For some self employment is chosen, for others, in this current climate, it is the only way of having an income, for some adoption is chosen and for others it is their only chance to have a family. An independent report by Julie Deane OBE recommends that self employed people should be given the same rights as those that work for an employer. This has been seen by parliament and so far ignored. I am proud to be self employed, I am also very much looking forward to starting my family however and whenever it happens but I know that without the same support the my employed friends get, we could struggle. This is unfair. The current government is very proud of the rise in self employment. It is one thing that has made the unemployment figures look better over the last few years. The entrepreneurial spirit is something to be proud of. It is time to bring adoption, maternity and paternity pay for self employed people in line with that of employees.

At the moment pensioners are expected to live on Approximately £100 less per week than someone on the minimum wage working a 37 hour week. How is this fair a retired person should be able to heat their home eat well and enjoy their retirement. There is no justification or logic to setting the pension rate so low. Pensioners need the same amount of money as anyone else to live on their costs are greater not less.

These children are suffering they are orphaned They have been suffering for weeks We have a human duty to look after suffering innocent children They are no threat to us or our country We have to be a helping hand to those who are can't help themselves We cannot ignore this matter with more talks about nothing we are to take action

PEOPLE SAID "a community resource not luxury flats": after a petition, an Independent Inquiry and a local referendum (July 2015) 96-98 Shoot up Hill was listed as one of the community facilities to be protected from any change, in the Fortune Green and West Hampstead Neighbourhood Development Plan. Both occupiers: the current day centre and People's Centre who run projects after day centre hours and weekends are recognised as communities (alive, developing and growing). But now the council is looking to reverse this decision changing the use to residential, in order to eventually sell it on the open market. THE IMPACT OF DAY CENTRE CLOSURES: The council wanted to close the day centre at Shoot up Hill in 2012. Day centre closures leave many people with learning disabilities even more isolated, stuck at home, without meaningful occupation, friendships lost, ever more dependent on their family carers. (see Mencap report “Stuck at Home”). PERSONALISED (choice) BUT NOT ATOMISED (excluded): the council justified the closures saying that people wanted other choices than day centres and they should go out and about in the mainstream, using their personal budgets. Many people with learning disabilities are ready to embrace the changes in social care and to take control of their individual lifestyles using personal budgets to make choices. But the “community out there” does not yet provide the environments, activities and social opportunities they need and deserve and which give them a sense of belonging. Some people also need the continuity and familiarity of a vibrant and inclusive community where they they are understood, fully accepted and welcomed and can choose from adapted and suitably challenging activities, and develop relationships with all sorts of people. PEOPLE'S CENTRE = AN ALTERNATIVE: a group of family carers campaigned against the closure and in April 2012 the council agreed to delay the closure and give them time to develop their proposals and raise money to buy the building. People's Centre was then set up as a not for profit organisation to fill in a gap in provision and offer an alternative to a traditional day centre, taking advantage of personalisation: excellent individually tailored choices of activities, social and employment opportunities and support to people with a wide range of learning disabilities in a friendly, INCLUSIVE environment as well as new opportunities for the wider neighbourhood; modelling successful inclusion and supporting people to access other community venues. NOT BACK TO INSTITUTIONS!: the council recognises the need for “building based” services but want to build a single, purpose built, large institutional facility (Greenwood Place) grouping people with all manner of impairments in discrete units: learning disabilities, mental health, dementia, autism, multiple and profound learning disabilities. People will be segregated according to what they cannot do, as well as set apart from the neighbourhood (in a back street, semi industrial area). Moreover Greenwood Place also lacks capacity to provide facilities for the current and growing numbers of people with high support needs. SMALL SCALE, INCLUSIVE, COMMUNITY RESOURCES, INSTEAD: People's Centre is developing a friendly and welcoming community place where people of all abilities and backgrounds complement each other, can get the support they need and engage in meaningful activities as well as go out to other places. We will model good practice. BUILDINGS AT 96-98 Shoot up Hill ARE IDEAL: two semi detached houses which front a main road, look just like the neighbouring houses and allow for flexible use. They been adapted with accessible lift, WC facilities, changing room etc. There are no equivalent premises in the area and the cost of providing such facilities in another building will be prohibitive as well as wasteful. WHAT WE ARE DOING NOW, outside day centre hours and weekends: - Weekly creative, social and therapeutic sessions for adults and young people with learning disabilities supported by volunteers, family and support workers. Open to everyone in the neighbourhood. Cafe with freshly cooked delicious food. - a “Unique Products” enterprise where people with and without disabilities work together. - weekly sessions and special events for unpaid carers in Camden - Saturday Stay and Play for families with children with disabilities, siblings and friends. - (soon) Weekend specialist yoga to families with a member with disabilities. - Open Days, Special Concerts, Carers Week Day and Community Festivals bringing together people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to make music, art and enjoy life. VOLUNTEERS: from all backgrounds and abilities help make it happen FUNDING: we have received funding from Co-op, National Lottery, School of Social Entrepreneurs, Comic Relief, Camden Carers Service, SIBS, a local Hampstead Trust, Baily Thomas and individuals. SUSTAINABILITY: our business case demonstrates that we can be a sustainable enterprise, taking advantage of the changes in adult social care which give people with support needs the means to decide on the services they want and combining this with provision of opportunities for the wider community and small businesses. We are continuing to develop the service offer and detailed business plan. CAPITAL FUNDING: People's Centre are working to raise capital to buy the building and keep it for the local community. This won't be possible if the building goes up for sale in the open market as a residential property. SUPPORT PEOPLE'S CENTRE PETITION and the opportunity to continue providing support for people with severe learning disabilities, their families and carers and creating an inclusive community resource for local people. We need 100s of signatures http://peoplescentreforchange.org.uk/ [email protected]

This is a nature reserve and contains an array of wildlife that will be affected as a consequence of building on the green land.

As a recovering gambler with an online addiction to bingo sites/slots I spent over £70,000 In four years and was suicidal. The adverts advertising Gambling on TV glamourize gambling all singing all dancing with an untrue reality, using quotes like "friends who play together stay together" so NOT true. The adverts target young and vulnerable and in the current climate make out this will get people out of poverty and financial hardship. They entice people in with offers like deposit £10 we'll give you £60. This is a hook to get people in and addicted. I understand not everybody who gambles will be addicted but support for those who do get addicted WHERE IS THE SUPPORT. These sites take millions and are based out of the UK to dodge Tax don't let the industry destroy life's as it does. STOP ADVERTISING ON DAY TIME TV.

I, like many others, have made genuine marriages with partners of foreign nationality. Now the usual Tory punitive and inept legislative abilities are making it impossible for men and women to live together in the UK since the introduction of the new laws. The hoops you need jump through, the breaches of privacy, and the exorbitant cost of the free market argencies to cover the issuance of a legitimate spouse visa are designed to stop it happening and achieve the publicity of decreased immigration numbers only, whatever the cost to those UK citizens with genuine family concerns. Read more https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/kirsten-han/britains-new-visa-laws-are-breaking-families-and-hearts

Our high streets are being taken over by betting companies whose business model is to create and exploit gambling addictions. This isn’t about placing the odd bet on a football match or horse race. Bookies use their electronic gambling machines to filter out that casual crowd: they’re looking for people with the potential for a serious gambling addiction. Fixed-odds betting terminals feed a dependency just as powerful as drugs or alcohol. Their high speed games, with stakes as high as £100 every twenty seconds, mean you can easily lose a month’s wages in under an hour. Eventually you realise you’re not doing it for the money – you’re doing it because you’re physically addicted to the rush. I’ve lost numerous jobs because of electronic gambling. I’ve lost two properties through failure to keep up with mortage payments, I've amassed £100,000s in debt, I’m separated from my wife and children, and I’m trapped in a situation where I can’t rent accommodation because my credit score is so low and I haven’t enough money for a deposit. Now I’ve got special blocks on my computer that stop me straying onto a betting site – I even had to disable them to set up this petition. We can do something to change the tide of misery and reclaim our high streets. We can sign this petition.

Because too many cafes are cutting size but not prices. And same in shops and supermarkets. It is important - it is cheating consumers.

Children are dying from internal injuries - According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), between 2011 and 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides (before the age of 18). 50 million will be under the age of 15. One of the main issues is that there is currently no consistent established definition of a “child” that has been agreed upon worldwide. This leaves various interpretations within countries and little protection for those who are affected. Establishing this age limit is among the top priorities of groups like HRC which was responsible for publishing the 54-page report “How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?”, documenting the lifelong damage to girls who are forced to marry at young ages. Most pro age-limit organizations agree that 18 should be the legal age for marriage. In February 2009, a law was created in Yemen that set the minimum age for marriage at 17. Unfortunately, it was repealed after more conservative lawmakers called it un-Islamic.

For Fairness and equality which clearly doesn't exist anymore for the under 25's. The fact that people over the age of 21 have all the responsibilities of an adult but not the wages is an absolute disgrace and grossly unfair and an total insult to the hard working people between the ages of 21 and 25 who really should be entitled to this rise. The message from George Osborne seems perfectly clear - people between the ages of 21-25 are adults, should be expected to work as hard as an adult and shoulder all the other responsibilities of an adult but just not earn the same amount of money as one.

These actions are being called for by Stop TTIP MCR, Global Justice Manchester and 38 degrees Manchester for the following reasons: 1. The EU and USA launched negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in July 2013. These negotiations are underway to determine which goods and services TTIP will apply to and if new rules can be agreed to protect investors, harmonise standards, reduce tariffs and open new markets throughout the EU and USA. TTIP could therefore have a detrimental impact on local services, employment, suppliers and decision-making. 2. The EU’s food, environmental and labour standards are better than those in the US but due to the regulatory cooperation involved in TTIP there is a threat to these standards being lowered. TTIP negotiations must raise and not lower these standards across the EU and USA. 3. TTIP is accompanied by other so-called trade deals: CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement), between the EU and Canada, and TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement), between more than fifty countries worldwide. 4. There has been no impact assessment about the potential impact on local authorities. Sourcing supplies and employment locally is important to strengthening local economies and meeting local needs. A thorough impact assessment of TTIP, CETA and TiSA on local authorities must be undertaken before the negotiations can be concluded. 5. There has been no scrutiny of the negotiating texts by local government and no consultation with local government representatives. Any negotiations with potential societal and environmental consequences as controversial as those of TTIP, CETA or TiSA should be subject to public debate and scrutiny. 6. The negotiations are being undertaken in secrecy with only minimal information being shared with the public 1. 7. MPs are also unable to scrutinise the negotiating documents. 8. The alleged economic benefits of TTIP are based on economic models which are wildly optimistic 2, and that other economic models have suggested that TTIP will lead to a major reduction in GDP and a loss of up around 600,000 jobs in the EU 3. 9. A growing number of NGOs and public interest groups are strongly critical of the potential effects on labour standard, food safety, and the environment of standardising EU and US regulations of trade and production. All trade unions in the UK strongly oppose TTIP, CETA and TiSA. 10. The incorporation of an investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism into TTIP and CETA will allow private firms to sue government for imposing laws and regulations that might threaten their actual or potential profits, irrespective of the public interest. ISDS in other trade deals has been used to sue countries attempting to put cigarettes in plain packaging, or to renationalise health services 4. Local decision-making must be protected from ISDS. 11. 97% of responses to a public consultation on the ISDS element of TTIP conducted by the EU Commission were opposed to the mechanism 5. 12. That TTIP, CETA and TiSA will strengthen multinational corporations in relation to populations in both the global north and global south. Furthermore, TTIP is set to create a blueprint for future trade and investment agreements, which threatens to further lock in corporate dominance of the global economy 6.