James Clerk Maxwell stands beside Einstein and Newton in the trinity of physicists who explained how the universe works. The other two are global superstars, but Maxwell is barely known in his own country, Scotland. To celebrate a great man and encourage future generations to take risks and think big, Maxwell should be the face on the next RBS banknote. The greatest Scotsman to ever live deserves to be a household name.

Small and medium-sized businesses in the UK are paying a disproportionate amount of tax, which is manifestly unfair. In addition, the Austerity measures and severe cuts to public services would be unnecessary, if this revenue were collected.

We are far to dependant on the banks. If you were unable to get a bank account life would be ormost impossible Consider paying bills . receiving your salary . getting a rental property. The effects are far reaching . The banks charge what ever they want and increase charges when ever they want . You have to have a min monthly earning either £500 or £1000 or they will not give you an account. Looks like the banks run the UK not the Gov.

Hundreds of thousands of Tenants across the United Kingdom who pay their rent on time and without arrears are being indirectly discriminated against by the credit reference agencies who do not treat tenants rental payments the same as mortgage payments made by the landlords and those who own their own homes. This means that Tenants who later would like to get onto the property ladder often find themselves with a much lower credit score than someone who has paid exactly the same in mortgage payments over the same period of time which puts them at a disadvantage when applying for credit with a bank or building society.

The National Minimum Wage is currently set at £6.70 per hour for anyone over 21, which will go up to £7.20 (for over 25s) in 2016. This is calculated by the Low Pay Commission and is the lowest amount any UK employee can legally be paid per hour. The Living Wage is a term defined and set by the Living Wage Foundation and is calculated according to the real cost of living, including food, fuel, childcare and more. This amount is determined by independent academics. The UK Living Wage is currently set at £8.25 per hour nationally and £9.40 per hour in London. (in recognition of the fact that the cost of living is higher in London). Across the UK, one in five working people currently earns less than the Living Wage. While the introduction of the National Minimum Wage has been almost universally acknowledged as a significant step forward for the lowest paid in society, it still falls way short of the amount people actually need to live on. The chancellor has announced that the National Minimum Wage is due to rise to £7.20 per hour for over 25s in 2016, while at the same time, in a deceitful sleight of hand, he is attempting to rebrand this as the "National Living Wage". While that 50p per hour increase over the current National Minimum Wage will be welcomed by the several million people who are currently paid the National Minimum Wage, it will still be £1.05 per hour less than the UK Living Wage and £2.20 per hour less than the London Living Wage. If the Government were proposing to increase the National Minimum Wage to the amounts the Living Wage Foundation have deemed to be what people actually need to live on, then they would be entitled to re-name it as a "National Living Wage", but if not, then they have no right to hijack the term Living Wage and it should instead be referred to as what it actually is - an increased National Minimum Wage. It seems they are attempting to deliberately muddy the waters and steal the clothes of the true Living Wage, in order to deceive the public into thinking the increased National Minimum Wage will be an amount people can live on, when that is not the case. This petition urges the heads of news at BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, as well as the editors of national newspapers, to recognise their responsibility to the British public to communicate accurately and transparently and so to only use the term "increased National Minimum Wage", as that is what it is. We also expect news presenters, correspondents and columnists to challenge any attempts to use the misleading term "National Living Wage" and to explain to viewers and readers why that term is inaccurate and misleading and to explain what the true UK Living Wage and London Living Wage are and to make it clear that they are set by the Living Wage Foundation, as opposed to the National Minimum Wage, which is set by the Low Pay Commission. But why does it matter what it is called? It matters because Britain remains an extremely unequal society, in which there are millions of people in fuel poverty and an increasing number reliant upon food banks for basic necessities. However an increasing number of these people are in work, yet they are not paid enough to sustain their basic needs. A growing number of employers are voluntarily opting to pay all their staff at least the true UK Living Wage and this is to be commended - as they really are ensuring their employees are paid enough to live on and they should be recognised for doing so. It may well seem like a semantic and technical argument, but the widespread mis-use of the term "National Living Wage" is intentionally misleading and is giving people the false impression that once it is introduced, every employee will be paid an amount they can live on, when in reality there will still be several million of the lowest paid people who will welcome the 50p per hour pay rise, but who will be receiving an increased National Minimum Wage, not a National Living Wage. The more people sign this petition, the more difficult news organisations will find it to ignore this issue and the more likely it will be that we can stop the misleading misuse of an important and meaningful term, which affects millions of the lowest paid workers in Britain. Thank you for your support and please forward this to people you know.

Negative official interest rates make it more likely that retail banks will pass on the negative rate to you. When they do, you’ll no longer earn interest on your savings. You’ll pay interest. And because you can’t take your cash out in the form of banknotes, you have a simple choice: spend your digital cash, or watch it whittle away bit by bit. Do you see how negative interest rates and a cashless society could be seen as the ultimate tool of economic coercion? Changing the general rate of interest changes incentives. But for central bankers, merely changing incentives isn’t working. If you’re a central planner, you have to force action. If you still possess your cash, you don’t have to do what other people want you to do with your money. With cash, you still have choices. You can plan for a rainy day and choose to take possession of some of your savings. If it’s still in your hands, the choice is yours. But if there’s nothing to possess, no cash to put under the mattress or in the freezer, how much control do you have left? Not much, I’d say. And that’s precisely the idea.

The BBC is one of the most admired and respected media outlets in the world. To attempt to force it into private hands through undermining its financial base is verging on the criminal. The organisation is neither marxist nor threatening to our national culture. It is portrayed as such by those who wish both to silence it for political reasons and to benefit financially by its privatisation.

* Steel is a strategic material. Without it we cannot exist on our own, supply our own industries, fight a war if the worst occurred. * Skilled jobs are being lost, these skills may not come back and our industrial future is in peril * Families are suffering, far better to assist the companies in the short term than pay dole to the redundant workers. * Britain needs to look to the long term industrial future like Germany and support its industries.

In this time of austerity, cuts and financial difficulty for some of the poorest in society, we need a strong opposition to Tory policies. A minority of Labour MPs cannot be allowed to divide the party on such important votes which will affect millions of people.

It is important for people to not confuse the UK's minimum wage with the LIVING WAGE. The minimum wage SHOULD be a living wage.. but it is not. The 'National Minimum Wage' will still be far lower than the LIVING WAGE when it is raised by the government in 2016, yet it is being re-branded as though it is a living wage. The living wage has been researched for many years and exists to highlight what people actually need to be paid in order to have a better standard of living. The Proposed 'National Living Wage' is not a living wage! Especially when working people will face tax credit cuts next year.

If we don't fight for our voice on this it will be another 40 years before it can be spoke of again. We need to ask ourselves, do we want to pay for a weapon, at huge expense, that ensures we can burn the flesh off the children of our enemies after were dead, or should we purchase ballistic missile defence at a far lesser cost to ensure a chance of survival and thus we avoid becomming mass murderes by default. It's time someone showed the world a better way.

We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. We want refugees to be welcome in rural areas too. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome