autistic people are a huge contribution to our society, in many ways they are superior to so-called normal people and they deserve our respect. Many of our brightest minds and our greatest achievers are autistic and autistic people need to be protected

It is abhorrent that in a country as wealthy as ours, a man has been allowed to die on the streets of Glasgow because he had nowhere to go. Glasgow City Council website states that: “As a minimum, the council will arrange for you to receive: Advice and Information Temporary Accommodation” We demand that Glasgow City Council acts immediately to fulfil it's duty to the people of Glasgow. Everyone who presents themselves at a Council facility as homeless, should immediately be provided with somewhere safe and warm to stay, until such times as they are able to find permanent accommodation. Furthermore, we demand an end to the policy of abandoning our friends who are deemed to have made themselves intentionally homeless. This unfairly punishes people unfamiliar with the law or who are victims of bullying by rogue landlords.

Last month our respected community elder, Ras Judah Adunbi, was tasered by two police constables while peacefully taking his dog on a Saturday morning walk through our neighbourhood (Easton, Bristol). The police stopped Judah near his home, demanded to know his name and address and when Judah politely refused, which is within his legal rights, they tasered him in the face and wrongfully arrested him. Judah did NOT break any laws or rules but was treated violently and with no respect. Judah felt like he was going to die and has since suffered from a number of health complications. The incident was covered my media outlets across the Globe, including Washington Post, New York Times, CNN and BBC World News. Avon and Somerset Police dropped the charges a couple of days later and are now being investigated by IPCC. ** Ras Judah wants everyone in the community to LEARN their legal rights! If a police officer stops you and starts to ask you questions you DO NOT have to stop or answer any questions. That’s the law. The Police should stick to it. ** Key facts: - There have been at least 17 taser-related deaths in Britain since 2003, including the death of Dalian Atkinson, the former Aston Villa footballer, who died after being Tasered by police officers in August 2016. - People of African descent are three times more likely to be tasered and six times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. - According to government figures, use of Tasers has grown over recent years, with 1,921 Taser discharges recorded by police in England and Wales in 2015. - Judah was taken to the Bristol Royal infirmary in a Police car with the Taser still dangling from his face. After being discharged later that morning he spent 10 hours at Patchway police station (Bristol). He was allowed to leave just before midnight and had to make his own way home. - On Monday 23rd Jan, Bristol's police federation chairman said the police officers involved were 'doing what the public expect of them'.

BBC has stated that Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan are facing the greatest famine for over 60 years. Millions of people especially children are at risk. We are currently wasting huge amounts of food often through over buying as supermarkets encourage us through their 'buy one get one free' campaigns. We take more than we need.

I’m calling for a change in the rules so that people with dementia are specifically eligible to apply for a Blue Badge, which means easier trips to the shop, the doctor’s or the hospital for dementia patients if they choose to apply. “I hope the Government will consider this change.” The final decision on who is eligible is up to local councils. But Government provides guidance can prove crucial in earmarking badges - and dementia is not on the list of criteria. Charities say some local authorities give blue badges to people with dementia while others enforce much tighter rules. Although the person with dementia may be able to walk the required distance that exempts them from being issued a Blue Badge the person has to be helped in and out of their vehicle, and guided, they can be unsteady on their feet and suffer dizziness/confusion as to where they are because of their dementia. This means that, e.g. they cannot be dropped off while a driver goes to park, because they are in danger from wandering off or walking into the road. Campaigners say the disease can be as mentally and often physically debilitating as other illnesses. The number of people with dementia is set to rise from 850,000 this year to over two million by 2051. Alzheimer’s Society national campaigns manager Sam Gould said: “Many people with dementia gradually lose their ability to walk and perform simple tasks as their condition progresses. “This means activities that many of us take for granted, like visiting the shops or attending GP appointments, can become physically challenging and make some journeys daunting. “We support the call for people with dementia to be able to access the Blue Badge scheme, as this could mean that more people with dementia are able to continue doing the things they enjoy and maintain their independence for longer.”

Self employed people generally work over 50 hours a week - many work considerably longer hours. They get no job security or holiday allowance. Their salary is not paid if they are sick and yet they contribute hugely to the nation's wealth. Many self employed people manage all aspects of their business from the PR, to office admin, to ensuring that they keep up to date with H&S, keeping accounts etc as well as delivering the core nature of their business. A three monthly submission process of tax return would create an unacceptably huge administrative burden on self employed people. It would stifle our collective ability to deliver our core business. It would discourage entrepreneurialism. In terms of the arts and third sector self-employment - it would add further administrative duress to an already ailing and underfunded landscape.

The youth project and KRAN are based at the Shed. They work with local young people many of whom live in Harbour Ward, one of the most deprived in the area. The young people receive sex and health education, drug and alcohol awareness, and help with writing CVs and applying for jobs. They are also encouraged to take part in a range of positive activities (such as sport, art, and music technology) and are able to make friends and integrate with other local young people. The Shed is a safe, non-judgemental space where all are welcome. One young person who uses the Shed said this, "People who find it hard to fit in anywhere else come here which enables them to feel valued...it also provides them with education and teaches them that everyone is equal no matter what their background is. We wouldn't have learnt these life lessons and morals if it wasn't for the Shed and the kind-hearted staff that give up their time to make sure we feel we belong."

FutureTech is an excellent provision for the children of Warrington who believed in and chose a completely different approach to learning. It's unique selling point was small numbers, small class sizes and work experience. Numbers for the school may be low but the grass roots difference that it is and has made to those attending is imperative for our town. Plus the intake number was originally set at 200 (changed to 300) and currently has 187 students. Some (NOT ALL) of the children there did not engage in the schools that they have left, for a myriad of reasons but under FutureTechs tuition and guidance have engage with education again and gained confidence and self worth beyond measure. These kids will now be left to find new school placements (often to places that will not offer the subjects they are taking now) and will be disrupted right in the middle of their preparation for their GCSE's.

The bus shelters in Milton Keynes are vital for people who get the bus to work or school every day. They keep people dry and out of the wind and the rain. Without these shelters, infants, disabled people and the elderly will be forced to wait out in the cold. Th council talk about the regeneration of estates but they are planning to demolish these bus shelters. If Milton Keynes, with seven deprived estates, is going to demolish their bus shelters, this could happen in other areas where councils want to save money. The demolition may look minimal at first, but this is no small demolition.

It is important because many life changing decisions, for example the EU referendum, are determined by vote and will affect young people for decades to come, however, they do not get a voice in these matters. It is therefore necessary in order to achieve a balanced and equal society to lower the voting age to 16 and give young people a chance to have a say in the choices that will affect their future.

We live in a society in which our children are being told what roles they should take up as adults in a multitude of subtle ways. The characteristics that are seen to be appropriate for boys and for girls are highlighted by dolls and frills in the 'girl's toys' while engineering, cars and dinosaurs are for boys. This kind of explicit segregation is outdated, unnecessary and damaging. If it were any other two labels (e.g. black and white) the inherent prejudice would be immediately apparent and would not be allowed by the law of modern society. I want my daughter and nieces to have the freedom to access whichever toys they are naturally interested in without having to hear them say 'that's not for me, that's only for boys.'

1) 2017 is the 50th Anniversary of the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 which partly decriminalised sexual acts between two men in private and aged over 21. 2) As a cultural centre, the queer museum would be a vital space in which to counteract the effects of homophobia, transphobia, racism and religious intolerance, especially important with the rise of right leaning political parties throughout Europe and America and attacks upon the LGBTQI+ community. 3) Some of the demands of the Gay Liberation Front from the 1970s have yet to be met, including the demand that ‘sex education in schools stop being exclusively heterosexual.’ Schools must provide sex and gender education that addresses the needs of LGBTQI+ students, queer histories must find a permanent home, and the LGBTQI+ community must have a place to organize: anything less is a betrayal to the courage of the pioneering queer activists of the 1960s and beyond.