Apart from rural footpaths, the only way to and from Dinder is by road; without a bus service then school kids, mobility impaired and elderly residents, as well as their friends and family in the local area, will no longer have the independence the bus service provides. Destroying rather than building environmentally-friendly transport networks, while giving no alternative provision is a terrible step backwards, affecting us all.

Since the education reform act in 2002 schools have been the victims of profit driven organisations and individuals. Out-of-school provisions can generate huge revenue but what is that money used to do? Where does it go? It is being generated from the use of tax payers assets (schools), should society be getting the best value from it? Should it be used to develop better service? Or should companies and individuals use these profits for their own gains? There is a simple solution; Social Enterprise, put people before profits when it comes to providing services for children in or on publicly owned assets, our schools. Many of these still belong to the public and are paid for through the public purse, why should any organisation make profit from providing services on these sites? Yes, let's provide great services but let's get the best value and work to provide more, not declare more divided for Directors or share holders who have nothing to do with the operations of the company!

The potential is huge, it needs to be like the NHS, free at the point of delivery, paid for by the taxes raised in Scotland, the effect would be like turbo charging the whole of Scotlands activities, and would repay the costs many times over., Given it's intended universality, it could decimate government comms costs and underpin the integrity of news services, and even better would work best as a completely un metered service without any admin overhead but the techies and the hardware, no need to bill anybody, we'd all be paying through the tax and spending mechanism, without the expense of billing and collecting it separately, which would also make faster and easier to install, no confusion over who or where, just everywhere, now. It could even be done largely by local people with a little extra training, and tested, configured etc. , from a small number of hubs, keeping the costs closely controlled. How would it work :- Rather in the way that wi-fi works now, as an open network infrastructure, through which you can access services like email, web addresses etc., paying tax is only the general revenue source which pays for the network structure as a facility of the government services open to anybody who is in Scotland. A large part of the costs of running the present networks is caused by the need to generate millions of bills and collect the due payment, and protect those parts of the service providers facilities for which premiums are charged. With an open network, none of that is needed for basic access, and the network can be available throughout the country, islands included. In addition to personal access for the whole population, the commercial service providers could deliver a bigger range of product than possible at present, collecting payment in the pay-per-use manner identified by the MAC address of the device in use, in practice, much simpler and almost cost free. This would deliver a huge boost to the development of new business, social and government activities throughout Scotland for an almost risibly small cost. The health and emergency services would also benefit and be able to extend their coverage and reach virtually for free, allowing things like remote consultations for residents in isolated communities, new businesses could start anywhere and be in the worlds main markets at no cost beyond their own direct costs. it really needs only political support, the technical bit is really straightforward, get the boss's husband on board, I hear he's a well switched on fella, it would be a huge benefit to post-independence business development for both governance and commerce, and would be like switching on the lights for the populace who've been kept in the dark by the MSM.

The recent scandal involving Lord Sewel has highlighted the fact that peers can claim a £300 allowance for sitting in the Upper Chamber. Surely this level of subsidy is the real scandal here!

The NHS and government constantly whine about how there's not enough public money for high quality health care, so why not instigate positive change by eliminating unnecessary waste? Big Pharma wastes billions from the national purse by making disposable medical implements. In their paradigm, waste and inefficiency makes their profits soar and grows their business because the public can always be relied upon to foot the bill. A simple way to stop the NHS hemorrhaging money is to curb this inefficiency. Too often we read reports about life saving operations that cannot be performed or expensive medicine that is withheld to suffering patients because of limited NHS funds, but the truth is that this will not stop until it pays Big Pharma to become efficient. Asthma sufferers are a good case in point. They literally cannot survive without regular use of their inhalers but are forced to discard its expensive delivery mechanism. Prior to the 90's the inhalers used to be smaller, cheaper and reusable but Big Pharma actively plotted and lobbied to make them much more expensive (see article) http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/10/heres-why-your-asthma-inhaler-costs-so-damn-much If we succeed in instigating this simple common sense initiative, the principle can be applied across the board. This will benefit all but the monopolists that don't seem to care less whether the 99% live or die.

Yorkshire is the brand and Yorkshire is our identity. To command loyalty and seize the public imagination the whole of Yorkshire must be included in a devolution settlement. Further, only a united yorkshire can adequately represent us at government and the EU level.

Justice and plain commonsense.

Child poverty in Wales is currently at 31% and has been growing for decades. This means almost 1 in three children in Wales are not receiving the basic essential things in life that will help even their children one day get out of child poverty and the problem is getting worse. Failing to do this will see further suffering of Welsh children and they will not be able to reach their true potential in life whilst indirect costs of government such as law and order, social costs and health related costs in future will escalate.

Sandwell Council is supporting the proposal that it together with West Midlands Metropolitan and City Councils of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton together with a number of district and county councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships from across the region form a West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). As part of the proposal there has to be regard to the following in order to establish a new body; - The need to reflect the identities and interests of local communities; and - The need to secure effective and convenient local government. Many within Sandwell have expressed concerns that they have not been given enough information on the structure, powers, accountability and scrutiny that a body of this nature will have. There are concerns that we shall lose our identity and that Sandwell and The Black Country will be engulfed by Birmingham and play second fiddle to it. At a recent Council meeting Sandwell Labour Leader Darren Cooper when asked about holding a referendum replied with “Err No” and “he was not prepared to run a referendum”. There are other considerations that don’t appear to have been discussed at any length one being the EU’s push towards regionalisation which a Combined Authority would be. This is tied to the EU’s City 2020 targets. There is a real danger that local democracy and the voice of our communities will be lost as well as our proud Black Country heritage. You really have to ask why there appears to be a race to create a Combined Authority that could include a number of Council with reported failings coming together. Sounds like having a bosted bucket and trying to fill it with water. In my opinion a decision of such magnitude about the future of Sandwell will impact on us all and generations to come and can not be left to Councillors of which in Sandwell 71 of the 72 are Labour members. In notes available from the Sandwell Council website concerning the meeting held on the 21st July point 6.17 states the Chief Executive in consultation with the Mayor may determine the date of an Extraordinary Meeting. The purpose of which would be to approve the proposal and submit to the Secretary of State in late September/early October in order for the Combined Authority is operational from 1st April 2016. No decision should be made without full, proper and representative consultation and all documents are open to view and upon the result of a referendum of the residents of Sandwell. Due to the timescales involved this petition requires your URGENT ATTENTION.

NHS children's community health services and the inpatient adolescent mental health service in Bristol & South Gloucestershire are in the process of being recommissioned. The first stage of this campaign has already been successful with the recent announcement that the interim contract to deliver community children's health services for one year during 2016/17 has been won by a partnership made up of Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) and two social enterprises, Sirona Care & Health CIC and Bristol Health CIC. The adolescent inpatient mental health unit, the Riverside Unit, will also be provided by AWP, with private company The Huntercombe Group, acting in a 'consultancy' role. However, AWP will be running the unit on a day-to-day basis and staff will be employed by AWP, so it will essentially remain within the NHS. The demand that services remain integrated has also been won, with the announcement that for the longer-term contract these services will be commissioned together by the Clinical Commissioning Groups and their partners. However, the campaign is not over yet. The next stage of the process during which the same services will be commissioned for the next 5 or 7 years from 2017 has begun. We must keep the pressure on to protect children's health services in Bristol for the long-term. And now we know it can be done! The next stage of this campaign will focus on bringing all of these services entirely back into the NHS for the long-term. We know private companies are planning to bid to run them. There should not be a role for companies who seek to make a profit or for social enterprises (many of whom operate in a similar way to private companies) in the delivery of our health services. There are two reasons why this campaign is vitally important: Firstly, children and young people in Bristol and South Gloucestershire need to get the best possible care and treatment. This means having services which are integrated and can work together, provided by people who are interested in delivering top quality care, not making maximum profit. Secondly, every time an NHS service in the UK is privatised we are a step closer to a US-style health system which would mean the end of free-at-point-of-need healthcare. The evidence is mounting that this government is not fully committed to a future publicly-owned health service. We are a group of concerned local people, including service users and NHS staff, who understand how damaging the consequences of moving these services to a private provider could be. We think the principle of 'people before profit' in the NHS is fundamental in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and the rest of the UK. Join our campaign at https://www.facebook.com/ProtectCCHP or search 'Protect CCHP' on Twitter for more information.

The library was donated to the town by Andrew Carnegie in the 1900s, and the Carnegie Trust UK maintain the ethos of his contributions to be for "improvement of the masses of people of Great Britain and Ireland by such means as are embraced within the meaning of the word "charitable" and which Trustees may from time to time select as best fitted from age to age for securing these purposes, remembering that new needs are constantly arising as the masses advance." ****We have received over 100 signatures on paper since starting the campaign 2 days ago - please show your support - sign & share the online petition***

This feature was an integral part of Stockport people still look up to where the clock once stood to see the time it is nostalgic as well as practical. Sign this petition write to your MP's