Last year, the NHS Professionals department (the NHS internal recruitment agency) actually made a profit of 8 million pounds. No sooner is this information available than internal sources confirm a privatisation deal is in the works. (See link at the end) This is a scandalous betrayal of the Health Service, on a par with the deliberate alienation of nurses and junior doctors. (It's worth mentioning that the only reason a department of the NHS can generate a profit is because of the "internal market" system that exists in NHS England - essentially, it's Mum paying Dad to cut the grass, then Dad paying Mum to make dinner: it's a wasteful circle of money that exists only as a precursor to back-door privatisation) Our public money should remain in public services, not go to the cosy friends and relatives of government ministers through privatisation deals. It's our money. It's our service. It's our say. And we say enough is enough. https://www.rt.com/uk/333270-nhs-professionals-privatized-deloitte/

Benefits * a more realistic reflection of the countries opinions * A more modern approach to voting, making it easier and quicker for people to do so. * A faster way to count votes with a more accurate result * People will feel like they have more influence and control over the political issues in our country * Easier for people to get involved with issues that they are particularly passionate about * People will have a more educated approach to voting as full information will be provided before voting. * Younger people will engage with their government and politics more. * Easier for over seas and military voters "Petitioning, a practice from medieval times, was used by the working class in the 19th century to demand the vote in their millions; yet the government of the time was quick to reject the multiple petitions they presented. The Speaker, John Bercow, promised that the internet would change all this. Indeed the public appetite for petitions has not abated. When the government launched its own e-petitions site two years ago, the volume of traffic caused it to crash on its first day. E-petitions can and do work. Remember when Malalai Joya was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize or when BBC 6 Music was saved from closure? How about when campaigners won a fight to keep a woman on our banknotes? These campaigns owe their success to the rise of digital platforms such as change.organd 38 Degrees." - theguardian.co.uk Let us once again petition to change the way that the UK public vote and influence politics, using the power of online petitioning, to ultimately create the equivalent power of online politics and voting. Sign up now and be a part of the modern political movement!

In a written parliamentary answer earlier this month, Duncan Smith’s junior welfare minister, Justin Tomlinson, said they expect claims to be made online. The government’s universal credit website, however, advertised the phone number. An increasing majority of people do not use a landline phone, especially those on low incomes due to the higher fixed costs than owning a mobile phone. This new number is directly prohibitive to some of the most vulnerable claimants in the country and is a new cost hurdle for people in dire need. Along with this almost 6 million British adults have never been on line, with many more with no or limited access to the internet, again from the most vulnerable sections of society. Once again, Iain Duncan-Smith is playing with the lives of Britain's downtrodden, putting Universal Credit out of reach for those that need it most. Credit it the Guardian for the article that forms the basis of this petition (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/17/iain-duncan-smith-refuses-to-set-up-freephone-for-families-claiming-benefits)

Homelessness in Maidstone continues to rise under the Tory government. The period from 2010 to the end of quarter three 2015 saw a more than tenfold increase in the number of households defined as homeless, from 12 to 157. This rise in recognised cases, along with the sevenfold increase in applications for help, shows a growing issue and a need for determined action to combat the situation. Despite these concerning statistics, the Council have undertaken a consultation, which closed on January 25th 2016, on a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). This would effectively criminalise homelessness, by making it illegal to sleep rough within areas of Maidstone town centre. Meanwhile planned developments to build new homes continue to move forward, but only 15-30% of new homes will form ‘affordable’ housing. Affordable rent can be classified anywhere up to 80% of the market value of the property. The average private rent for two bedrooms in Maidstone in 2014/2015 was £745 a month. As it is widely accepted that rent should take no more than 30% of your monthly income a two person household requires a joint income of £2000 per month, the equivalent of £32,000 per year, to meet 80% of this cost. Projects such as the Winter Shelter, run by local churches and charities, are helping to alleviate the symptoms of this increasingly desperate situation. However, more must be done at a local government and national level to deliver on the causes of escalating private rents, and a lack of council owned social housing.

You have explained that the administration running Fife council are scaremongering over the scale of the cuts to the council budget and the likely impact. To ensure we can protect local services such as libraries and education we need to see both sides of the arguments. Publishing the SNP budget will allow Fifers to engage in the debate and have a say on the future of our services.

Politics in the UK, EU and across the world has never been more important, nor has the need to satirise it. Currently MSM fails to question our politicians in a way that resonates. Maybe our news and current affairs programmes have always been that way, but TV programming hasn't. Spitting Image was the attack dog of the MSM in the 80's. It didn't matter who you were, if you were a public figure, it would tackle you, it would bring you to the ground, it would openly challenge you and it would mock you. But always in a humorous way. Yes it was offensive, but more importantly it was truthful, accurate and downright side splittingly funny. We need this now more than ever.

The NHS has always been free at the point of delivery - that's one of the principles on which it was created (see: fatpod.org). Millions of ordinary people rely on this principle. I was lucky enough to know my great-grandmother, who raised her family of 5 before the NHS existed. She told me of family meetings, when someone was ill, to decide which meals would be skipped in order to be able to pay for them to see a doctor. We cannot allow government to re-create a "pre-NHS" society by charging directly for NHS services or demanding private insurance policies for healthcare (which would only benefit insurance companies). We already have insurance for free-at-the-point-of-delivery healthcare - it's called National Insurance (NI), to which we all contribute when we can. Individuals should not be penalised financially for being ill and needing NHS services. The website fatpod.org is dedicated to keeping the National Health Service "FATPOD" - Free At The Point Of Delivery. You can find more information there.

If you are not aware, the decision has been made to remove the second fire engine and retained Firefighters from Oakham Fire Station on the 31/03/16. Removing the second fire engine and retained Firefighters from Oakham Fire Station will mean slower response times to emergencies, which will have a significant impact, putting life and property at greater risk in Rutland and surrounding areas. There is also a very high likelihood of the Heavy Rescue Unit (HRU) also crewed by Oakham retained Firefighters and used for incidents involving larger vehicles also being removed. You may be aware that Uppingham are now recruiting retained Firefighters…..! This is because they are under crewed and struggle to keep their fire engine “on the run” (available for calls). If the second fire engine at Oakham is removed, the fire engine at Uppingham in most cases will be the fire engine to cover Oakham when the first fire engine (Oakham’s first fire engine) is on a call. When Uppingham are not available it could be a fire engine from Melton or Leicester covering. We all understand that money has to be saved, but removing front line services in not the way. We all pay our council tax with a proportion of it going to Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority (check your council tax demand notice for details). We do not mind paying this as we all feel that if we are unlucky enough to be involved in an accident or a fire, with rapid response from the fire service hopefully the outcome will not be too severe. If the removal of the second fire engine goes ahead leaving a greatly reduced service, putting life and property at greater risk in Rutland and surrounding areas, do you think we will then be getting a discount in our council tax to reflect the change…? I doubt this very much, so we would be paying the same for a greatly reduced service. We cannot let this happen, we need to keep all the people of Rutland and surrounding areas as safe as possible and respond to emergencies as quick as possible. This will be your last chance to make your opinion count; I fear that if the second fire engine is removed there will be no chance of it returning. Please sign the petition.

Some say there is no alternative but Rochdale Borough Council could use just a portion of its £169.6m in useable reserves to avoid making the £37m worth of cuts over the next two years. Even the Government suggest that ‘local authorities lessen the impact of budget cuts by tapping into their huge reserve pots’ – Telegraph, 31st August. We call on the Labour group on Rochdale Borough Council to take these steps whilst councillors go out into the communities, workplaces and trade union branches to build support for a no-cuts budget and have a genuine consultation with the people of Rochdale. They could then make an appeal to other Labour councils to do the same, making the Tory government’s savage cuts unworkable. Jeremy Corbyn said in his election campaign that councils should stand together against the cuts. This is the direction that the Labour Party must go in to end austerity and safeguard our public services.

The future of NHS is a source of worry for a great swathe of the population. A huge majority of Doctors, experts and professionals linked with the NHS, see Jeremy Hunt's plans as a destructive force for a public service we all hold so dear. Many of his stats (such as the 20% increased likelihood of dying from a stroke at the weekend) have been called out as incorrect by those within the industry. As well as false media claims that those involved are quaffing champagne, whilst one doctor's payslip recently proved that it is possible to be paid as little as £2.61 an hour currently. The NHS is an important part of British culture and seen by many as one of the proudest achievements of Western democracy. The fact that it has currently been dragged into a slagging match at a national level, isn't the correct way to deal with such an issue. As it is a public service, and one that the public not only relies on but also holds in such high regard, the facts should be made public, with both sides allowed a say. Mr Hunt should show he holds the NHS is the same high regard as the public, by treating this situation with the respect it deserves and having an open public debate about these important issues.

With all the mobile networks claiming 99% population coverage for mobile phone signal why is only 63% of the UK land mass covered by signal. Over 4500 miles of UK roads have no mobile phone coverage at all. This is not only dangerous but it is stifling development in rural areas and holding back local businesses. The government have an arrangement with the 4 main UK networks to spend £5bn by the end of 2017 to improve this but they have already come up against issues themselves with planning permission, un-co-operative landlords, site access and power to the sites. If we can make enough noise to make them realise how important this is to our communities then they will make the necessary changes needed to push through these plans. If we don't? We can see the 2017 deadline come and go and very little will change apart from 4g coverage in cities getting faster and faster.

This is important because this will stop disabled people from accessing the library in the way they do at the moment. The decision was made with no consultation. Due to the nature of some disabilities some people cannot read books, but benefit from literature in different ways. The charges will mean people will start having to pay to use a service that is available free for people without disabilities in the form of books.