leave the hotel on Saturday, their scheduled return date to the UK, and secured an Airbnb, which cost them £1,000 for the week.

Natalie said: “They have insurance, but it seems you have to pay for everything and then claim it back from the insurance company lately, so we’re in a bit of a predicament, really.”

Natalie, 47, set up a GoFundMe page to assist the family members who have stayed in Spain with Mally, while others had to return home due to work obligations or financial constraints.

She said: “We can’t leave her out there on her own. There’s a massive language barrier in the hospital as well; there is a translator, but you can’t always get hold of her, so they’re having to use Google Translate all the time.”

Natalie added: “We have no clue how long she’s going to be out there.”

The family have explored hiring a private company to organise transport for Mally back to the UK, but say they received quotes exceeding £30,000. Having saved “really hard” for the holiday initially, this is simply not feasible for the family.

Natalie said: “It’s absolutely insane, no normal person has that type of money. “They had all saved really hard, and this holiday was to make memories, and we have no memories, we just have bad ones now.”

You come home after a stressful day and reach out to your cat for a bit of comfort. It hisses. Maybe takes a swipe. Or simply flicks its tail and saunters off without so much as a meow. A dog, by contrast, greets you as though they’ve just won the lottery.

Of course, some owners will argue their cats are very loving, but is it a cat or dog that is actually better for your mood? A Dutch study has just tried to find out. The researchers tracked pet owners across five days to see whether interacting with a dog or cat influences mood in real time.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, used an app, sending out around ten notifications a day for five days – including non‑working days – to catch people in the act of playing with their pet. Whenever participants were pinged, they had to answer quick questions about whether they were interacting with their pet, their current mood, and how stressed they felt (the owner, not the pet).

The researchers found that interacting with a pet was linked to short-term mood improvement – and the species didn’t matter. Both dogs and cats made their owners feel good for a short time. However, despite providing a short boost of happiness, cats and dogs were not able to reduce their owner’s stress. And while dogs just didn’t seem to help, cats seemed to be making things worse.

The results are intriguing, but the study has some limitations. For one, there were far fewer cat owners (36) than dog owners (75), so the comparison isn’t exactly fair. Also, the study simply doesn’t have enough “statistical power” to draw firm conclusions. The researchers acknowledge this themselves.

It should also be considered that real-life data can be messier. For cleaner statistics, the researchers needed to exclude instances in which a cat and dog were present at the same time. But many pet owners, or anyone who has watched an episode of the cartoon Tom and Jerry, will know that multi-pet households don’t always operate in a neat fashion. Sometimes the positive impact may not come from one pet but a combination; however, more research is needed to explore this further.

Pets have personalities

And let’s be fair here, pets have personalities. Just like humans, a dog or cat could be aloof or adoring, lazy or active, goofy or serious. The interaction between owner and pet personality traits can change how we bond, reflecting the psychological concept of attachment. Attachment theory suggests that early-life relationships can shape how we form bonds in adulthood.

It’s also worth noting that the researchers used single‑item questions to measure things like pet interaction. There are clear benefits to this – it keeps the survey short, but it also means we don’t really know what kind of interaction people were having (Were they having a cuddle? A quick pat?). Without that detail, it’s difficult to know how the quality of interactions influenced the findings.

This is important because dogs and cats need different things from our interactions with them. While dogs were domesticated for cooperation with humans, cats were domesticated to manage pests like rodents.

Cats have undergone far less intensive selective breeding than dogs, so they still share traits with the solitary and territorial wildcat – a fact that many owners can attest to. When it comes to understanding our feline friends, it looks like we might be quite bad at recognising when cats are displeased. In fact, those communication problems are also true with dogs – owners don’t always spot when they are anxious or uncomfortable.

Despite this, animals have been used to help improve human wellbeing since the 18th century and decades of replicated evidence doesn’t lie. But the quality and type of interaction between pet and person probably matter a great deal. If your cat curls up on your lap for a nap, your stress might just melt away. But if they want nothing to do with you and meow in sassy objection, then scooping up kitty for a cuddle might just frazzle you further.

Police have released a picture of a man they want to speak to after the group left the Crathorne Hall Hotel without paying, having knocked back drinks at the bar and dined on room service.

It happened on May 11 when a man had booked two rooms at the hotel near Yarm for three adults and four children.

North Yorkshire Police said the party racked up a “large” bar and room service bill, and when asked to pay they left without coughing up.

Police would like to speak to this man. (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

A card used to book the rooms also had insufficient funds to take payment, leaving a “large unpaid bill”.

The man pictured is believed to have “important information” that could help police investigating the alleged fraud.

The man or anyone who knows him is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police by emailing ian.butterfield@northyorkshire.police.uk or calling 101, quoting reference 12260086487.

Blue Talking Therapies has launched an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that enables employers to refer staff directly, offering initial contact within 24 hours and a first assessment within one to two weeks.

The service provides in-person, online, or telephone support and aims to reduce delays in accessing counselling and therapy.

Johnny Morton Blue Talking Therapies with Angela Goggins of Redu (Image: Supplied)

Johnny Morton, operations director at Blue Talking Therapies, said: “Employers want to do the right thing by their staff, but too often support is delayed, fragmented or difficult to access.

“We’ve developed this service to make high-quality therapy quicker, simpler and more responsive for workplaces across the North East.”

The launch comes as the region faces rising mental health challenges.

According to TUC analysis of Health and Safety Executive data, around 29,000 North East workers reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety in the three-year average covering 2022-23 to 2024-25.

The North East also has one of the highest rates of common mental health disorders in England, according to the NHS Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2023-24.

The impact extends beyond individuals, affecting the wider economy and workplace productivity.

The region’s economic inactivity rate is 26.3 percent, higher than the UK average of 21.1 percent.

Workers in the North East also take more days off due to sickness than the national average, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Long waiting times on NHS talking therapy pathways have further increased the burden on employers.

Board papers from Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust show that in February 2025, more than 56 percent of patients in County Durham and more than 57 percent in Tees Valley waited over 90 days between their first and second talking therapy appointments.

Some options within the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust pathways involve waits of several months.

Redu Group chief executive Angela Goggins in Seaham was among the first employers to use the new service.

Ms Goggins said: “Having already used the service for one of our staff, we’ve been really impressed with both the speed of access and the difference it has made.

“Not only are the personal positives for our staff member huge for her, but from a workplace perspective we’ve seen a tenfold increase in productivity and attention to her work.

“Knowing staff can access confidential support quickly and appropriately makes a real difference.”

Unlike traditional EAP schemes, Blue Talking Therapies charges only for services used, without a retainer or sign-up fee.

Individual sessions are priced at £90 per hour.

Available treatments include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), and counselling.

The company says only information needed to arrange next steps is shared with referring employers, with therapy conversations remaining entirely private.

Mr Morton, who has more than 27 years’ experience in mental health, leads the organisation alongside clinical director Rebecca Meagher.

Ms Meagher is an occupational therapist and CBT therapist with more than 20 years of experience.

She said: “Good mental health support should be timely, confidential and clinically robust.

“Our aim is to help people access the right support early, before difficulties become more entrenched, while giving employers confidence that their staff are being properly supported.”

Employers can contact Blue Talking Therapies at enquiries@bluetalkingtherapies.co.uk or by calling 0191 258 4958.

Roy Keane has responded to Gary Neville’s dig about Declan Rice’s switch from Ireland to England as Rice prepares for his fourth major tournament with the Three Lions at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in America.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup well underway, Irish supporters are looking back wistfully at the time when Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side were just two matches away from qualifying for the finals.

A total of 48 nations are enjoying the football spectacle across North America, and it’s difficult not to feel left out as the likes of Scotland and England embark on their transatlantic journey.

There remains significant Irish involvement in the competition, however, with Shamrock Rovers’ Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes delivering an outstanding display as Cape Verde stunned the world by holding Spain to a draw on Monday evening.

While Lopes chose to represent Cape Verde, his family’s homeland, another player who actually appeared for Ireland on no fewer than three occasions is preparing to play for England at this year’s World Cup.

This will mark the fourth major tournament in which Declan Rice has represented England, despite making his debut for the Republic of Ireland in 2019.

Rice famously featured three times under Martin O’Neill – with Roy Keane as his assistant – and Rice’s switch still causes pain.

On the most recent episode of Stick to Football, Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright discussed comparing the England squad of 2026 to that of the 1990s.

Both Neville and Wright insisted on Rice being included in the team, something Keane was uncertain about, with Neville unable to resist mentioning Rice’s Irish history to wind up Keane.

“You’re just a bit upset still because he didn’t choose Ireland, aren’t you?” said Neville, before Keane quickly replied, “No he did choose Ireland. He played for Ireland, so he did choose them. He changed his mind. He did play for them, he kissed the badge as well in one game.”

Since switching allegiances, Rice has established himself as one of the world’s finest midfielders. He was instrumental in Arsenal’s Premier League title triumph, and will be crucial to any success England enjoy this summer in America.

Rice and his English team-mates kick off their tournament on Wednesday, when they face Croatia.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Law enforcement officials disrupted “planned attacks” meant to target the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend for President Donald Trump’s birthday, and multiple people were in custody, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Tuesday.

The nature of the potential threat was not immediately disclosed, with additional details expected to be released once charges are unsealed later Tuesday.

Five people were arrested from states including Ohio, Missouri and California, said a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public.

The FBI learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza on the White House’s South Lawn, “and thanks to the rapid action of the FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Patel said in a post on X on Tuesday morning.

The Secret Service “worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable,” Director Sean Curran said in a separate statement.

Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, sought to tie the fights to larger celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Évian-les-Bains, France, where he was attending the Group of Seven summit, Trump said he had not been briefed on the thwarted plot.

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Évian-les-Bains, France, contributed to this report.

To stay in the top job, a British prime minister has to try and keep certain groups happy. MPs, party members and donors do not like to be ignored.

Nor do the bond markets. And often it feels like they matter the most.

That’s because those markets are what make it possible for governments to spend money. Each of the bonds is essentially a loan from an investor to the state.

In return for the loan, the government pays a certain amount of interest (yield) for a set period, before paying back the original amount.

Governments seen as safe and financially credible can usually borrow at cheaper rates. But if investors become worried about inflation, or excessive borrowing, or weak economic policies or political instability, they might demand higher yields to compensate for the greater risk.

It’s the same principle that applies to ordinary household borrowing. A person with a stable income and a good credit history can borrow more cheaply than someone seen as a financial risk.

Modern governments rely heavily on borrowing to fund public spending on everything from schools to hospitals and defence. This is why they pay such close attention to market confidence.

Within that market are a wide range of investors, including pension funds, banks and insurance companies. Together, their investment decisions determine how expensive it is for governments to borrow money.

If those investors do become worried about a country’s economic management, the government’s borrowing costs go up, leaving less money available for public services, infrastructure, tax cuts or welfare.

The name’s bond

In the UK, total government debt now stands at about £2.9 trillion with interest rates (yields) currently higher than those paid by the US, Italy, France, Canada, Germany and Japan.

Every 1% point rise in yields costs the UK government an extra £16 billion a year in debt interest payments.

And while bond markets may sound technical and distant, their movements can influence everyday household spending. When the interest charged on UK bonds rises, for example, British banks face higher funding costs themselves. This then feeds into higher mortgage rates, more expensive business loans and tighter financial conditions.

Bond markets also affect pensions because pension funds invest heavily in government bonds. Sudden rises in yields can create financial stress for pension funds and affect the value of pension savings.

Taxation is affected too. When governments must spend more money on debt interest payments, they will often have less room to cut taxes or increase spending on public services. In some cases, governments may even need to raise taxes or reduce spending elsewhere to keep public finances under control.

Powerful bonds

A political adviser to the former US president Bill Clinton once joked that he would like to be reincarnated as the bond market because it could “intimidate everybody”.

But if elected governments are constantly worried about what bond markets think, does this limit democratic choice?

Some critics argue that governments have become overly constrained by financial markets and excessively cautious about borrowing and public investment. They question why unelected investors should have so much influence over public policy.

Others respond by saying that bond markets act as an important nudge towards economic stability. Investors are lending real money and naturally want reassurance that governments can manage debt responsibly.

This debate is frequently mentioned in British politics. Comments by Andy Burnham, widely seen as a potential future prime ministerial candidate, that governments had become “in hock to the bond markets” quickly raised questions about how financial markets might react to his economic approach. He later softened his comments in an apparent attempt to avoid unsettling investors.

And the reason why politicians are so careful about unsettling bond markets became painfully clear during the brief premiership of Liz Truss in 2022. When her government announced large unfunded tax cuts, investors were instantly worried about higher borrowing and the lack of a credible fiscal plan.

Bond yields surged sharply and mortgage rates increased as banks and lenders raised borrowing costs. Political pressure on the government quickly became overwhelming. And Liz Truss resigned after just 45 days in office.

None of this means bond markets run the country. Governments still make political and economic decisions. But governments that lose investor confidence can find those decisions becoming much more difficult and expensive to finance.

It also doesn’t mean that markets always get things right. Investors can overreact, panic or misjudge economic conditions. But governments cannot ignore borrowing realities indefinitely, particularly when debt levels are high and inflation remains a concern.

For much of the decade following the global financial crisis of 2007, ultra-low interest rates reduced pressure on governments. Borrowing was relatively cheap and bond markets became less politically visible.

But that changed from 2023. Higher inflation, rising interest rates and elevated public debt have pushed bond markets back to the centre of political debate across many countries.

This helps to explain why discussions about fiscal credibility increasingly dominate modern politics. Bond markets do not decide elections or choose prime ministers. But they can strongly influence what governments feel able to do once elected. And that is why politicians, regardless of ideology, continue to watch them so closely.

Joanne Jakymec, chief Crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “The CPS has decided to prosecute Ajay Pant for breaching Russian sanctions following a National Crime Agency investigation and the seizure of the shadow oil tanker, MV Smyrtos, travelling through the English Channel over the last weekend.”