A recent petition against the closure of Sure Start children's centres containing 6,000 signatures was insufficient to trigger a debate in full Council. This stifled debate and thus undermined democracy. 1500 signatures should be sufficient evidence of widespread public feeling on any given issue and therefore should be enough to trigger a debate in full Council.

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.

For the future of our democracy, to enable & encourage more people to partake in elections ,

by putting Andy Coulson in place as communications director against advice and in light of Coulson's being found guilty of phone hacking that caused untold misery to people, David Cameron has shown he cannot be trusted to run the country and cannot command the confidence of parliament or the people of the UK. he must go.

The publishing of these reports would allow the Scottish people to examine the results and make a more informed choice on the question of independence for Scotland.

The young must be re-engaged with Politics and this will only happen if they can participate and feel part of the system. This reform would lead to a feed up rather than feed down format. The excessive cost of 818 Lords could be considerably reduced and the 2nd House would be elected. The Prime Minister would be directly elected by the whole country and he would select his own cabinet. The concerns of the electorate would be better served by Regionally Elected Mp's who would be in closer contact with the electorate.

There has been a 37% rise in the amount of people sleeping rough since your government took power; 50000 families were accepted as homeless by their local authority in 2012/13 and the average life expectancy of a homeless person is 47. These statistics sicken us. Show us you feel the same by outlawing these new deterrents to homeless people finding somewhere to sleep when they have nowhere else to go. We do not believe the removal of these spikes will stop homelessness, anymore than their installation will stop homelessness, but it may convince us that you and your government are not anti-homeless people.

I'm very concerned about the precedent that secret trials could lead to. The CIA are very heavily involved with British legal system strongly advising what information can be made public or not. The CIA are not an elected representative of the British public. They have just used there vast influence to tell the British Government how to conduct them selves. Then what will happen next? If you are convicted of a terrorist crime you will be denied access to all the evidence that is held against you. If you can afford to have a solicitor Legal aid is being savagely cut Your fair trial will not be in public. People who support you family and friends might not be allowed to follow the legal presidia. What the public is not aware of is that White Anglo Saxon Protestants will be put on trial as well. And this is only the beginning.Once the precedence has been set, It will become common for other serious crimes to be herd in secret.Murder, and Rape ; trials for stop and search, . Many people believe that as Law abiding Citizen's they will never experience the living horror of a secret trial. Please do not assume anything, all it takes is one nasty person making a nasty telephone call.

Our local precinct in Accrington often plays host to a man who carries his life's possessions in a large rucksack and two M&S bags. Standing there in his burst slippers he declaims himself a messenger from god sent to rescue us from the cesspool of our morals. He is an example of (Don't) care in the community. I see so many parallels but Gove is better dressed... * "Mice and Men", "Islamic Trojan Horses" and others * Micromanagement, Term Time Holidays * Fight people and shadows outside his department So many signs... Perhaps it is too late to send for Matron. He may need a time-out and perhaps counselling. It would be a win-win situation in that teachers, and the rest of the UK could take a breath, take stock and be worry free for a while. I ask the nation to chip in. Please show you care.

Cynicism with our political process is widespread, and a major cause is the impunity with which a political party can completely ignore the manifesto on which it was elected. The whipped House of Commons fails to call the executive to account. A non-party-political Citizens' Chamber would act as an important check and balance, ensuring governing parties keep to the election promises they made.

Britain joined the Common market in 1973 on the premise that the country was joining a trade and customs union with no essential loss of sovereignty. This was done WITHOUT a popular vote from the people. The Wilson governemnt in 1975 did offer the people a say on the matter and in 1975 Britain narrowly voted to stay within the common market (still under the impression that Britain was staying within a trade and customs union). Since that time the nature of the E.U. has changed dramatically via emerging new E.U. driven legislation and new treaties that have the slowly eroded the sovereignty of the UK Parliament and therefore democracy. No one under the age of 57 has ever been given a say on whether or not the UK should be subsumed by a foreign governmental structure (the E.U. in Brussels) a move that is close to occurring. If the British people are not given the opportunity to have a say on the matter then they will at a point (in not too distant future) be forced to accept that virtually every aspect of their lives will be governed by what is considered by many to be a remote, unelected group of Bureaucrats (the E.U. Commission) and a Brussels Parliament that is non legislative i.e it cannot propose legislation and can only rubber stamp what is placed before it (by the unelected E.U Commissioners). This flies in the face of the democratic values known, understood and enjoyed by the British people since the time of Oliver Cromwell. It has been clearly demonstrated by several highly respected think tanks that Britain would actually enjoy a significant economic boost by leaving behind the constraints of E.U. membership and this can be seen by following this link: http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/EUCosts_Factsheet.pdf The U.K. independent of E.U rule can have a very full and productive part to play in Europe cooperating in many areas such as trade, defence and world development As a Island nation physically separated from Europe/E.U and with a proud tradition of democracy and independence many feel that we must maintain our right to conduct out own affairs and that being "hustled" into a "united states of Europe" is not in our national interest. The question the British public need to ask themselves is "what is it that could be achieved by handing over the right democracy, self determination and national sovereignty that couldn't as easily be achieved by simple helpful cooperation and collaboration with our European neighbors whilst mainlining the absolute right to say NO when the circumstances call for it"? Now is the time for the nation to have its say, NOTin 2017 when treaty changes (Lisbon) coming into force will make proposed re-negotiation and utlimatly leaving the E.U. (succession) legally difficult or likely even impossible. Lets just for once let the people have a free, fair and legally binding say on the E.U as this is the most important question of our time and it needs to be answered freely and fairly one way or the other.

This is important because the voters of this country who only have the influence of a single vote at election time deserve to know who the influence peddlers are and who is paying them.