We are coming up to the 100 Years anniversary of the Great War. I am the last surviving family member of Private William Tongs D.C.M, who died on the 12th of May 1915, after carrying out three brave deeds, each act deserving the highest award of the Victoria Cross. There is evidence that the War Graves Commission's burial records indicated he was buried with the award of the V.C. His Commanding Officer was injured the same day that Pvt. W. Tongs earned the DCM for his first act of bravery. His second act was to rescue 7 wounded men of the Royal Irish Rifles under very heavy fire and brought them back to safety. His third act, as defined by his Commanding Officer in a letter to his father:-. "There was no more gallant officer or man in the battalion than your son; he earned his D.C.M. on 10th March for conspicuous bravery both in the handling of a machine gun and for going out under very heavy fire from the enemy and helping in seven wounded men. He died from wounds received in action on the 9th of May. On this occasion his gallantry was equally conspicuous in the manner he worked his machine gun. He was on this occasion wounded several times and died on the 12th May. He served his country nobly and died a hero’s death." It will be noticed that no award was made for the third plucky incident in the career of this noble Guernseyman. The V.C. has often been granted for such deeds. There are numerous V.C's awarded for far less brave acts, and although these recipients were courageous, the V.C. is usually awarded not only for gallantry but for the most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy." As an example of an oversite and in one case example, two VC's were issued to an Officer and a Private, for handling the same machine gun, the Officer was killed, the Private took over the machine gun and was eventually captured by the enemy. This one act was justified by the granting of two awards of the Victoria Cross. Yet Private Tongs earned a DCM for three acts of gallantry in the presence of the enemy which produced positive results. The V.C. Can be awarded posthumously and in this instance, my petition is purely to posthumously upgrade the DCM to the Victoria Cross, that was richly deserved, when Pvt. Tongs gave his life for his Country. The full story can be seen published by an independent organisation: - The Priaux Library in Guernsey Channel Islands. http://www.greatwarci.net/honour/guernsey/database/tongs-w-merville.htm London Gazette Issue 29180 published on 1 June 1915. Page 37 of 40 "For conspicuous gallantry at Neuve Chapelle on 10th March 1915. When he brought his machine gun into position under a heavy fire and silenced a German gun which had been doing much damage. On the 12th March, he rescued wounded men of the Royal Irish Rifles under heavy fire."

News papers (both national and local) do a very important job of holding those in power to account. But the Thurrock Council chief executive Lyn Carpenter has decided not to be held to account by blocking the local newspaper and refusing to answer any questions. By this the people of Thurrock will be kept in the dark about what their council is doing. Are the hiding something? Today it is Thurrock council but if they get away with this then tomorrow it could be your or my council. I think we should all be concerned about our democracy and make sure that Thurrock Council don't get away with it and send out a message to other councils that they can't do the same. Read more on this story www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/advertiser-lends-support-to-press-freedom-battle-1-5646497 I live in a borough which has had it's elected mayor charged with corruption. This was brought about by journalist doing a good job so I know how important it is for journalist to be able to do their job.

The psychological damage caused by this inhumane and cruel policy as revealed in the Observer newspaper on Sunday 5th August 2018 is irreparable and shames the United Kingdom. The hypocrisy of criticising the Trump administration for its immigration policy is breathtaking. It is shameful to be treating some of the most vulnerable and needy people in the world in this way. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/05/child-separation-migrant-parents-uk-hostile-environment-trump

These companies make huge profits selling electronic items, for example in the 4th quarter of 2017 Apple posted revenue of $52.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $10.7 billion. Apple sold 46.7 million iPhones during this same period. A lot of that profit comes from selling newer versions of an existing product to existing customers, with no consideration for the older product. These older products and broken or obsolete items invariably end up in the rubbish in the UK or being shipped overseas to countries like China, or more recently Thailand and Malaysia, who have no capability to properly recycle these items. These electronic items sit around covering vast areas of land slowly polluting the soil and ground water and causing health problems for local communities. These electronic companies promote and benefit massively from promoting consumerism, but deal with non of the consequences of our throw away society that they have helped create. These electronic items contain lots of plastic and hard to extract natural resources such as cadium or lithium. The extraction of these metals from the environment invariably leads to environmental degradation, we are then throwing these products away causing further long lasting damage to the environment. We then have to extract more of these same materials that are thrown away to keep pace with demand. It is time for the companies, who make such vast profits, to be held accountable for the environmental damage their products create. A tax should be levied by the British government on the profits of any of these companies domicile in the UK, to cover the cost of properly recycling and where possible reusing the various components of their electronic products.

After protecting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for almost six years, Ecuador is now planning to withdraw its political asylum, and eject him from its London embassy which would turn him over to the British authorities. Lenín Moreno, the newly-elected President of Ecuador, visited London last week to give a speech at Global Disability Summit on 24 July 2018. However, media reports suggest the actual purpose of the President's visit was to finalize a deal with UK government to withdraw its asylum protection of Assange. According to the Intercept's Glenn Greenwald, multiple sources close to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry and the President's office have confirmed that Julian Assange will be handed over to Britain in the coming weeks or even days. The Backgroud: Julian Assange, has been living in The Embassy of Ecuador in London since June 2012, when he was granted asylum by the Ecuador Government after a British court ordered his extradition to Sweden to face questioning over an alleged sexual assault and rape charge. In 2017 Swedish Attorney teams visited Assange in London which resulted in all charges being dropped. However, Assange could still not leave the Ecuador Embassy as UK Police forces maintained a 24/ 7 presence around the building with orders to effect an arrest warrant for a minor charge of "failure to surrender," which carries a prison term of three months and a fine. However, the real reason for an arrest warrant would be to also effect an Extradition to America where he is facing federal charges for publishing classified information leaked by Chelsea Manning in 2010, illustrating atrocious war crimes. The leaked files included video footage of Reuters news reporters, and innocent bystanders being murdered by a US helicopter gunship. The footage was entitled Collateral Murder, and was immediately also widely published in media outlets all around the world. The Guardian, New York Times, The Washington post amongst many others have all made a fortune from the information that was published by WikiLeaks, but are not being targeted in any way by US government. Instead the US government have sighted Wikileaks and Julian Assange as enemies of the state, and have even called for his assignation by drone strike! In 2016, The United Nations ruled that Julian Assange was and had been Arbitrarily Detained at the Embassy and should be immediately set free with compensation, however this ruling has been totally ignored. Current Situation: Julian Assange, has not been online since March 2018, after Ecuador cut his communications with the outside world from its London embassy... no visitors, no phone, no internet connection. The Ecuadorian government took this decision after Assange tweeted in support of the Catalan independence movement exposing Spanish governments alleged human rights violations. According to Ecuador, Assange had breached an agreement to refrain from interfering in other states' affairs. In reality however, it is thought that America is currently applying 'significant pressure' on Ecuador, including threatening to block a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if Assange continues to be allowed stay at its London Embassy. He is therefore now unable to defend himself against any of the allegations that are being currently issued. It is completely unacceptable for the UK Government to knowingly allow and Extradition Process to happen, with the knowledge that US officials are seeking a death penalty. Julian Assange has provided us all with the privilege of gaining access to the Truth behind many of the world's most complex geo-political issues. Action: This issue is Urgent. Julian Assange could now be evicted at any time and extradited to America. Please Take Action and sign this campaign, and broaden the public understanding of this issue.

As social ecologists argue, the exploitation of nature is rooted in the exploitation of humankind. Fracking is again a demonstration of how financial incentives threaten to undermine our long-term existence on this planet. To pursue this path will mean greater pollution, degradation of the UK countryside (over half a million metres will be sacrifice to fracking wells) and the exacerbation of the already clear hazards presented by climate change. Environmental activists are campaigning and dying in countries such as Honduras to prevent industrial projects that will destroy scared areas of nature. In England it is time that we realise our responsibility as environmental stewards, in Leeds we must unite to challenge companies who are too short-sighted to see what is valuable. Preston New Road has already shown its opposition with 50,000 signatures, can we stand with them?

This is fundamental because in a country where youth crime is at such a high rate, youth facilities provide vital refuge from Britain's gang scene for youth. Despite this, their budgets are being dwindled. This needs to stop!

Christians are officially the most persecuted minority in the world at the moment, Jews have a long and painful history of persecution and Islamophobia is prevalent in our society. It would be wonderful for SE railway to start conversations amongst customers and colleagues by demonstrating how much all of these groups have in common. It would also combat religious illiteracy which is leading to intolerance in our society.

Currently insufficient time to fully scrutinise the white paper and any amendments before parliament rises for the summer recess.

These bottles are typically sturdy enough to be used many times and reusing a bottle ten times would reduce plastic consumption and waste by 90%. It would reduce transportation and consumer prices. The retail technology is readily available and the public are highly motivated to adopt such initiatives.

Because he made england feel proud again

THE TOWNSPEOPLE WANT TO KEEP IT