How many of you with a landline actually use it? Ofcom proposed an upto 8% cost reduction, yet the costs have just gone up by 6%+!! Ofcom produced a report that proposed the reduction in the costs of landline rentals over a number of years. At the time of the Ofcom report, 11th July 2013, the wholesale cost of a landline was £93.27 per annum or £7.77 per month. These are phone lines rented from BT by the likes of Sky, and then re-sold to Sky subscribers at a cost of £196.80 per annum or £16.40 Ex VAT per month (current price after latest price rise). The current landline rental price from Sky Is £16.40 Ex VAT per month and that's a rise of 6.49% on last years cost - yet Ofcom proposed a reduction in these rental costs! Ofcom stated in its published article 11th July 2013, and I quote: "Wholesale line rental: the regulated wholesale price today is £93.27 per year. Under Ofcom's proposals the prices will fall in real terms by between CPI - 2% and CPI - 8% every year" and if the proposal was successful the reduction in charges would come into effect on 1 April 2014 and run until 31 March 2017. CPI = Consumer Price Index. See full details of Ofcom's proposals here:http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2013/new-prices-for-landline-and-broadband-services/ What happened to Ofcom's proposals as monthly costs for landlines are still rising? Perhaps this text below explains the price rises?! According to a BBC article; Latest figures from the regulator, Ofcom, show that consumers spent three billion minutes fewer on their landlines in the year to June 2014, a reduction of 12.7% in one year alone. As a result, operators lost out on £85m of revenue compared with the previous year. "Call volumes are declining," said James Barford of Enders Analysis. "People are using Facebook or WhatsApp, or even email if they're a little old-fashioned, so operators are having to recover their costs from increased line rental," he added. see full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30251029 The landline price increases: Sky: up by 6.49% to £16.40 a month BT: up 6.25% to £16.99 Virgin Media: up 6.25% to £16.99 Talk Talk: up 4.7% to £16.70 Why are the costs of landlines still rising and what happened to Ofcom's proposals to reduce the costs of landlines? We all understand that companies have to make money but making a margin of £103.53 per year, per landline, per customer is scandalous, especially when the likes of Sky do not have to do any work or maintain the landline, as they pass this job back to BT. We do understand there are processing costs associated with these charges though!! Let's put this into context:- SKY have 5.3 million subscribers who need a landline to receive the full TV service from Sky and use their broadband services. So, all the subscribers have a phone line, thats 5,300,000 x £103.53 (Sky's margin on landlines) = £548,709,000.00 income from landlines per year! That's over HALF A BILLION plus revenue, per year from landline charges! BT, Virgin and Talk Talk are making vast amounts of money as well from landline rentals per month. There where as of December 2013 - 22.6 Million residential and SME broadband connections - do the maths at £103.53 margin per connection! See full details here: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts/ 'Margin' is the amount of money made by Sky when charging for a landline:£16.40 x 12 = £196.80 less the £93.27 quoted by Ofcom = £103.53 Margin. What about the elderly that don't have SKY TV or Talk Talk TV or BT TV/Sports? These are people that need a landline to stay in contact with family and the outside world? The fact that it costs them £16.99 + VAT per month or £203.88 +VAT per annum for a landline from BT is outrageous. Is it any wonder some elderly people will not put the heating on? They probably can't afford it when they are paying £16.99 + VAT a month NOT TO TALK! In 1995 BT ran an advertising campaign with the late great Bob Hoskins and the strap line was "It's good to talk". Their next advert should use No Doubt's song 'Don't Speak' as the backing track and they should have a Dick Turpin character holding a sign with the strap line "It's great for us!" or they could pay Bork to use her version of the song 'It's Oh So Quiet" with an elderly person in a cold house, staring at the landline telephone!! The more people that sign the petition the better. "Come on BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin, show some community spirit and immediately reduce the costs for landlines for the elderly and for those who need landlines to communicate with the outside world because they are house bound. Individually we can moan about the costs of landlines, sign the petition and collectively we could get cost reductions as proposed by Ofcom. Please sign. Thank You Philip Smith-Lawrence

The small amount we receive in profit is apart of our Welfare State and should go back to the few public services we have left. Our Government seems to be trying very hard to privatise our NHS and ALL of our transport services and the ten million pound yearly profit from the Eurostar should play a small part in financing what our nation needs the most. The money made from selling it will disappear very quickly and we will never know how that money was spent. Every time we have privatised a public service, such as the Royal Mail, the estimated profit was never reached and it just so happens that George Osborn's close friend, Peter Davies bought the most shares. Interestingly, very few other share holders made any profit where Davie's is said to have made £18 million. It is important that our politicians realise that if they sell everything the State owns, then there will be nothing left to help the Nation in benefits, health and education. These are fundamental issues that are not being looked at enough by our Government and the Eurostar is just one example of how, little by little, our Welfare State is being shredded to pieces. Please sign this petition in the hope that this will play a role in saving our services. We shouldn't sell business's that generate any kind of profit which could be put back into our system.

The same perpetrators who promoted and operated Ark were responsible for Capita Oak, and they are still out there right this minute doing the same thing day in, day out. Thousands of victims, hundreds of millions of pounds worth of pension funds. This is now seriously out of hand and desperately urgent. Too many families have been destroyed and hurt, pensioners can't afford to eat are paying bills, over 12 suicides and people taking nervous breakdowns and families losing there homes and there's been no help or support from the government. The Ark victims AND the Capita Oak victims have for many months been asking the Police, Action Fraud, TPR, the Pensions Ombudsman and the government to take action and nothing has been done. Please Help Now http://www.roundtownnews.com/index.php? http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1445014.ece?shareToken=278303c72da7ebd57fab5c5cd9ffcefb http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04t0sk8/xray-series-14-episode-9

So many people face becoming Homeless. Including families with Children.

The industry has got away with too much for too long since 2007. We need to demonstrate that the general public have had enough. Unless action is taken and those within the industry are sanctioned for their behaviour this cycle of unethical and illegal behaviour will continue. They have broken the law. They need to be punished to the full extent of the law to send a message to the industry as a whole. We have had enough.

Three weeks in to a four-week programme of detailed, and so far productive, negotiations intended to resolve the four-month HMRC jobs and staffing campaign was ended by the employer on 29 October. HMRC decided to walk away from negotiations. We feel their determination to marginalise PCS clearly trumps their willingness to settle this dispute for the good of the job holders. We need to be involved in negotiations to achieve best deal for our members.

Without this clarity our rights to opinions and free speech will be at the behest of a regulator who may classify some as illegal financial promotions. Our regulator (the FCA) and their equivalent in the USA (the SEC) are currently the only regulators in the western world who are seeking to limit the free speech and flow of opinions of citizens on social media. So this matters to us all. Opinions & Free Speech Regulated = Censorship What it proposes is far from clear. The result of this lack of clarity is it places rights to monitor and regulate the expression of opinions and free speech, by both innovators and innocent members of the public, initially in this small but very significant area, into the hands of unelected and unaccountable regulators. Historical precedents are clear where this can, and usually does, lead. Clarity This unclarity is simply not necessary. One of the UK's leading legal minds, Chris Moss,of JMW solicitors, who continues to guide The Bank of Dave, has looked with us at the legislation, which was created before social media existed, and identified the small but crucial and uncontroversial changes needed to bring exactly this clarity. He has identified that these are changes that can be made by the Chancellor and his Treasury ministers. In under a week the UK's Financial Regulator close their consultation as they tighten their grip on Social Media and what messages from the trade and public will be outlawed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE ACT NOW Please sign the petition and also respond now to the FCA to ensure ordinary citizens are not placed in legal jeopardy for using social media to express an opinion, or talk about a crowdfund. This only need takes a few moments. The full details are at http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/guidance-consultations/gc14-06 and it closes 6th Nov 2014. If you care about free speech or the freedom of social media please read the summary and express your opinion, below. One way or another it's important you express your opinion about free speech. We need clarity and unless there's a change of direction that won't happen. PLEASE NOTE Sample/Template Text is provided below and you can skip to it below and send it if you're familiar with this issue and short of time. As requested by the FCA please email : [email protected] or use the response form at http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/guidance-consultations/gc14-06 ------ Sample Template Response (for you to adapt and send) ----- I/we do not believe that the FCA should have the right to monitor and classify ordinary citizens use of social media as illegal. Paid financial promotions (adverts) are different from citizens use of such media, and measures to ensure they are policed to be 'clear, fair and not misleading' must not remove the rights of citizens to free speech and free expression, or place citizens in jeopardy. This is paramount and we call on the FCA to ensure that this clear distinction is maintained in the handling of social media, and to make the necessary changes to these proposals to ensure that they are, and citizens and entrepreneurs use of social media for crowdfunding or other purposes is not restricted. To also, if necessary, directly raise these matters with government to ensure such clarity. We need clarity. Please play your part by taking just a few moments to respond to the FCAs consultation and express your opinion.

Most milk production and milk products stay within the UK, so the price of milk should reflect the cost of production within the uk. And in doing so ensure the viability of the dairy industries which are hugely important for the long term success of the UK economy and the countryside.

This is important for not only the economy, but also when people or companies are doing well (especially big corporations) then everyone should have equal amount of bonus shared between the cleaner, tea makers, to the receptionists, marketeers, chefs, waiters, bar staff , supervisor, manager, CEO. This should be split evenly with everyone. That's why everyone is employed in the first place. To make it run smoothly.

By taxing bankers by 1% we can as a country make billions more for the future economy and for the future system. If the leading political parties follow this idea, the future system for the economy allows the government to put in more money into education , health care , employment and housing for the everyday working citizen. This further means that the government doesn't have to make those who can't afford their own living have to pay more taxes. Such taxes like the Robin Hood tax are great examples where this would work very well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYtNwmXKIvM

The GMB is concerned that despite more than two years of economic growth, working people across the country are still suffering the longest real wage squeeze in over a century. Recently official earnings growth reached its lowest level since records began. GMB is also concerned given the biggest proportion of low-paid, part time workers in Dunnes is women. Official figures shows that earning less than the Living Wage is the norm for women in many parts of the country. With women accounting for almost three-quarters of the country’s six-million part-time workforce, the lack of skilled, decently –paid part-time jobs affects women’s pay and their career prospects far more than it does men. The idea behind the Living Wage is that a person is paid enough to live decently and to adequately provide for their family. Please sign the petition and pass on to others to sign, keep following the facebook page for an update on are attempts to gain recognition for Dunnes workers, in the coming weeks GMB will be launching a Public campaign outside all Dunnes stores for members of the Public to sign all above petition. If you would like some petition sheets sent out to you please contact me on 07808101359. Remember our strength is in our numbers if you have not already join please do so by joining online at www.gmb.org.uk.

stop all these greedy so&so`s ripping off our country I want you 38 degrees to send this out, I know very little about this gadget i enjoy some of your info.