Countries such as Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina are refusing to allow Brits to disembark the ship to catch flights back to the UK, including my mum who is travelling on her own. There is no illness onboard and they haven't been off the ship for the last 12 days. The plan now is to sail to Fort Lauderdale in Florida (due to arrive 4th April) but we need the government to step in and send repatriation flights to ensure that they can get home. The reason being is that they have twice been promised that they can disembark (in Buenos Aires and Rio) to catch flights but have then had this revoked at the very last minute. This is causing so much distress to the 400+ Brits on board. Make Dominic Raab take some proper action here and get them all home!

In light of Government advice to minimise the scale and spread of coronavirus many people, especially freelancers, self-employed people and people on lower incomes will be left with little to no money for the foreseeable future. The Government must adopt emergency measures right now to support people across the country, by providing temporary universal basic income so we all have enough money to survive. Universal basic income is a sum of money given to everyone to help pay for essentials like food and bills. Already Labour and Conservative MPs are calling on the Government to do it, and politicians in the USA and other countries are also calling on their Governments to do the same. There is a lot more that needs to be done to mitigate the impact of coronavirus - from helping people get support from their workplace when they are sick, to making sure tenants don’t face eviction. But ensuring everyone across the country has a set sum to get by could save lives. If you think everyone should be guaranteed enough money to pay for basic essentials at a time like this, will you add your name to the petition now? Notes here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/mar/17/boris-johnson-coronavirus-press-conference-rishi-sunak-cabinet-as-rishi-sunak-set-to-announcing-coronavirus-financial-rescue-package-politics-live?page=with:block-5e70afeb8f085e564ad859ba#block-5e70afeb8f085e564ad859ba

The homes of the people of the UK are far more important than a vanity project to build a whole new line to cut travel time when the infrastructure already exists to do this. The Great Central Railway was closed in the 1960s and has the capacity to take high speed trains. It survives almost totally intact and would serve the same purpose as HS2 at a fraction of the cost. ‘ Re-opening The Great Central Railway fulfils all the main objectives of HS2 without the excruciating cost, the environmental objections and absurdities of the latter project.‘ https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/08/there-is-a-far-better-option-than-hs2-and-it-already-exists/ People are suffering and putting the money saved from a ridiculously inappropriate vanity project into flood defences will save livelihoods and protect our communities.

The situation with the grot spot on Springfield Road Sparkhill Birmingham is becoming unbearable. Rubbish is being dumped their repeatedly. It is causing an obstruction on the pavement and is a hazard. School children from Springfield School are having to walk into the road to get past it.

Tensions are at breaking point between the US and Iran after President Trump ordered an airstrike killing an Iranian military commander. Iran is threatening retaliation. A US led war with the Middle East is looming. To avoid needless destruction and civilian death, Prime Minister Boris Johnson must publicly rule out being dragged into a Trump led war. Together we can show Boris Johnson that the British public don’t want to get into bed with Trump and enter another war. Sign the petition to up the pressure now.

There has been a lot of decisions by Halton council that have made a lot of people very angry, however if we was to look, very little if any members of the public actually attend these Council meetings and as often to be the case people are not happy with decisions that have been made but only learn of these decisions when they are happening. Is it not about time that in 2020 the Council should be considering steaming live Council meetings, its a new way of communicating with and to engage the general public, these live and on-demand streaming can be used for all the council meetings. If people can’t attend the Council meetings in person, they can still participate virtually by watching live streaming broadcasts, it will of course be educational to know what actually is happening at the council meetings and being able to see key decisions being made. This will make local democracy more accessible for residents being able to watch from home or even their workplace or even on the go, this really is a great opportunity to bring the council chamber into the 21st century with the installation of a live streaming system. They will be able to watch live as issues are debated, motions are voted on and planning applications how they are decided, I believe this will increase engagement with residents and making meetings available to view online could improve the communication with residents, we must also think residents who cannot leave their homes due to illness or old age. I have looked at other councils who take part in this live streaming and have spoken to them direct and what I have been told on occasions although they experience very low if any attendance from members of the public just like Halton, each meeting has been watched between 400 and 2,500 times, this is far in excess of expectations of any number that our Council meetings attract however this idea will work.

More than 80% of the national newspaper market is dominated by just three companies. That means only a handful of people at the top of the companies control how most of our news is reported. Having a free press - where media companies have their own opinions - is important in a democracy. But when just a handful of views are represented by just a handful of companies, it can end up influencing the majority of the news read by millions of people every day. If you think massive powerful media companies need to be broken up so our media can have a fairer range of voices, add your name to the petition toady.

Boris Johnson wants to rule out any extensions to a Brexit transition period. He says this is to stop any delays, but really it just makes a no-deal Brexit more likely. Even though he’s just won an election, it doesn’t mean our Prime Minister can put our jobs, our access to medicines and our economy at risk just to score political points. Leave or Remain, none of us voted for a no-deal Brexit that could see our food standards at risk, our NHS struggling with price hikes to vital medicines, and job losses across the country.

The 2019 general election has seen some truly dodgy behaviour: fake news, misleading leaflets, untruthful ads on social media. And parties have been getting away with it. Why? Because the organisation that oversees elections is just too weak. The Electoral commission is the organisation tasked with this crucial role but its powers are limited and outdated. For instance, its rules are based on how elections were run decades ago, before social media and fake news played such a key role. Our democracy won't work if it's polluted by disinformation. The Electoral Commission needs more power so it can impose bigger fines - and help clean up our democracy

A report by MPs which reveals whether or not there has been secret Russian interference in British politics has been delayed for months. No reason for the refusal has been given. Everyone in the country has a right to know if a foreign power has been trying to influence our politics. The British public should be told the truth about whether or not there was interference in our politics. The government should release the report as soon as possible and be honest with the public.

This general election has seen untruthful ads or plain lies on social media. At the moment Facebook do not do enough to get rid of ads that spread lies or misinformation. Other social media platforms have already taken action. Twitter recently banned all political ads. The spread of misinformation and lies in our politics could have a serious impact on our democracy. Facebook have the power to change their rules to crack down on the spread of political ads which mislead people. They make a lot of money out of these adverts so they have a duty to do better.

Improving the facilities and dropping the rents would hopefully entice traders back, and stop those we have from leaving. These are the first two things we need in order to save our dying market !!!