We are parents and carers of autistic children and young people in Lewisham who have been supported by Drumbeat Outreach over recent years.   We recently found out that Drumbeat Outreach are subject to a consultation with a view to an overall loss of around half of its skilled team. We understand some staff will be offered roles within Drumbeat School but many are facing redundancy if the proposed restructure goes ahead. We have heard that around half of the team will be lost.   Drumbeat Outreach is a service of which Lewisham should be proud. Our children and young people and our families have been supported by Drumbeat Outreach in countless ways.    Firstly, their work in schools has led to tangible changes in the way our children are understood and their needs supported. Their unique model of working with both families and schools gives them an insight into challenges and an ability to suggest adaptations and solutions that no-one else has. They understand school policies, build strong relationships with school teams, and support parents and schools to work together constructively. They have intervened promptly at crucial points in our children’s lives, are able to follow and support them as they journey through the school system. As parents and carers, we know what a difference their input has made to ensuring our children access education and reach their potential.   Secondly, their parent workshops have provided us with timely advice and expertise to better support our own children. Drumbeat Outreach workshops speak to our realities and challenges, giving us evidence-based solutions and support. Over time, these workshops have covered an unparalleled breadth of issues of relevance to our children and our lives, delivered with a depth of knowledge and expertise that others simply do not have.   Thirdly, Drumbeat Outreach run and support many other activities that support and inspire us. These include their coffee mornings for Black and dual heritage families, a podcast, a youth advocates network, a Dads’ group, their sessions for grandparents. Taken together, these activities have improved our children’s mental health, wellbeing and sense of pride in who they are and helped strengthen our families and wider support networks.   If you ask us parents and carers of autistic children and young people in Lewisham what service has helped them in understanding and supporting their children’s needs, their education, mental health and their futures, a large number of them would single out Drumbeat Outreach. They are uniquely trusted by families from across Lewisham’s diverse communities and this trust has been built over many years by skilled and committed professionals.   In the light of the news about cuts, a number of us have written to Councillors, Council staff and Drumbeat School to ask for more information about the plans and to express our concern about any reduction in the Outreach service. The responses we have received give little clarity about the rationale for these drastic cuts, and have confused us further. We are surprised to learn that Councillors in relevant roles appear not to have known anything about these planned cuts.    Lewisham’s Autism Strategy commits to ensuring “specialised support, training, advice and signposting to all stakeholders involved in the care, education and effective inclusion of autistic children and young people in order to create a community that provides equality of provision and life chances, supports independence, champions autonomy and promotes acceptance of difference/neurodiversity”. How will this be achieved with a halved Drumbeat Outreach service?   The Autism Strategy also states its first key principle is “Nothing about us without us”, yet families who will be affected by these cuts have not been consulted and are not being given clear information about these cuts.    The impact of these cuts will be felt across Lewisham and will have a knock-on effect on schools and other Local Authority services who rely on Drumbeat Outreach’s expertise. The loss of a highly-skilled workforce will leave a lasting legacy. While the government puts in motion its plans to ensure more children with SEND are educated in mainstream settings, Lewisham seems to be cutting back the one team that can make this work in practice. What will this mean for our children’s futures?

• Five years after the start of the Covid pandemic, thousands remain severely ill - Many housebound or often bedbound, unable to attend school, work, or take part in daily life.  Disabled, discharged, and hidden from view. • Covid has left millions chronically ill, including over 100,000 children in England and Scotland (ONS data 2024). • Long Covid is not a historic issue - new infections and reinfections continue to increase the number of people developing chronic illness. • Long Covid can cause systemic damage, affecting organs, the immune system, and even the brain. • Half of Long Covid patients meet the criteria for M.E, a condition that, at its most severe, leaves people confined to darkened rooms, unable to sit up, eat or speak. • Instead of investing in care and research, the government is shutting down Long Covid clinics in England, leaving thousands without support. • As knowledge has advanced, NO additional funding has been allocated for Long Covid research—despite the increasing likelihood that further research could lead to effective treatments. A fraction of the additional £26 billion in NHS funding announced for the next two years could change this by:  • Helping children and adults with Long Covid return to their daily lives, education, and work. Providing crucial support for young people transitioning into adulthood and meaningful employment.   • Preventing families and households from falling into financial crisis, allowing parents, caregivers, and those with Long Covid to stay in work while ensuring access to the care they desperately need PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE ✅ #FundOurFuture ✅ #LCandME ✅ #FundThePlan “"I used to be healthy and go to school like everyone else. I used to ride horses and swim and play tennis and play with my friends. Now I spend my life in bed and I'm too sick to move. I have no friends anymore, I can't do my hobbies and I can't do any school. No doctor knows how to help me and for most of the time, none have even tried. Some of them even didn't believe me and said I was just lazy. I am abandoned and I've given up, honestly. I'm not the only one. I don't understand why no one will help us."” 12-year-old living with Long Covid since 2020. ““My teenager has had Long Covid since he was 9. He desperately misses school and football. For a while, he managed 20 minutes of school a day, but he has progressed to severe M.E. and has been unable to walk or tolerate light, screens, or even conversation. I gave up work to care for him. Our family is still stuck in 'lockdown'. Please, please, please help him by funding treatment research.”” Parent of 13-year-old living with Long Covid since 2022

We the people of the UK need a clean country free of litter and fly tipping so we can enjoy a better sustsainable environment that we as residents and all UK visitors can be proud of. This is especially important for the dedicated litter picking groups who care for our communities and environments. "UK litter pickers" on face book

In light of challenges faced by the Woodchurch community over the years it is vital that respect is shown to its residents. The memorial garden has become an even more important space that bring community together. It is a peaceful area of reflection and remembrance for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

This new ITV drama exposes just how many police officers lied and tricked members of the public into relationships with them, in order to spy on members of organisations campaigning on issues like animal rights and anti-racism. Some of these police officers lived with their "targets" and had sexual relationships with them. There are even cases of them fathering children with the women they spied on undercover. A long running inquiry is still investigating this scandal, but action needs to be taken NOW to close the gaping holes in our legal system so this kind of undercover operation never happens again.

NHS dental fees are about to increase. If you’re lucky enough to have an NHS dentist, you’ll soon pay more for everything from a check-up to fillings. And not a penny of it will actually be put into our cash-strapped NHS dental services. The hike, which typically happens each year, is scheduled for April. That’s unless enough of us come together to stop it this time - and call for a proper plan to save NHS dentistry. We all know that NHS dentistry is broken, with millions of people still struggling to get the dental care they need - and we need a plan to fix it. Instead of hiking NHS fees, it’s time for the Government to come up with a proper plan to fund NHS dentistry for all.

IT'S AN INVASION OF PRIVACY, IT'S HUMILIATING. IT WILL CAUSE MORE STRESS AND ANXIETY ON PEOPLE'S MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH. SUICIDE RATE COULD RISE. THE COST OF LIVING AT THE MINUTE IS CAUSING ENOUGH WORRY AND ANXIETY, WE DON'T NEED ADDED PRESSURE. IT'S SEEMS TO BE PARTICULARLY TARGETING PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY VULNERABLE AND STRUGGLING TO COPE.

This policy hurts everyone: • Asylum seekers are stripped of dignity—forced to rely on handouts instead of earning a living. • The UK economy loses out on skilled, hardworking individuals eager to contribute. • It fuels racism and resentment, reinforcing the false idea that asylum seekers are a burden instead of the builders, caregivers, and workers they long to be. What message does this send? That those fleeing persecution and war are less deserving of human dignity? That the government prefers to keep people in poverty rather than allow them to contribute? This isn’t just about policy, it’s about basic human rights. Let asylum seekers work. Let them contribute. Let them live with dignity.  Sign the petition NOW to demand immediate work rights for asylum seekers in the UK.

Across the UK, living standards are falling and millions live in poverty, while the cost of living crisis has made affording the basics difficult. Public services we all rely on - our hospitals, schools, councils, childcare, public transport and social security - have been decimated after a decade of cuts. And now, the Government could be looking to cut them even further. At the same time, extreme wealth is growing. The average wealth of the top ten richest people in the UK is now £20.5 billion - up nearly 50% in five years. It is difficult to comprehend this scale of wealth. If you earned £3600 every hour, it would take you 650 years to save this amount. The UK is the sixth richest country in the world. But the huge amount of wealth in this country is held by a very small proportion of the population. The UK’s 50 richest families hold more wealth than the poorest 50% of the population - some 34 million people.  The UK’s unequal tax system is stacked in favour of the super-rich, helping the rich get richer at a faster rate and fuelling inequality. Unfair loopholes and far lower rates of tax on income from wealth than work mean the wealthiest in our society often pay proportionally lower taxes than a teacher or nurse. It doesn’t have to be this way. The government could find the money to support public services by taxing the very richest more. A 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million could raise as much as £24 billion a year and affect just 20,000 of the very richest people. Implementing wealth taxes to support communities across the country isn’t just sensible - it's popular too. Three quarters of the public and 65% of UK millionaires who have been polled are in favour, as well as many unions, leading economists, think tanks, charities, and community groups. Phil White, member of Patriotic Millionaires UK, says: “The British people have always been proud of the shared public services we’ve created and are frustrated to see how they have been run into the ground. The NHS, education, our water system, public transport and others desperately need funding but  British people are being constantly squeezed - working hard week-on-week against rising costs.  This makes the need for taxing the very richest even more important. There’s plenty of money in the UK - but it’s stuck in the hands of the wealthiest - and while they get richer everyone else gets poorer. We would be proud to pay more, because that’s what being patriotic is: investing in a stronger, fairer Britain, where our services, businesses, and communities thrive and everyone can succeed.” We have the momentum to tax the super rich. Now we need Rachel Reeves to act. Will she side with the super rich or people like you and me? Sign this petition to demand the Chancellor tax the super rich to rebuild our NHS, schools, and other public services. Sources:  • UK’s 50 Richest families own more wealth than 50% of the population, The Guardian, 19th May 2025 • 78% of the public support a wealth tax over £10m and 77% support increasing taxes on the richest to improve public services than see cuts to public spending, Oxfam, March 2025 • 65% of UK millionaires support taxing the super rich more, Patriotic Millionaires, November-December 2024 • UK billionaires saw their collective wealth increase last year by £35 million a day to £182 billion, Oxfam, January 2025 • Average wealth of the top 10 richest people in the UK, Sunday Times Rich List, 2025 • 1 billion seconds is 31.68 years (Speeli). 20.5 x 31.68 =649.44 years. 3600 seconds in an hour.

Dartford is becoming congested more and more frequently. When traffic backs up at the Dartford tunnel approach it causes gridlock across the borough and beyond. This means missed appointments, impacts the local economy and stationary idling vehicles contribute to poor air quality. Breathing in polluted air increases the likelihood of health conditions such as childhood asthma, heart disease and dementia. Four years ago it was decided that the yellow box junctions at the Blue Star roundabout would be monitored, as an effective short term solution. This is still not happening! It's time to come together as a collective and call for an end to the traffic misery! Please sign and share widely. Written by Green Cllr Laura Edie On behalf of Citizens' Forum on Congestion  *Promoted by Mark Lindop on behalf of Laura Edie, c/o 12 Old Downs, Hartley, DA3 7AA 

The 28th February 2025 marked a disgusting display of childish playground bullying and a shameful moment in History for America and the American People. How this blots our own history depends on how we respond in the immediate aftermath and the coming days.  Donald Trump’s actions—not just towards Ukraine and President Zelensky but also towards Canada, Mexico, Europe, and other allies—represent an attack on the principles of international cooperation, mutual respect, and democratic governance. His tenure has been marked by divisiveness, hostility, and a blatant disregard for the rule of law, both domestically and abroad.  As John Stuart Mill once said, “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name.” The United Kingdom must not remain silent in the face of such tyranny and corruption. We cannot afford to condone or enable the actions of an administration that has repeatedly proven itself to be neither an ally to its own people nor to democratic nations across the globe.  The offer of a second state visit to Donald Trump would send a dangerous message: that the UK is willing to overlook the erosion of democratic values and the rise of authoritarian tendencies in exchange for short-term economic or political gains. This is unacceptable.  Now is the time for the United Kingdom to take a stand. We must:  1. Rescind the offer of a second state visit to Donald Trump, demonstrating our commitment to upholding democratic principles and international solidarity. 2. Rebuild and strengthen relationships with allied nations, reducing our over-reliance on a single, increasingly unstable power.  3. Work towards a future where peace, stability, and cooperation are built on mutual respect and shared values, not on the whims of a corrupt and divisive leader.   The world is watching. How we respond in the coming days will determine whether we are complicit in the erosion of democracy or whether we stand firm in defence of the values that define us.   We call on the UK government to act with courage, integrity, and resolve. Rescind the offer of a state visit to Donald Trump. Take a stand against tyranny. And work towards a brighter, more just future for all. 

Unbelievable. Keir Starmer has handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and should not go ahead.  This is the same Donald Trump that in recent weeks has buddied up with Putin, cranked up tariffs on trade,  slashed aid across the world and berated Ukrainian President Zelensky in the White House. Meanwhile his best buddy Elon Musk has been sticking his oar into UK politics and  spreading lies on social media.  No date for the visit is set yet - so if we’re going to have any chance of stopping this happening, we need to act right now. A huge petition signed by hundreds of thousands of us will show Trump, The King and the PM how unwelcome the US president truly is. It’s the first step in stopping this terrible idea. If you think Donald Trump is unfit to be celebrated with another state visit, will you sign the petition right now and share with as many people as you can?