I’m a mother, but no one has ever called me mummy. I’ve resuscitated my child, but I’ve never put a plaster on his knee. I’ve not been fined for taking my child out of school for a holiday, but I’ve been fighting to get him into school for almost four years. I’ve gone for months at a time with little sleep - but not with a baby, with a child who stops breathing. There are no family days out, because there’s nowhere to change my immobile and incontinent teenager. For four years, I have to sedate my child to travel because his wheelchair doesn’t fit and causes him pain. I’ve said goodbye more times than I can count - not for a school trip, but because I was told he would die. Our first community nurse told me to visit a morgue so I could get used to the idea of seeing my son in a freezer. I was told by a care company manager that if I complained about her staff, she’d ensure my son was put in a home. They were asleep when he wasn’t breathing, they overdosed his medications and they forcibly strapped him down to his own bed to stop them needing to move him. I’ve had to plan and write down all of the details of my child’s funeral. We have lost our home, jobs and self esteem - sponging from society, because care and education has not been sufficiently funded to allow us to work - to support our own family. I was a teacher, I fought for the children of others, I loved my job. Now, I have to fight for my son and his rights, to be his ICU nurse, to try to find time to be his mum when I’m so tired and so sad. My husband cared for people with MND or dementia, supporting them and their families until the end of their lives. Now he can only support us. Our lives revolve around keeping our son alive, well and comfortable.

In September Thetford Academy are cutting funding to Lewis Coaches so that they no longer run the bus service for our children to get to school. I have no other way of getting my 12 year old to and from school. And many other parents are in the same position. Please don't compromise the safety or education of our children.

Under the Equality Act 2010, a house cannot be refused to be let to someone because of disability, gender, race, sexual orientation or religion; these are known as protected characteristics. However - with suitable disabled accommodation being very sparse among social housing - downstairs toilet facilities, first floor apartments, bungalows, etc, are being refused to be let to potential tenants on the basis the potential tenant is in receipt of a government subsidy towards rent. These subsidies are awarded because individuals are unable to work due to disability, yet disabilities are a “protected characteristic” under the Equality Act. No matter whether you are willing to provide references, admin fees, bonds, or consent to a credit search. Due to lack of social housing, disabled people are being pushed into the private rental market yet being discriminated against and refused housing there too. No person should be discriminated against for something that is beyond their control; where else are disabled people supposed to live? It’s a daily struggle to live in a house that’s not suitable, I think it’s abhorrent that disabled people are being refused to rent in the private sector because they receive a government subsidy towards rent. Take a look at properties for rent near you and see how many say "no DSS"! Imagine how difficult it would be for someone disabled looking for somewhere to live. It is discriminatory. Please take a moment to sign this petition!

This is a vital service for many people across Renfrewshire. Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau took on almost 3000 new cases in 2016-17. Demand for their services is growing as welfare reform continues to impact the poorest communities; as the number of people who privately rent property rises and as the scurge of precarious employment shows no sign of going away. Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau offers a comprehensive service to people that no other organisation does. If Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau is not funded properly or fairly for the work that it does, it will see desperate people with no where else to turn to, become even more desperate.

We deeply regret that, despite strong arguments against it, you and your Cabinet colleagues decided on 28th June to press ahead with a tendering exercise to outsource the County’s library service. Given recent national experience, we are convinced that this is misguided. There is no material evidence that outsourcing libraries in Herefordshire would be cheaper or deliver a better service – we know of no contractor with a successful track record of running a library service in a rural setting comparable to Herefordshire. The current management and staff of Herefordshire libraries are doing a fine job under strained circumstances.

Family home since 1982, i moved back in to help my father from illness and to stop my depression, my father passed away suddenly and the council want me and 15 year old son out of the house, my youngest son comes every weekend, has adhd and will not accept change into a new house, explained this to the council but they will not listen, tried to pay the rent but they will not accept it from me.

Despite an increasing number of commuting and leisure cyclists that use this road since it was constructed, it is wholly inadequate for the purpose and it is only by luck that no cyclist has been seriously injured. Although there is a proposal for a cycle route from Maesteg out of the valley, it is not conducive for those wishing to commute via bike since it would involve narrow lanes and add at least an extra 15-20 minutes to the journey. Therefore, a route running the length of the A4063 over the ample grass verges is the only solution for journey times.

Forty one years ago Michael Sobell had a vision. A vision of a hospice where people would be able to spend the last few days of their life with all the staff and facilities that were needed to hand, in an environment that was as pleasant as possible. An environment with beautiful plants growing indoors as well as in the peaceful, tranquil gardens, a calming aquarium, and an aviary where colourful, birds flit from branch to branch and sing. An environment far removed from the usual, purely functional, antiseptic hospital ward, and a level of 24 hour care far more effective than that which could ever be provided at home. In 1977 Michael Sobell was moved enough to donate £1 million of his own money so that his vision could be achieved. A building was erected which provided an environment that was as homely as possible, friendly, and even inspirational, but a building with an expected life span of only 20 years. It has been tended and cared for by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers for 41 years. But now here we are and the inevitable day has finally arrived and the building needs to be demolished, and yet there is no plan in place to allow this much appreciated facility to continue. “Care in the community” undoubtedly has its benefits, but the phrase often seems to be used in a cynical way to slash costs and justify closing facilities. But it is totally inappropriate and unacceptable for end-of-life care. We are in danger of letting down not only Michael Sobell, the inpatients, and their families, but also the trustees, staff, and volunteers who have tended and cared for the hospice all these years - not to mention all those who have sacrificed their time, and risen to many a challenge, to raise funds in support. We must not lose sight of Michael Sobell's vision; the NHS needs to demonstrate that it still has a heart and soul. Otherwise we will just end up where we started 41 years ago. We cannot allow hospices to be closed up and down the country. We must not short-change all those people for whom the cards of life played out badly. This issue should be of NATIONWIDE CONCEN, we cannot stand by and allow the humanity to be taken out of decisions that effect us all, no matter what the financial pressures might be. Now is the time to mobilise public opinion while the powers that control the NHS contemplate how best to use their £20bn “birthday present.” We need to petition East and North Herts NHS Trust and make our feelings known before a decision is made that wipes the Michael Sobell Hospice off the face of the earth for ever. The NHS would then lose the ability to provide the sort of care for end-of-life patients that the community works so hard to support. It stands to lose the services of the dedicated people that tend the gardens, and look after the aviary and aquarium, and all the people that strive to raise funds to provide all manner of small comforts for the inpatients. The NHS stands on the brink of losing the additional funding generated by the Charity that supports the hospice which allows its limited resources to go that little bit further. But most importantly we need to show the NHS the strength of public opinion before it makes an irreversible decision that will deny many of our loved-ones access to the final demonstration of our community’s love and compassion that is offered by our hospices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxoOXs6i9gI ANY VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MY OWN AND OTHER PARTIES MAY WISH TO EXPRESS DIFFERENT VIEWS! The Board of Trustees of the Michael Sobell Hospice Charity have announced that they have set up an Advisory working group as part of their “listening and engagement” exercise. In order to help them in their desire to “spread a wide net to capture not only local views but also consider the national picture for palliative and end of life care’”, we have compiled a short survey. To complete it copy and paste the following link into your browser. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2VX8ZMJ You are also able to find the SURVEY on the newly created Save My Safe Haven website: www.savemsh.co.uk where we will be posting the results. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try and complete the SURVEY in time for the meeting the Michael Sobell House Charity has planned for later on in August. Any questions please email us at [email protected]

Mahsa is seeking asylum after fleeing Iran because she was persecuted for being in a same sex relationship. She has been in Newcastle Upon Tyne for 6 months, she has made Newcastle her home and has people here she considers to be her new family. The Home office want to send her to Austria as that was her first point of entry in Europe. She is now in the UK and is part of our LGBT Community, she has been active as a volunteer for The LGBT Federation and despite all of her troubles she shows concern for others and wants to help. She has made great progress in learning English, she has made every effort to join groups and has struggled to get her spirits up after the trauma of leaving Iran, she will not survive a deportation as she is already feeling crushed by the Immigration System. She was removed from her home in Newcastle without warning and taken to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, this is bad for her already fragile mental health and it will set back the progress she has made. It's possible she will be leaving Yarl's Wood on the 25th June, If she is sent out of the UK it will destroy her, she has already been removed from her place of relative safety and it is inhumane to be sent out of the UK to somewhere she is not familiar with. She should not be persecuted further because of who she loves. We are asking for the Home Office to have her asylum case heard in the UK and for her to be allowed to claim asylum in the UK.

This petition is very important as driver's that speed down Field End Road are putting our children in serious danger, as well as us parents. A few serious accidents have happened within the last 6 months, could've been avoided had the driver's stuck to the speed limit.

There is undue suffering and disability caused by preventing patients to medicinal cannabis. In light of accumulating scientific evidence that medicinal cannabis is not only alleviating pain and suffering but can also treat severe medical conditions, like severe epilepsy, it amounts to medical negligence to forbid access to treatment. Furthermore, it violates one's human rights to accessing life saving medication. The UK is a progressive country and needs to change the law to account for the scientific evidence available.

Adoption UK's members have contacted us in their thousands to tell us about their children's struggles at school. Almost 70% of adoptive parents say their child's progress is hindered by their poor emotional state at school. Nearly 80% of adopted children say they are routinely confused and worried at school, and two thirds of secondary aged children say they are being bullied at school because they are adopted. And it's not just adopted children who face these challenges - we know that this is the daily reality for up to half the children in every classroom who have had traumatic experiences - from living in care to family breakdown to bereavement. This is bad news for children, for their families, for teachers and for school results. If we re-think the way we’re educating adopted children, we can vastly improve their life chances. And even better: the changes we make can benefit every child in school. We want an equal chance for adopted children at school - and for all children who have suffered traumatic experiences in their early years. Add your name to support the call for an #equal chance. The louder we are, the more likely we will be heard.