A very big thank you to everyone who helped in our fight against Tesco. Now we need to fight Round 2!! This green lung, just to the east of Halstead High Street comprises woodland containing 9 Trees under Tree Preservation Orders and natural springs that provide a wetland environment for amphibians. There are also 16 WWII air raid shelters, 9 of which are listed: as a group this is a very rare thing. Braintree District Council plan to ‘regenerate’ the site, to build more roads, properties and shops and demolish all but one or two of the shelters. We want this land to be conserved for present and future generations, to be a green haven, a heritage site and something that the town can be proud of. Thank you again for your continued support - let's see if people power can win again!!! Eileen Penn Halstead 21st Century Group 'Preserving our past for the future' This is a large area of natural woodland, with several very mature trees, full of wildlife: deer, bats, owls, hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits, newts, frogs etc. It is also home to one of the largest collection of Air Raid Shelters in the country, sixteen in total, which are of a huge historical importance. The many bats are also known to roost in them. These shelters were for the use of the mill workers (Courtaulds Mill was nearby) in Factory Lane East and the Mill Managers who lived in cottages in Vicarage Meadow. It would be lovely if this could all be retained for the people of Halstead and others to visit. All the mature trees could be retained and some of the grassy areas made into parkland, with the rest being maintained as a nature reserve.. Each air raid shelter could have an information board, with likely items from the war years on display. And the many deer and other animals could be allowed to continue roaming free. Alison shea

Cleaners are as integral to the team as shop assistants, managers, and directors. Outsourcing the cleaning services is demeaning, discriminatory and clearly counter to your founder's vision. We are grateful to Polly Toynbee for alerting us to the situation in a recent Guardian article. For some of us, it is so unjust and morally repugnant that we intend to boycott John Lewis, Waitrose and Greenbee until this injustice is put right - and encourage others to do likewise.

Are insurance companies profiteering?

If this information is made widely to the Public, I see no reason why people would not support a popular suggestion.

Because teams need to learn to not use gambling sponsors on there shirts

This is important because if we allow online poker sites to ignore rules then it will continue to be the norm. Where you have no consumer rights. Bad behaviour and fraud is endemic in online poker by staff.

I have worked for Costa for almost 9 months now, and it's certainly been a mixed bag. When I started I knew the job was going to be difficult, but what encouraged me to join was the promise of great benefits and a great wage. This was true, at the beginning. To put it bluntly, costa employees are NOT fairly paid for their work. The job is hard. Constantly on your feet for hours, jumping from station to station to meet ridiculous targets while ensuring you always meet a "brand standard" regardless of how exhausted, understaffed or overworked you are. You won't just be just making coffee, you'll be cleaning absolutely everything constantly, cooking food, serving customers, learning the process to correctly make new drinks that change frequently, carrying heavy trays, using dangerous equipment, and the list goes on. Staff are forced to work to a ridiculous standard while on shift, but when at home, you also have a lot of extra training (homework) that needs to be done before you can get your first pay rise. It's absolutely ludicrous. Staff are skilled and trained to achieve these goals, but we are never compensated for all the hard work we are expected to put in. Shifts will never end when they are scheduled to, meaning a 9-hour shift can quickly become a 10-hour shift if not more, which would be fine if we had longer than a measly 30 minutes to recharge. I was taking all of this on the chin though, as were my colleagues until something came to light. The store I work at is located in a retail park, with tens of others shops located around. It turns out that every single other business is paying their staff MORE than what we get paid at costa. I don't mean to compare, but one of these stores is a very simple basic retail store, where I know from first-hand experience the responsibility and expectations are MUCH lower. They are making over £10 an hour meanwhile costa employees remain on even less than £10 per hour. This is unacceptable. The cost of living is rising continuously. Essentials are more expensive, bills, rent, tax, food, water, everything is going up continuously. We are tired of living on the crust of the breadline while dedicating so much of our time and effort to maintaining the standards Costa hopes to achieve. We are tired. We demand better treatment, and this starts with paying us what we are worth. The working class are continually exploited by the system we are placed in. We spend our lives working our lives away while being told we should be grateful to make enough to survive. This isn't enough. Time is the most valuable asset we all have, and we cannot and will not be expected to throw it away to companies that do not care about anything other than their profit margins. The only reason these companies have profits is because we are dedicating our lives to making them money. Enough is enough. Collectively we are ALL worth SO much more than what we get, but I cannot speak for the entirety of the working class. I can only speak from my experience and the company I work for. If you work for Costa Coffee, or you sympathise with fellow workers who are making barely enough to get by, please share a hand (or a signature) to help us through. It really means a lot. We are strong together. We don't need to accept this anymore.

It is sad to see that the Jacks 4 Acre store is being closed and not converted into a Tesco store. It is often full of customers and even in less busy periods still has people, it also has long opening times which can be invaluable to the locals,. It has good quality products and reasonible pricing, very committed and helpful staff, the store is very disability friendly as well as having great free parking and being on top of Lea green train station and on a bus rout. I know many older and disabled people use it for day to day shopping plus it is great for families with small children in the local area. It is alongside a pharmacy and a bakery meaning that the several housing estates nearby currently are very lucky to have such convenience covering most daily needs. Please join me in convincing Tesco that this Jacks store is truly valued and used by many people and that keeping it open under the Tesco brand is monetarily a good decision.

It's wrong, in todays day and age, that only women are given facilities to change nappies and care for their kids. Come on Starbucks: sort it out!

Because it is damaging our environment

It helps us manage our time and gives us the possibility to organise or daily/weekly targets more accurately.

This idea was suggested in The Sunday Times, (9th May 2021), James Timpson column (bottom of page 3 Business & Money section). It will encourage Companies to be more supportive of Charities especially needed now the Government has cut Aid.