The bus services in the Borders are vital life lines to may people young and old the removal of the town services in Hawick and Peebles will mean that many older residents in these towns will miss out on links with other parts of the town and the wider borders if these services are removed. The removal of the College bus service from Hawick to Galashiels will mean that young people from Hawick may miss out on training courses at Borders College which would help improve there education and life. The other services that are being cut will mean that those places loose there vital link and their elderly resident loose out too.

The UK has been long used to the system of Garages carrying out MoT testing who then profit from the work gained by fixing faults which only they have decided (subject to VOSA criteria). There is a clear case of a conflict of interest which would never be allowed within other professions. Independent test centres would avoid the "hostage" situation frequently faced by motorists and ensure that garages carried out only the work specified by the independent controller.

Please help us get over well over 5000 local people supporting this campaign as it will force Sheffield Council to properly debate this issue in the open. We have until the end of September to do just that. Help get Sheffield City Council to finally bring in urgent traffic safety measures to protect over 100 children who regularly use this route to go to three local schools in the area. The urgency of this was brought home to us when our daughter sustained serious injuries in late 2015 from a car going less than 20 mph when she was on her way to High Storrs School. This school is the closest catchment school for Nether Green and Fulwood. However the walking route has no footpath in places and no crossing. The path opens up into a T junction (picture). The Council has admitted that the lack of footpath across this junction is dangerous and they won’t even place a School crossing warden there because of the danger. Now the Council have said after months of talks that they will not consider installing a crossing or altering this dangerous footpath to what is the most direct route to High Storrs School, Notre Dame School and Nether Green Junior School. It is only a matter of time before a child or another member of the community receives life changing injuries or death as a result of the council's inaction.

Babcock International is a weapon manufacturer operating around the globe. They are also contracted by Devon County Council to monitor and produce reports on school attendance. After ten sessions (five days) of "unauthorised absence" they send this letter threatening a fine of up to £2500 and/or three months in prison. The letter is sent to hundreds of parents each year, causing disproportionate distress for what, in many cases, is a single case of illness or forgetting to inform the school in time. Children become worried that their mum or dad might go to prison. Parents worry their children might be taken into care, that they might lose their jobs, businesses, dignity and freedom. The threat, and potential fine and imprisonment, disproportionately affects single parents and poor people, who are less able to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice within 21 days (after which it doubles). I have personally supported a single mum who was working full time, raising two children, starting a business and having to comfort her children who thought that Mum was going to prison. Babcock's business is in fear, not in children's education.

The people of Ledbury have lost confidence in their Town Council. They are sickened by the infighting and injustice which has dominated Council life in recent years. Ledbury needs a skilled town council which can demonstrate good governance and is able to seize future opportunities for the town. The Town Council is not fit for purpose as it stands. Councillors are often ill-informed and prejudiced. Democratic reform would include: - Decisions always being made on evidence - Councillors routinely receiving training and specialist advice - The Council using experts from the community to inform its decisions - Reports and proceedings documented in appropriate detail - Providing a responsive service to questions and correspondence from the public. Other award-winning town councils like Frome, Oswestry and Milton Keynes (Campbell Park) have shown the potential rewards that come from active citizen participation in charting an inspiring future for their towns. Ledbury Town Council should aspire to these models of excellence and commit to the Nolan Principles: Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty, Leadership.

This is a fantastic resources for everyone interested in food, healthy eating and cooking. It helps counter the advertising and power of the food industry and encourages millions to cook and eat healthily

People in small towns and villages need internet just as much as people in big towns and cities. An adequate broadband connection is essential for everything from paying bills to running businesses such as my own. But for some places in the UK, the internet speed is either painfully slow or non-existent. Here in Upper Rissington for example, despite 300 plus new homes now largely occupied, broadband speed is worse than 96% of the UK. (checked 16/05/2016 using http://www.dslreports.com/) It's time the government stepped up and fulfilled it's promise of decent broadband for everyone. I suggest this should mean a speed of c.5 megabit/sec download and c. 0.75 megabit/sec upload, ie roughly the median rates for the UK. That's asking for 5 times faster download and 1 to 2 times faster upload than we have in my part of the Cotswolds. Please Sign Up! Fraser Morphew.

This is the biggest attack on the NHS you've never heard of. For the last few years the news has been full of winter and summer crisis in the NHS, with A&E's closing their doors and ambulances unable to discharge their patients.(1) In late 2015 the Chief Executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, created a plan to solve this by CLOSING more A&Es. He thinks if you close hospitals people will stop using them. (2) Called Sustainability and Transformation Plans he has split England into 44 areas - called 'footprints'. Each 'footprint' was told in late December in 2015 that they must have a plan by 30th June 2016 to completely change the way the NHS works. To work they had to be able to prove they could clear their massive debts within a year. To do that they have to close services and sell land and hospitals. Has a hospital closed near you? Is it under threat? Simon Stevens says that to make the NHS affordable we, the public, must get used to no longer having a major hospital within easy reach. This was planned in 2013, but shelved until after the 2015 election as being 'politically sensitive'. It looks like the STP has taken that off the shelf and that is very bad news. In 2013 there were 140 full A&E hospitals in England. We could be be left with between 40-70 A&Es. Closing A&Es is very bad for your health. (3)   There was a link to TTIP. Jeremy Hunt hired Simon Stevens to take over NHS England in 2014. Before that he was President of global operations for United Health of America where he was a lobbyist for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. He didn't oppose it. He fought to open up public health services like our NHS to US private health corporations. We know TTIP and the NHS are top campaigns for 38 degrees members. (4) Now he's in charge of our NHS! He is driving through a change which will eradicate our NHS and replace it with a US style health service. These new organisations could even be run by US corporations, holding the budgets and deciding what care will be provide and who can get it. This is what the Sustainability and Transformation Plans are doing to our NHS. See blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/08/05 and Updates, below. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE THIS A MILLION SIGNATURES FOR THE NHS! We think this is the last big battle to save our NHS. If you want it to be there for your children and grandchildren in their time of need then fight now. (6)   BECAUSE WHEN IT’S GONE, IT’S GONE https://youtu.be/0HyL-riKqqc (1)  http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2015-01-07/hospital-alerts-whats-the-state-of-your-local-hospital/ (2) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/simon-stevens-nhs-will-be-unaffordable-without-radical-reforms-10099433.html (3) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2200339/NHS-Cuts--Savage-consequences-revealed-pensioner-waits-6-hours-ambulance.html (4) http://healthcare-competitiveness.com/wp-content/uploads/Medtronic-UnitedHealth-Group-want-to-export-U.S.-health-care.pdf (5) http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/nov/11/uk.publicservices (6)https://youtu.be/GHkzmCL-uNE Also:- https://opendemocracy.net/ournhs/deborah-harrington-madeleine-dickens-and-caroline-molloy/hunt-and-stevens-leaving-their-dirty Another dreadful week for Jeremy Hunt: https://opendemocracy.net/ournhs/caroline-molloy/you-don-t-have-to-be-brain-surgeon-to-know-hunt-is-wrong-this-week-everyone-d I've also grouped them together on a page here: http://bit.ly/NHSfootprints Find out which 'Footprint' you are in by scrolling down to the map here:- https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/stp-footprints-march-2016.pdf http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2016/08/05/tory-plans-for-nhs-privatisation-released-during-parliamentary-recess/

The BBC has never been under such threat. It's being wound down with a view to the private market taking over areas that previously the BBC was responsible for. It always was a bastion of impartiality but that has been undermined by the Government choosing who is on the BBC Trust board! As such it's become nothing more than the official state broadcaster but under the guise of an independent organisation! This is dishonest broadcasting and it must stop!

Our A&E and Maternity units at Poole Hospital are essential for local people. The road networks between Poole and Bournemouth are dismal and travel times are very unpredictable, particularly during the summer season. This means that the proposal for closure of these essential departments is extremely worrying. Local A&E staff, paramedics, doctors, midwives and police all have deep concerns about these departments being closed or relocated since longer journey times can put lives at risk. Poole Maternity unit currently caters for mums from a wide geographical area and travelling to the proposed new site in Bournemouth would be time consuming for pregnant women and their families which could potentially result in delays in treatment and care. Poole Hospital needs to keep its successful maternity service so it can continue to provide safe and effective care to the community. Other departments within Poole Hospital will also be put at risk if the A&E unit closes including Paediatric and Neo-Natal care - this is appalling for local people. A&E and Maternity units are vital services for patients - why should people in Poole be put at risk by poorly thought through and misguided cost-cutting like this? PLEASE STOP THIS MADNESS.

Everything is online nowadays. We are expected to run our affairs this way, pay bills etc yet there are areas in Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles and many other rural areas throughout the UK that have no broadband service. We are told to buy into a satellite service as a means of solving this shortfall, yet no subsidy exists to aid in this process. Satellite broadband is costly and is beyond many pockets to fund. It needs to be the case that providers are forced to install the cables even if its a loss leader for them. They have so far avoided their responsibility and have broken promise after promise. Successive governments have failed in the same way. WHY? Today a report was published that seems to be a "WASHING OF THE HANDS" WHEN IT COMES TO RURAL BROADBAND PROMISES. When will we actually get the service we have been promised for the last decade?

Air pollution affects us all. Clean Air Southampton recently found that the levels of nitrogen dioxide are 50% higher than the legal limit (there is no safe limit). New developments such as West Quay Watermark will only increase the number of vehicles attracted to the area, increasing the amount of pollution present. Air pollution leads to: around 200 early deaths each year in Southampton; Babies being born with smaller lungs (something they will never recover from); Cancer; and Respiratory illnesses. A significant way to reduce pollution in the city is by promoting sustainable transport. Improving provision for cyclists and pedestrians is a significant part of this.