I want to highlight the sparsity of resources in the NHS for treating patients with eating disorders. This is a national issue but it has to begin somewhere. I mention anorexia in particular because it came into our family, but the same points apply to all eating disorders. The eating disorder charity BEAT states: "Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, from medical complications associated with the illness as well as suicide." So where is the funding? Where are the specialists? The Royal College of Psychiatrists report: “We are seeing waits of up to 16 months for non-urgent referrals. It is really worrying, because we know that the more quickly people start receiving treatment the quicker they are to respond to it.” Anorexia is an illness. Despite what some people might think, no-one chooses to be anorexic in the same way that no-one chooses cancer. It is a physical illness and it is a mental illness but it is also a neglected illness as far as the NHS is concerned. In the East Riding of Yorkshire, until recently, there was no provision for eating disorders. This year, CAMHS has established an Eating Disorder Service. What about those patients who are not children? Those patients like my own loved one. Four years ago, a beautiful, talented, artistic young lady whom I love with all my heart fell prey to anorexia and I watched in impotence as she shrank before my eyes. She was 16 and resisted medical treatment for the best part of a year. Once she accepted help, her GP was wonderful at keeping an eye on her and referring her to a general mental health therapist but there were no specialists in eating disorders or any specialist treatment. Early in 2017, when my loved one became so ill that she weighed 5 stone and had a BMI of 12, she was admitted to a gastroenterology ward at the general hospital. The doctors and nurses were marvellous but they were not experts in the treatment of eating disorders. However, they found her a place at a residential ED Clinic in Grimsby, 54 miles and a drive of an hour and a half away. Grimsby is not in East Yorkshire; it’s in Lincolnshire. Still, we were lucky. Did you see the programme, ‘Wasting Away: The Truth about Anorexia’, which told the story of news reader Mark Austin’s daughter? I watched in tears as their story unfolded in an almost carbon copy of our own. Now if someone in the public eye, with a doctor for a wife, had no clue what to do, and if help wasn’t readily available to them, then what chance did we have? Mark Austin's research taught him that there are only 200 beds for ED patients in Britain and his programme revealed a young woman from Nottingham who was sent to Edinburgh for treatment. Her mum had to make a 600 mile round trip to visit her. UK eating disorder statistics • 1.6 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder • 11% of the 1.6 million people struggling with an eating disorder are male • Eating disorders are more common in individuals between the ages of 14 and 25 years old • There are up to 18 new diagnoses of bulimia nervosa, per 100,000 people, per year • 1 in 100 women aged between 15 and 30, are affected by anorexia nervosa • 10% of people affected by an eating disorder suffer from anorexia nervosa • 40% of people affected by an eating disorder suffer from bulimia nervosa • The rest of sufferers fall into the BED (binge eating disorder) or OSFED (other specified feeding or eating disorder) categories of eating disorders • Research suggests that the earlier that eating disorder treatment is sought, the better the sufferer’s chance of recovery These UK eating disorder statistics are derived from data published by Beat and Mind. For the sake of the futures of our young people, we need to hold the government to account, locally and nationally, to keep their promises and to ensure that there is money in every local authority for ED Services.

Having seen my beautiful Bernese mountain dog collapse and shake with a heart beat pounding out his chest . No matter how much money I spend or what I do , i can not console my boy. It breaks my heart to see this, it’s for days on end because people can set them off whenever they want and what time they want , stress is not good for any human or animal, this affects us all.. Animals die from shock and fear . We are supposed to love and respect nature and our domestic pets not destroy them with fireworks . All I’m asking for is that we respect one another and come to a compromise to save our animals from the torture they go through around November . Please help !

Small children and animals are being constantly put in a state of fear for weeks at a time due to the careless use and misuse of noisy explosive fireworks. My dogs are trembling with fear every night, others are sharing their stories of similarly terrified pets on facebook and twitter.

These machines let people spend thousands in a matter of minutes, creating lots of gambling addicts. This directly effects social and mental wellbeing, and leads to 2 people committing suicide every day. The only reason the government has done this is because of financial gain from the tax system of around £400 million! This is a very disappointing irresponsible attitude.

Many older people are lonely and isolated. The only friend they have is their television. To reintroduce the licence fee, will cause hardship to those who need their T.V. most.. *Free image by Masterfile

To improve the life chances of future generations Develop the skills, knowledge and employment of the young For the UK to be energy independent/self sufficient To eliminate energy poverty To give the earth and all it supports a chance for repair

Loneliness is considered to be one of the main problems among elderly persons which can have a serious effect on health so why would the government close such active community centres?

The proposed road will force over 400 village school children and residents in the valley to breathe polluting, health harming, diesel freight traffic fumes. It would bring deadly traffic pollution and noise from freight vehicles into an environmentally sensitive valley that houses two primary schools. The list of long term effects of air pollution on children and the elderly is growing almost daily. Wales has a Future Generations Act designed to ensure we consider the needs of future generations, but this road, aimed at servicing the loss making Cardiff Airport which is actually owned by the Welsh Assembly Government, means the future health of Ely Valley school children and residents appears to have been abandoned. The Welsh Assembly Government is planning on spending £100+ million of taxpayers money on this road that will service their own business. The children affected by these plans have no voice. We must speak for them.

This is a safety critical job, meaning that more customers will feel safe on the railways. Current disputes are going on for no obvious reason, disrupting millions of commuters every week. Have a look at some of the RMT's stories on Facebook and Twitter and see some of the reasons we need to keep our guards.

British tax payers are being required to work longer and pay NI & tax but state pension not increased, over 60’s who have worked all their lives have paid their tax dues to the country, majority never claimed a penny in benefits but are punished with state pension age being changed and likely will change again to pre war 70 years of age. It is not feasible for the majority of over 60s to stay in their current jobs I.e emergency and armed services, manual workers etc. When we do receive state pension it is another slap in the face that it is taxed, disgraceful country.

Both the Hope Centre and NAASH offer an unmatched and undeniably crucial role in providing vital services to the towns homeless and vulnerable community. No other organisation be it housing, charity or council come near to the services provided or the compassion and heart they are provided with. To allow a business who's bottom line is about profit to take over this service in conjunction with other organisations that are only interested in control rather than compassion is not in the best interest of the homeless community in this town.

This is of vital importance for people of the County Durham area. We are a nurse led unit who admit patients from Acute sites who are medically fit for discharge but may need more social input or would be unsafe to discharge home for example dementia patients, non- weight bearing patients and obese patients. The plans for these patients now is to discharge home for district nurses to see to but there are no proposals to increase the number of district nurses and when people spoke to them they were not aware of the proposals or how they were going to staff them!