When a girl undergoes female genital cutting, some or all of her external genitals are cut away. This can be part or all of her labia, part or all of her clitoris and part or all of her clitoral hood (the prepuce). In its most extreme form, all of her external genitals will be cut away. This often happens in very basic circumstances with rudimentary tools; it is unlikely that there will be any anaesthetic or sterile conditions and often severe and life threatening complications follow FGM. In the harshest form of FGM, the wound that is left may be sewn closed with thorns or string and only a small hole is left for menstrual blood and urine. The wound then heals over and the scar tissue “seals” her vagina. When she is married she will then have to be cut open to make sexual intercourse possible, often on her wedding night. When she goes into labour, she has to be cut open again. After this she may be re-sewn and cut open again every time she conceives and gives birth. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies FGM into four categories dependent on severity (initially there were three categories, the fourth was added later): Type I: Also known as clitoridectomy, this type consists of partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or its prepuce. Type II: Also known as excision, the clitoris and labia minora are partially or totally removed, with or without excision of the labia majora. Type III: The most severe form, it is also known as infibulation or pharaonic type. The procedure consists of narrowing the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or labia majora, with or without removal of the clitoris. The appositioning of the wound edges consists of stitching or holding the cut areas together for a certain period of time (for example, girls’ legs are bound together), to create the covering seal. A small opening is left for urine and menstrual blood to escape. An infibulation must be opened either through penetrative sexual intercourse or surgery. Type IV: This type consists of all other procedures to the genitalia of women for non-medical purposes, such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization. The usual age for girls to be cut is between five and eight although in some communities, girls undergo FGM in their early teenage years and the procedure acts as a rite of passage into womanhood. Throughout history barbaric practices have been stopped mainly through a sustained process of education and legislation. FGM has continued because it has been a secretive and taboo subject. It is time to break the silence, educate and legislate, and eradicate FGM totally.

Why should a select minority make a profit from services which we all need and which could, with proper strategic investment, make Britain a more competitive player in the world.

The government is planning to sell off Plasma Resources UK, the firm responsible for supplying blood plasma products to the NHS, to a private contractor. We, the undersigned feel that this is unacceptable for the following reasons: 1. Blood plasma is essential for the treatment of many conditions, including burns, shock and major trauma; immune disorders and neurological conditions; protecting unborn children from haemolytic diseases. Possibly best known plasma product is Factor VIII used to treat around 3,000 haemophilia patients. 2. The profit impetus may compel any company taking over services to cut corners in order to make return. This could have devastating consequences for patient safety should contaminated, poorly packaged or improperly labelled products reach frontline healthcare services. The next part of this section is a fuller statement about Blood Plasma and why it is so important to stop the sell off of Plasma Resources UK. It shows how the Government has already split plasma services away from the National Blood Service so that part of what was a unified Blood Transfusion Service can be sold off for profit. Read on: First of all an apology. I started this petition on 38 Degrees after seeing and signing a similar one on the Government ePetition website. After doing a little research of my own and receiving an email via this site, it is clear that the Blood Transfusion Service (NHSBT) is not being sold off. However, Mr. Lansley has been party to breaking up NHSBT in 2011. It is the part that he has separated off that he is looking to sell off. That company is Plasma Resources UK (PRUK), the principal supplier of plasma and plasma products to the NHS. Blood and Plasma are obviously ‘joined at the hip’. When a donor gives a pint of blood, 55% of that fluid by volume is plasma. Much of today’s service is about producing blood and plasma products for the treatment of a wide range of patients. Treatments using plasma products are no less important than those using blood products. You have only to ‘google’ medical uses of plasma to find out the wonderful way its products can influence patients lives, such as the treatment folk suffering from burns, shock and major trauma; immune disorders and neurological conditions; protecting unborn children from haemolytic diseases. Possibly best known plasma product is Factor VIII used to treat around 3,000 haemophilia patients. The work of producing these valuable plasma products (there are hundreds of them) has been carried out by the Bio Products Laboratory (merged with the Blood Service in 1993 and now called Bio Products Limited (BPL)). Plasma Resources UK (PRUK) is the Health Dept company that manages the supply of blood plasma from the US through US based British owned company DCI Inc, which has been necessary since the BSE outbreak and concerns about people developing vCJD. For some years there has been a particular strategy to reduce the dependency of NHSBT's blood products division (BPL) on government subsidies. ‘Our Fractionated Products division (BPL) operates in competitive markets across the UK and globally with other multi-national pharmaceutical companies. A key strategic goal has been to move this part of our organisation into a profitable trading position. This was achieved during 2008/09 thanks to the continued growth in sales and throughput. Our future plans seek to sustain and build on this performance.’ Just a year later this part of the Blood Service was hived off to a separate division from NHSBT: ‘On 1 January 2011 Bio Products Laboratory was transferred into a new legal entity, Bio Products Laboratory Limited, a 100% owned subsidiary of Plasma Resources UK Limited (PRUK), which is 100% owned and managed by the Department of Health.' There are concerns about ‘blood and plasma markets’ in the US. The cost to DCI includes payment to donors. The market has also been described as working like a monopoly or cartel, where at one extreme price can be fixed or competition can be fierce leading to among other things attempts to reduce costs and all the inherent dangers in that. This market in the USA has been described as representing “everything wrong with American-style capitalism”. It is too early to know what relationship a privatised PRUK would have with the NHS and hence what the implications to the NHS might be in terms of cost and guarantees about supply. I recall that a few years ago there were fears of a flu epidemic (I think) and it was found that vaccine originally destined for this country was redirected to other countries where the Pharmaceutical Company could get a higher price. Could the same happen with a privatised Plasma Products company? If the time comes when we can recommence plasma donations in this country, would anyone sign up if their altruistic gift was given to a company concerned with making a profit from it?

Because we are at The Tipping Point, ie close to the point of no return, it is patently obvious to all and everyone who has some concern for their environment that change is 'HERE' and unless and until we recognise it and are willing to do something about it we are doomed to disaster, the most obvious sign is the 'WEATHER' It cannot have escaped peoples notice that it is now completely unpredictable, OIL is one of the main reasons for this, it is a fuel burned and leads to 'GREENHOUSE GASES' trapped in the atmosphere, cutting down the tropical rainforests where much of these are stored releases more and upsets the balance in our 'ECOSYSTEM', causing the Gulf Stream to slow down before it reaches our shores hence the meeting of colder air and setting off changeable and uncontrolled weather conditions

The official minimum voltage is 216.2 and all appliances will work with this. For every 10 volts above this your bill will be approximately 8% higher! So, my 255 volts could be costing me at nearly 27% extra on my bills. Carbon release is also unecessarily increased.

Societies are judged by how they take care of their most vulnerable. As you yourself, Mr Cameron, put it so very well: "...Fairness means giving money to help the poorest in society. People who are sick, who are vulnerable, the elderly - I want you to know we will always look after you. That's the sign of a civilised society and it's what I believe..." ... David Cameron 6 Oct 2010 Those in power should not be cynically trying to distract the public by attacking the weakest; the young, students, immigrants, sick, disabled and elderly. Don't expect everyone to be fooled by these tactics for too much longer. Sooner or later, they'll wake up and realise that they're next in line. Why not make our democratic society fairer by asking more from those who can afford it - those who have profited most from the shrinkage and privatisation of our national assets; the corporate companies, the bankers, CEOs and executives, the politicians with their own private health care companies, beancounters and lawyers, shareholders, the hedgefund managers, the private equity companies, PFI contractors, russian oligarchs, and other rich and thriving individuals? The lucky wealthy have grown richer by exploiting the poor and powerless, and this 'Bedroom Tax' is yet another attempt to reduce the welfare state. Meanwhile the government continues to cut, chipping away at our welfare state, disparaging worker representation through Unions, closing hospitals, schools, public housing, swimming pools, libraries, welfare benefits, ad nauseum. The rich don't need, and don't want to pay for, any of the welfare state - they just want to benefit from the rich prizes of opportunity as public services collapse, and they pick up the cherries. And, of course their wealth has grown enormously since the recession started. Despite the poor losing their homes, the wealthy continue to do very nicely "Thank you very much" on their fat salaries and fat pensions, insider / offshore dealings, their directorships, private schools, investments, private healthcare, property portfolio, gyms, golf clubs, not forgetting their offshore: bank accounts, companies, and lavish homes with untaxed spare bedrooms galore. Why are they so greedy? Why do they need my bedroom? Will they force me out of my home?

All patients (50,000) from the Newark district have to travel a minimum of 25 miles to a hospital when we had a perfectly good service given by our own hospital in the town. The A&E as been down graded to what is known locally as a Bumbs & Bruises (B&B). The front line staff numbers have been cut. All this was done we believe without full consultation. Finally lives are being put at risk because of time and distantance and lack of ambulance cover. We are asking Andrew Lansley for a full review without sucess.

The employees of Remploy are mainly disabled and their work there provides them with a high degree of independance, self esteem and the benefits of working with other people. closing these factories, especialy in the current economic climate is likely to throw them on the mercy of the benefits system.

LIVES WILL BE LOST, if the current plan to close 50% of HM Coastguard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) goes ahead. The safeguards promised by the Government have been thrown away, the closure plan is now proven to be based on FLAWED concepts and will lose valuable Local Knowledge & experience. visit http://coastguardsos.com/ for more details Vital time in effective rescues will be wasted by passing information around the country instead going to the local Regional MRCC

Without effective education everything from anti litter work to kerbside recycling to in house waste reduction strategies are undermined. If recycling facilities are not evident in a key area such as a playground it contradicts the message that recycling is important. Also misses an opportunity to establish lifelong recycling habits in children in the long term and improving current recycling rates by getting children to 'push' their parents into recycling right now. Plus recycling bins probably do more to encourage anti litter attitudes than litter bins on their own, and recycling can lead to reuse and waste reduction at source. The teaching and practice of the 3Rs is tremendously inconsistent from school to school - some issues such as playground recycling need to be mandatory, but we also need a national survey to help identify best practice and teaching and make it the standard. See www.scottish.parliament.uk/GettingInvolved/Petitions/playgroundrecycling

The law is a discriminatory one which relies on an individual police officer's judgement and, as such, is open to abuse. The police officer is open to criticism for misuse of the order and under 16 year old's are vulnerable to overzealous application and miss-accusations. The discriminatory nature of the order encourages the hatred and fear of young people and allows some to feel justified in discriminatory attitudes toward them. It encourages those who have suffered at the hands of badly behaved youths to believe that they are all like that and to become more afraid. It will only serve to alienate young people and make them feel that the police are there simply to control them but not to protect them. Already young people in Bangor are avoiding going out to the cinema and to after school clubs for fear of being caught in the curfew or of being beaten up by the marauding gangs that this order implies are on the loose in the city center. Bangor is a lovely historic place with much to offer young and old alike. It suffers from very little anti-social behavior apart from a very few people in limited areas and the usual after pub and club problems present in all cities. It is suffering in the downturn from an empty high street (the longest in the country) but there was no rioting in Bangor last year, the out of town JJB sports, PC World etc were not ransacked as was seen in other towns and cities across the UK, so why Bangor? There was no consultation with the public or even their elected representatives on the City Council. This is despite the ACPO guidance that there should be consultation with the effected community and a Rowntree report, which concludes that these laws have only been effective where consultation and involvement had taken place. This law is badly worded, heavy handed, discriminatory and draconian and it should be stopped now!

This government will be looking at ending National Public Pay Rates and as part of this the public service staff working in poorer areas of the country will be payed less. It is important to note that this will have a huge negative impact on all people from both public and private sectors. There needs to be a strong case made against these plans and this petition is the starting point. We the people need to show the government that we won't accept the scrapping of National Public Pay Rates. We need to stand up together and make our voices heard. Getting rid of the National Public Pay Rates will only bring serious inequality and undermine both public and private sector. Most large private companies set equal pay rates across the country because it is fair, consistent and organised. The public sector pay system should remain as it is. There are already measures in place within the current system that allow for higher pay in areas such as London. Reducing the pay of people in the most deprived areas of the country is absolutely wrong and abhorrent! It just shows how disconnected and out of touch this government is. The private sector needs to improve its pay rates and pensions in line with the public sector instead of the public sector reducing pay and cutting pensions. In addition to this petition if everybody writes to their MP then that will contribute to getting the message out. Getting rid of the National Public Pay Rates makes no sense. Reducing public sector pay in poorest areas will not make private companies increase pay but give them a reason to carry on paying lower rates. I fail to see how this will help the economy because who is going to want to move to the poorer parts of the country when you get payed less for doing the same job but potentially working much harder because society is unhealthier, because there will be an increase in mental illness in these deprived areas, an increase in drug and alcohol use, an increase in divorce and poorer education because the best teachers won't do the jobs in these areas. People will become trapped in poverty. Who spends the money in shops, restaurants, hair dressers and on building extensions to their homes etc??. . . Millions of public sector workers do and they won’t be able to afford to do this anymore so how does this help stimulate growth in the economy when business will lose so much income? The answer is that it does not. This will place further pressures on household incomes and cause a crippling blow to the economy. People from both the private sector and public sector from across all fields and areas of work should be standing up together and telling the government that we will not allow them to do this. There will be serious inequalities in health and social care and serious inequalities in education and that impacts on all of us. The gap of inequality and deprivation in society will grow exponentially and we must stop this from happening. People must see that this is just morally wrong and we all need to spread the word, use social networking, write to the papers, write to the MP’s and Prime Minister and join the movement 38 Degrees if they have not already. This must not be allowed to happen! We must tell George Osborne and this government that we are the people and you will listen to us. The bankers are protected with their immoral, ridiculous and indefensible bonuses because “if they are not allowed to have them then they might leave the country” I say let them leave! This clearly does not apply to the Nurses, Teachers, Fire fighters, Police Officers, Radiographers, Social Workers and all other public sector workers. Already public sector workers are expected to have a pay freeze, contribute more to their pensions, work for longer and receive less and now they can expect to be payed less for doing the same job in poorer parts of the country where demand on these hard working and valuable members of society will be greater. This makes me so very angry and I am sure that millions across the country feel the same. This government is out of touch and slowly but surely destroying the foundations of our society. It must stop and the people must make it stop! Please make your voice heard and sign the petition.