The chains are taking over Let Camden be Camden We are the owners of My Village, serving fresh daily food in a homely, rustic and handmade environment. For over 10 years we built My Village, with the help of all our family & friends, layer by layer, plank by plank, as a place which supports the community, its artists, hobbyists and love Offering my village walls for free to exhibit art work. This was not a mass produced 2nd world war cannon wheel, used by the British Army in the 2nd World War. The structure of the sitting area, we brought from a single English family, who had 80s, these pieces of wood, were recovered and restored. This farm was sold to their grandfather, and they discovered that these pieces of wood were from the Spain Armada war, and have been used in the farm in northern England, and neglected since the collapse, in the storm of 1984, we carefully restored the pieces of wood ourselves, and they are now hanging proudly in My Village Cafe. We don’t have WiFi we lose customers, base for social life, books, backgammon, socialise without the screen. The rest of My Village, is made from repurposed wood, from different sources, with equally interesting stories. We did this so we can weave history into the experience and bring it back to life for the Camden’s community. That’s why when you step into My Village you sense history and feel good Vibes. The journey has not been easy, we established My Village in 2006, in what was then a quiet part of Chalk Farm road, when the cafes and shops around us were struggling and shutting down. However, we survived and then later thrived thanks to the help of all our family, friends and customers. Now 10 year on, we are at risk of being shut down, and all that I described above, becoming forgotten history again. Most of Camden is being divided between a few private landlords, supported estate agents, and their aim is agree to raise all of the rent across Camden, making it impossible for independent small business owners to survive, your only chance of survival in this new world, is if you are major chain store, your own landlord or lucky enough to have a decent landlord who isn’t playing the game. This is not only about small business owners, but its also about the people and students of Camden not having access to affordable food & drink. The chains will reduce the quality, the originality of Camden, and raise its prices, making it just another conformist area of London, not letting Camden be Camden. As part of this wider game, our landlord has also started to demand an unrealistic rise in our rent, which would make it impossible for My Village to continue serving Camden. Camden is dominated by three landlords and Bruce estate agent and  they are rising the rent to unbearable and unsustainable levels. Their aim is to push out small business and attract big chains  to Camden . This would truly be terrible detrimental to this area . It would become another clone of many high street and loose the very uniqueness that has made it such a tourist magnet over so many decades.  If you believe that, its our duty to protect Camden, if you believe that Camden should be as free as possible from Chains, if you believe that Camden should keep its history, its originality, if you believe that my village and many like it, should have a right to survive,to keep Camden not be converted to another common, soulless business area, then please sign this petition and lend your support to this cause. For further information about My Village Café please visit. Facebook of My Village Café. Website of My Village café. www.myvillagecafebar.co.uk. Trip adviser.  the guardian link: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-guardian/20170306/281706909472538 My Village Cafe S Hamarash 07737892812

The new government policies that came into force yesterday have been assessed as pushing an extra 200,000 children into poverty. One of the changes effectively punishes the 3rd child and treats them differently to their older siblings. It also places unbearable pressure on the mother to put in an official form whether she has been raped or not. Given that most rapes go unreported, or do not reach court due to the high attrition rates for sexual offences, how exactly are women in this position supposed to be able to prove their rape? How many women will choose not apply rather than relive the trauma of the assault? This new approach also penalises parents who already have a 3rd child, and who may need state support in the future due to their circumstances changing. Only their first 2 children are eligible for financial support, again effectively discriminating against the 3rd child. This is blatantly unfair, and against the rights of the child and the mother. It's crucial that this change is challenged and if necessary taken through the courts and all the way to the ECHR- for the sake of children and families. This needs to be challenged by all political parties to send a strong signal to the Government that it cannot get away with treating its citizens in this cruel and inhuman way.

It is abhorrent that in a country as wealthy as ours, a man has been allowed to die on the streets of Glasgow because he had nowhere to go. Glasgow City Council website states that: “As a minimum, the council will arrange for you to receive: Advice and Information Temporary Accommodation” We demand that Glasgow City Council acts immediately to fulfil it's duty to the people of Glasgow. Everyone who presents themselves at a Council facility as homeless, should immediately be provided with somewhere safe and warm to stay, until such times as they are able to find permanent accommodation. Furthermore, we demand an end to the policy of abandoning our friends who are deemed to have made themselves intentionally homeless. This unfairly punishes people unfamiliar with the law or who are victims of bullying by rogue landlords.

The CYCLE HUB will compliment our beautiful coastline whilst providing a 'stand-out' attraction for the many cyclists, tourists and general public whom already frequent the Spanish Battery. The development will assist with the enhancement and preservation of the Tynemouth conservation area and local heritage for generations to come. North Tyneside attracts approximately 5.8 million visitors each year who inject £279 Million into the local economy, supporting over 3500 jobs. This proposal will open a disused private garden into a considerate, visually low-impact CYCLE HUB that will only be visible from the southern aspect on the River Tyne. From the outset the building has been sensitively designed to ensure the iconic views to and from the Brigade Watch House remain unspoilt. The building will be sunk beneath a manicured lawn at the same level as the current garden. We have even gone as far as to store refuse bins below ground level. Two large car parks already exist to provide customers with parking. Additional spaces will be allocated for the sole use of the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigades response vehicles, whilst residents parking will remain untouched. Those living on the Battery will be un-effected by the building as the aim is to cater for passing trade that already exists. The vast majority of our intended customers will arrive by foot or cycle. Our vision is to provide Tynemouth with a gateway amenity that links to the National Cycle Network and provides a valuable facility for Tynemouth residents and the wider general public. The development will ensure a notable finishing point for those tackling the challenge of the Coast to Coast/Coast to Castles/Great North Bike Rides. In essence the Cycle Hub will establish Tynemouth as a key destination within the cycling community. A multitude of independent reporting commissioned by UK GOV indicates that development and investment in cycling infrastructure and sustainable transport provides the following: • Creates inward investment to an area. • Brings more jobs and positively effects the labour market, contractors and wider infrastructure/services. • Increases health of those in the area, with exercise in excess of Chief Medical Officers guidelines. • Boosts the local economy and business • Creates a modal shift in the well being of individuals. • Increases social inclusion and connectivity. • Makes better cities and neighbourhoods. • A reduction in Crime Rate. • An increase in rental and property prices. • Eases congestion. • Improves air quality. The North East of England is renowned for its warmth and hospitality, we look forward to providing a facility that welcomes one and all.

Some branches of Subway, the chain of sandwich shops, recruit staff to be so-called "Apprentice Sandwich Artists" - often for less than £4 an hour, sometimes for as long as 14 months. By claiming that the staff are apprentices, bosses avoid paying the legally required minimum wage. But these aren't real apprenticeships. Young people hired as apprentices are doing almost exactly the same work as their co-workers who are paid at the legal minimum or above. It's not a training scheme, its exploitation.

Theresa May has begun the process of Britain leaving the European Union. This raises the question of the rights of EU nationals presently living in Britain, who make a huge contribution to our society. The government has refused to guarantee these rights, saying it will wait until there is a deal involving British nationals who live in the rest of Europe. But people are not bargaining chips. The government’s attitude means terrible insecurity for EU nationals and their families. EU nationals who have come to live or work or study in Britain should have their rights guaranteed now —full rights, indefinitely. Anything else means that at least some people will be forcibly removed from Britain, families torn apart, valuable workers lost and there will be even more restrictions on those who are allowed to stay. Already any EU national applying for proof of residency must now show they have been living and working in Britain for the past five years. They are required to provide documents for every occasion they have left Britain in that period. Those who have not been working must reportedly show they took out comprehensive health insurance—a requirement that was little known until recently. The government’s refusal to grant workers’ rights is already hitting key services. Only 96 nurses joined the NHS from other European nations in December 2016 – a drop from 1,304 in July that year. This comes at a time when there are 24,000 nurse vacancies unfilled and the government’s withdrawal of bursaries for trainee nurses is making matters worse. The government must guarantee EU nationals full rights now. Initial signatories: Lord Peter Hain, David Lammy MP, Claude Moraes MEP, Julie Ward MEP, Ulrike Schmidt, Waltham Forest Amnesty Group, Dr Tommy Tomescu Alliance Against Romanian and Bulgarian discrimination, Weyman Bennett Stand Up To Racism Sabby Dhalu Stand Up To Racism, Salma Yacoob, anti-war activist Kevin Courtney NUT Gen Sec, Dave Ward CWU Gen Sec, Len McCluskey Unite, Roger Mckenzie Unison ass Gen Sec, Mick Cash RMT Gen Sec, Ronnie Draper BFAWU Gen Sec, Ian Hodson BFAWU Nat President, Rabbi Lee Wax, Dr Shazad Amin CEO MEND, Dr Lucia Pradella Freedom of Movement Campaign This statement is featured in today's Independent online and 30 March daily edition http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/article-50-brexit-eu-nationals-rights-protected-guaranteed-letters-a7655796.html Like the Stand Up to Racism facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/events/400307423679253/ EU nationals are being used by the government as bargaining chips in "Brexit" negotiations, leaving them with an uncertain future. The government must confirm their right to stay in the UK with guaranteed rights now.

1. We owe it to the members of the thousands of genuine co-operatives in the United Kingdom, to make sure that the integrity of the word "co-operative” is maintained. 2. The exists a deperate need for a real 'challenger bank', which needs to be cutomer led and co-operatively ownwed.

Self employed people generally work over 50 hours a week - many work considerably longer hours. They get no job security or holiday allowance. Their salary is not paid if they are sick and yet they contribute hugely to the nation's wealth. Many self employed people manage all aspects of their business from the PR, to office admin, to ensuring that they keep up to date with H&S, keeping accounts etc as well as delivering the core nature of their business. A three monthly submission process of tax return would create an unacceptably huge administrative burden on self employed people. It would stifle our collective ability to deliver our core business. It would discourage entrepreneurialism. In terms of the arts and third sector self-employment - it would add further administrative duress to an already ailing and underfunded landscape.

The IMF, the Bank for International Settlements, and many financial experts are warning of a new global financial crash far worse than 2008, caused by the same forces: the unbridled speculation in derivatives, and outright criminal activity, of City of London and Wall Street megabanks. Under current policy and legislation, government bailouts and “bail-ins” (the confiscation of assets and even individual bank deposits to prop up failing banks) will be used to attempt to save the financial system yet again. The City of London and Wall Street Too-Big-To-Fail (TBTF) banks have received US$19 trillion in bailouts since 2008, even as brutal austerity has been applied in the UK, USA and other nations. The TBTF banks are now 40% larger than in 2008. They remain heavily invested in derivatives, the world trading centre for which is London. Derivatives, such as the infamous mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the 2008 crash, now total US$1.2 quadrillion, compared with a global GDP of only US$50 trillion. While not lending to the real economy, the London/Wall Street banks have engaged in drug money laundering, financing terrorism, tax evasion, mortgage fraud and outright theft from their customers, for which they have been fined tens of billions of dollars. The UK’s National Crime Agency reported in May 2015, “We assess that hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars almost certainly continue to be laundered through UK banks, including their subsidiaries, each year.” Late 2016 stress tests conducted by the Bank of England showed that the major UK banks are woefully undercapitalised. Their derivatives holdings, aptly termed by Business Insider “unexploded nuclear bombs nestling deep in the financial system”, dwarf their assets (lending) and deposits. In the inevitable next crisis, major banks would likely collapse, triggering a meltdown of the trans-Atlantic financial system. The UK Parliament passed the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. It, however, merely provided for “ring-fencing”—separating “investment” and commercial banking within each bank, but, unlike Glass-Steagall, allowing them to remain under the same roof and be done by the same company. This “solution” was denounced by knowledgeable members of both the House of Commons and Lords as simply window dressing which would allow the present, wildly speculative practices of the TBTF to continue. Why full Glass-Steagall separation? The USA’s 1933 Glass-Steagall Act strictly separated deposit-taking commercial banks from the “investment” banks whose wild speculation had caused the Great Depression. Glass-Steagall operated for 66 years and made systemic banking crises impossible. But the City of London’s 1986 “Big Bang” financial deregulation, followed by the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, which both London and Wall Street had demanded, led to the 2008 crash. Support for full-scale Glass-Steagall is non-partisan: In the USA, both the Democratic and Republican Parties adopted it in their 2016 platforms, and the AFL-CIO (the central labour federation) has endorsed it. In the UK, 445 MPs and Lords from all parties voted for it in 2013, many of them warning that ring-fencing would not work. The late Labour MP and former cabinet member Michael Meacher said, “It must be obvious to everyone that this device [ring-fencing] will be breached in no time by regulatory arbitrage in the City of London where all the big banks employ armies of lawyers and accountants for just this purpose.” Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell, a former member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and “Father of the House of Commons” until he retired in 2015, said, “What I mean by a complete return to Glass-Steagall is that we should have none of this nonsense of ring-fencing, which used to be called Chinese walls. It never works. Chinese walls turned out to be papier-mâché. I worked in the City for 40 years and I promise Members that it is impossible to make that work.” He was echoed by Lord Nigel Lawson, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer had supervised the “Big Bang”, but in the 2013 debate and ever since has acknowledged that the repeal of Glass-Steagall was a dreadful mistake. In the Guardian of 11 August 2015, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell wrote that “the Corbyn campaign is advocating a fundamental reform of our economic system”, to “include the introduction of an effective regulatory regime for our banks and financial sector”, and “a full-blown Glass-Steagall system to separate day-to-day and investment banking” (emphasis added). Only an aroused, mobilised population can ensure that Glass-Steagall is adopted now, before the TBTF banks crash.

FutureTech is an excellent provision for the children of Warrington who believed in and chose a completely different approach to learning. It's unique selling point was small numbers, small class sizes and work experience. Numbers for the school may be low but the grass roots difference that it is and has made to those attending is imperative for our town. Plus the intake number was originally set at 200 (changed to 300) and currently has 187 students. Some (NOT ALL) of the children there did not engage in the schools that they have left, for a myriad of reasons but under FutureTechs tuition and guidance have engage with education again and gained confidence and self worth beyond measure. These kids will now be left to find new school placements (often to places that will not offer the subjects they are taking now) and will be disrupted right in the middle of their preparation for their GCSE's.

As the North East is one of the most unemployed areas in the country, an additional loss of around 400 jobs, on top of the jobs lost last year from steel works closures, would be a massive loss to the area and would also see a number of families left without an income.

The magnificent Galloway Viking Hoard, buried in the region’s soil 1,000 years ago for safekeeping, should have its home in Kirkcudbright’s new art gallery. We are calling on Fiona Hyslop to help make sure this happens and The National Museum of Scotland to agree. This would be good for tourism and the economy in a region that has suffered greatly in recent years and would make Scotland’s 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology something to celebrate.