The council ignore resident concerns and is intent on pressing forward despite the transformation of our Winchmore hill into an ugly, congested, concrete jungle with decimated natural beauty and failing business. Enfield council presented false statements and visual plans of green lanes in their 'consultation for the cycle lane scheme - on the drawings no mention was made of tearing up and ripping out ten mature trees along our green lanes to date - and more to come.The residents of Winchmore hill did not agree to the replacement of beautiful mature trees with grey slabs of concrete - 'improving public spaces ' in the council's words. No effort has been made to protect the trees at all despite claims to the contrary . Worryingly letters have been put in local communications to inform residents of more trees 'necessary' to be removed . These were not presented as needing removal in the 'consultation' plans. We live in Winchmore hill because we chose to live amongst greenery and historical mature trees.

People like me were invited to the UK in 2009 to study for a MSc Physiotherapy well before the 35K salary threshold came into existence in 2016. The immigration rule at the time stated we were given 2 years’ visa (PSW) to find a permanent job and if we were able to find a permanent job, we were eligible for indefinite leave to remain if we completed 5 years in our permanent job and our employer still needed us. However, because of this new law, only those people who are earning more than £35,000 on a single contracted salary will be eligible to apply for leave to remain. This law will only discourage people to work for the public-sector organisations such as the NHS where achieving 35K salary within the first 5 years of employment is nearly impossible unless the employee is working in London. People like me who are working 7 days a week and earning well above 35K over the past 2 years with overtime will have to leave their permanent senior physiotherapist NHS job and move to the private sector to fulfil this salary threshold. After the Royal College of Nursing highlighted the impact of this law on the nurses staffing level the Home Office have exempted all nurses from this law however, other important professions such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, many doctors, IT professionals and many engineers are not exempted. We do respect the government’s idea of training UK citizens but they must understand that training them takes time and needs senior staff to train them. Due to our job role, we now provide clinical education to university students and juniors. Also, moving trained people like us from Birmingham to London/private sector will have no impact on immigration however it will only cost money to the NHS to employ more locum staff. The Charted Society of Physiotherapy argues that 500 additional physiotherapists are needed UK-wide each year up to 2020 to meet the demand, with services already facing supply shortages. In the year 2015, Health Education England, a government body, cut the number of physiotherapy training places in England alone by 6.2 per cent, 95 fewer places than the previous year. There were just 1448 NHS-funded training places for the 2016/17 intake. Also due to NHS bursaries cuts and 14% pay cuts to the NHS employees in real terms, less people will be inclined towards health professional courses hence it will be a wise decision to bring the threshold to 28K (average UK salary) so that the Tier 2 visa holders who are already working will be able to continue their work in the UK. We started a petition earlier on this issue #anand35k which gained lot of popularity and 13,346 signatures but due to the general election, our deadline was brought forward by 9 weeks and we had to stop our campaign. I have had various BBC radio, news agencies interview but my most popular one was the BBC Midlands interview which had 338K views in 1 week on their Facebook page. https://youtu.be/w8BYaeKMEEA I personally feel that this law is disrespecting the service we have provided by working 7 days a week, paying our taxes, national insurance, NHS surcharge (only paid by non-EU nationals) and I have never claimed any benefit. I hope we win this time otherwise the NHS and many big companies will be losing experienced trained staff. It will not do justice to the employers who have spent so much money on our training and it will be an injustice to the people who have made their home in the city they are living in.

Aida Emilianna Safari, aged 53, is here in the UK to escape from political persecution in the Congo (DRC). She was a propagandist against Joseph Kabila and was imprisoned from 2005-2006 until her murdered husband’s political allies arranged for her successful escape from prison in 2006. She has been in the UK since 2006. She is now on her fourth lawyer who is acting pro bono to secure her release. In the meantime, on 17 December 2016 Aida’s older sister and nephew were killed in a grenade attack. Joseph Kabila’s reign of terror continues. Aida cannot return home to a country that has already falsely imprisoned her for being part of the opposition to a brutal government.

The British government and the international community has yet to call the situation in Chechnya what it is: Genocide. The Chechen government is rounding up, torturing and murdering gay men. Their families are being given an ultimatum: murder your relatives or state enforcers will. The media is a powerful force in British civic life and forms the strongest voice in setting the political agenda. We urge you, as editors of our country's dominant media platforms, to ensure that the genocide of gay men in Chechnya becomes a front page issue in Britain. Only then will politicians give the issue the attention it deserves. The General Election allows an opportunity to bring this issue to the front pages at a time when politicians are especially susceptible to headlines. Please understand the huge significance of the power you wield as agenda setters in the United Kingdom. Innocent people are being tortured and murdered and you have the power to stop it. I urge you to embrace the media's power to affect the agenda to save the lives of those desperately in need - before it's too late.

Ms Siphiwe Moyo has been refused permission to stay in the uk, She has worked hard here for a long time, she has paid taxes and has been doing a very worthwhile caring job with a quadraplegic lady. Her appeal against this decision has failed and she has to appeal again. She has paid for her own legal costs throughout. I believe the decision to deport her is morally wrong, and I appeal to as many people as possible to sign this petition. Thank you

ITS TIME WE ENFRANCHISED EVEYONE OVER 16

Fear should never be a reason not to see a doctor but the UK Government has arranged a deal between NHS Digital, the body charged with safeguarding NHS patient records, that allows the Home Office to access vulnerable patients’ information. IMPACT ON DOCTORS Doctors are subject to strict confidentiality rules, and know how important it is that their patients trust them. Yet behind their back, NHS Digital is sharing their patients’ information with the Home Office. Doctors should NOT have to tell patients that their information might be used by the Home Office to track them down at their home address. Confidentiality is compromised and doctors are being forced into being border guards. Medical bodies and doctors have slammed the deal, calling on NHS Digital to STOP breaking patient confidentiality. IMPACT ON PATIENTS Patients now have a well-founded fear that going to a GP could lead to them being tracked down by the Home Office and put into immigration detention centres. Individuals being targeted by the Home Office include people who have been trafficked to the UK and victims of torture . Doctors of the World UK’s clinics regularly see pregnant women worried that they will be arrested if the go to antenatal appointments and people with serious medical conditions who are too scared to register with a GP. OUTRAGE FROM MEDICAL BODIES AND MPS: Doctors, MPs and Medical bodies including the British Medical Association, the Royal Collage of GPs, and Health and Social Care Select Committee have slammed the deal, calling to NHS Digital to #StopSharing patient information immediately. When signing the petition, please indicate if you are a healthcare professional with the prefix Dr / Nurse / Midwife / other.

With effect from 1st April 2017 18- 21 year olds will no longer be entitled to Housing Benefit. We know that many young people rely on housing benefit to keep a roof over their heads. These young people do not choose to become homeless. They are often forced out of home because of domestic violence or family breakdown

STOP PRESS! Today, Thursday 4 May 2017 Maurice Luzolo was detained at Dallas Court, Salford. Maurice Luzolo is here in the UK because he was tortured in the Democratic Republic of Congo on account of his activism against President Kabila. He has been in the UK since 2010. His initial asylum claim was rejected, and his appeal failed because the judge claimed his story was inconsistent, ignoring a medical report evidencing Maurice’s torture. The court did not consider the psychological consequences of torture, especially the difficulties victims face in recalling the strict chronological sequence of events. An activist against Kabila throughout his time in the UK, Maurice continues to fight for his right to remain here and he is now gathering evidence to overturn the judge’s wrongful ruling in 2011. For more information, follow the link to Maurice's campaign page below.

Chechyna has just opened the first concentration camp for homosexuals since WW2. Reports say that 100 gay men have so far been detained and three killed in Chechnya last week. All human life is sacred and should be protected but particularly minority groups, who are more open to abuse and need more protection in law. We've been down this road before where governments round up groups of people and we should never go down that road again. The world needs to work together to close the concentration camps for gay men in Chechnya and put protections into law for LGBT+ citizens throughout Russia and the world.

Highways (England) are proposing to re-route this part of the A428 through the beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. As justification they say traffic will be speeded up by a few minutes at peak times. But building new roads just makes room for even more traffic. The only result is a continuous and permanent loss of England’s green and pleasant land. Please sign this petition and pass it on to your friends. And, more importantly, submit your objection to Highways public consultation. A sample objection is given below The consultation period ends on April 23rd. So this is urgent. Email your objection to [email protected] giving your full name and postal address. Sample Objection A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet proposal The proposed by-pass road is un-necessary. Improvements to the Black Cat roundabout (proposed in the Plan) and to the Caxton Gibbet roundabout (not included in the Plan) will speed up the travel time to a degree which makes a new road un-necessary. The argument for the new road is basically an economic one that eventually it will increase the UK gross domestic project (GDP). However the GDP per capita has remained fundamentally unchanged over the last 15 years despite the building of new roads and the widening of many others. Thus there is likely to be no economic gain. The loss of Cambridgeshire countryside will be permanent. It is just one further example of the constant erosion of our countryside heritage which is occurring throughout England. The value of this loss has not been weighed against any real economic gain or indeed against the perceived gains as seen by the proposers of this Plan Should Highways reject these arguments the Orange route is to be preferred.

The new government policies that came into force yesterday have been assessed as pushing an extra 200,000 children into poverty. One of the changes effectively punishes the 3rd child and treats them differently to their older siblings. It also places unbearable pressure on the mother to put in an official form whether she has been raped or not. Given that most rapes go unreported, or do not reach court due to the high attrition rates for sexual offences, how exactly are women in this position supposed to be able to prove their rape? How many women will choose not apply rather than relive the trauma of the assault? This new approach also penalises parents who already have a 3rd child, and who may need state support in the future due to their circumstances changing. Only their first 2 children are eligible for financial support, again effectively discriminating against the 3rd child. This is blatantly unfair, and against the rights of the child and the mother. It's crucial that this change is challenged and if necessary taken through the courts and all the way to the ECHR- for the sake of children and families. This needs to be challenged by all political parties to send a strong signal to the Government that it cannot get away with treating its citizens in this cruel and inhuman way.