On Monday 23rd June, a peaceful protest by members of Sheffield Disabled People Against The Cuts and Barnsley Retirees Action Group was broken up by British Transport police. The protesters were taking part in the Freedom Ride, a long-running protest against cuts to free travel provision in South Yorkshire. Witnesses report that the police used heavy handed tactics. One witness, Jen Dunstan, of Sheffield Disabled People Against the Cuts, said: “Dozens of elderly and disabled people have been left with bruising. Some have cuts where their skin has broken from being pushed and shoved. “A placid and calm gentleman was roughly manhandled. I am angry and shocked. The police are meant to protect elderly people.” A journalist from the Sheffield Star was present, and tried to video events on his phone. He was ordered to erase footage he’d recorded on his phone because he did not have permission to film on private property inside Sheffield station. When he initially resisted the request and continued to film, he says he was told he could be arrested under terror laws. A statement from Northern Rail said: “Members of the media must have written permission from the train operator which manages the station before undertaking any filming on station property. Under no circumstances are Northern Rail employees to be filmed without prior agreement from the Northern Rail press office.” Fortunately, other witnesses were able to video the behaviour of the police on Northern Rail's property. The treatment of the elderly gentleman can be seen here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svv9YcyZ6Os&list=UUiZU8ySSrpSg-qhR3BsYSSQ Many people who view this video will think that this treatment is disproportionate for an old man accused of fare-dodging, especially when he is taking part in a legitimate peaceful protest. In the video, five burly police officers are pinning the elderly gentleman down so that he cannot move, despite no visible signs of protest or resistance from him. It is not within the rights of Northern Rail, or any other organisation, to try to ban filming on their premises, when that filming clearly shows a questionable activity taking place with the collusion of that organisation. It is anti-democratic to try to silence the press in this way. Please sign this petition to force Northern Rail to retract their statement, and issue an apology that recognises the right of journalists and the public to film wherever they wish when a breach of a person's rights is taking place.

Many problems in social care in and around private sector centre around the failures of organisations to recruit and train staff appropriately. The dementia strategy is only one element of ensuring care is appropriate in both hospital and community settings, and that patients are treated with respect and the dignity they deserve. Not withstanding the fact that most of these services are purchased on behalf of either NHS scotland and local authorities and the majority of staff working in the care industry are often: (1) women (2) have unpaid caring commitments such as children or elderly relatives themselves (c) in poverty despite being in work (4) part time. Surely the large city councils in Scotland despite the squeeze on the public purse and NHS when commissioning should ensure that as part of the arms length approach to nursing and social care that staff are paid a living wage. This industry has large recruitment issues such as high turnover, and if companies paid the living wage it perhaps would go some way to address this and ensure adequate staffing with the appropriate knowledge and skills are employed. Most companies in the private sector do not recognise that the staff that are employed on basic salary despite giving up weekends and working unsocial hours with the only recognition of this fact being on 8 public holidays a year where staff are paid an unsocial hrs bonus and also a high number are on zero contracts.

So we can get more kids of the street and into their local skatepark where you can be active with your friends and in the future there may be some sort of events. Please sign!

We consider that the public toilets are needed: *by the increasing numbers of visitors to the town arriving on foot, by bicycle, bus and car *by local residents and business owners; not all businesses have their own toilets *by the many users of the adjacent Lothian Gardens especially children and their parents and *by people working in the town on a day to day basis as part of their trade.

Parks and green spaces have been shown to improve the wellbeing of local people and attract visitors from further afield. According to Bristol City Council's Parks and Green Spaces Strategy the centre of Bristol is lacking in green space, so temporary park closures would further deplete this green space. Parks are a Public Service owned and run by the council on behalf of the People of Bristol and should not be exploited as a way to generate revenue.

There must be real accountability for the bad behaviour of individuals, not a counter-productive additional burden on the resources of our public institutions which is shouldered by the very public that have been badly served. It adds insult to injury.

Because the BBC is one of this country's gems which is admired worldwide for it's reliability. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/08/tv-licence-fee-decriminalise-miller-bbc

The so called competition in selling energy isn't working - wholesale price falls have not been passed on. The disgrace of elderly and poor families freezing cold in the winter is shameful in a modern, caring society; whilst these energy bosses take home telephone number salaries!

In a life threatening emergency the Air Ambulance Service is your lifeline no matter where you live in the UK. If you live in a rural area it is often your ONLY lifeline because it is too far by road for you to be treated within the golden hour. See also the BBC program "An Hour To Save Your Life" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xkwyb

I think it speaks for itself as to why it is important. Bradford Council claim to be in line with all other Councils. How is £85 in line with £10 for exactly the same thing? The Council made 3.33 million pounds doing this in the council tax year 2012/2013. Un-waged people are struggling just to pay council tax they also have to pay bedroom tax if they are renting privately, benefits do not take these taxes into consideration and neither do Bradford Council. Bradford Council have already announced Council Tax rises for the 2 years to come. During the Council Tax year 2012/2013 Bradford Council summonsed 1 in 4 households for Council Tax. With the current economic climate more and more people will be summoned as less people are able to afford to pay Council Tax, why should people already struggling be charged £85 per summons whilst others are charged only £10 for exactly the same thing?

These centres provide crucial universal and targeted support for parents, carers and young children. This withdrawal of funding will cause irreparable damage to the service, increase risk and vulnerability across the county, and mark a reversal of the 'Every Child Matters' agenda which is striving to eradicate inequality for under 5’s.

With rising sea levels and climate change (whatever the cause of that change) the problem of flooding is not going to get better, it will only get worse. Everyone, especially the Government, needs to be better educated about the management of our water courses, or hydrology, in order to make informed, intelligent choices about where we focus our limited financial resources. Flooding caused devastation to people, our economy and our environment. We must act now to change Government spending habits which currently serve to increase flooding rather than decrease it. I refer people to the well referenced article in the Guardian as a starting point: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/13/flooding-public-spending-britain-europe-policies-homes Follow the references for more details.