Because charging struggling families up to 55p a minute to claim vital benefit payments by phone is extortionate. Universal Credit, families will be forced to call an 0345 number, incurring charges of up to 55p a minute to claim their benefits. It’s difficult enough as it is living on disability benefits without being charged 55p/ minute to call the DWP. More often than not it’s their mistake you’re rectifying when you call, I don’t see why anyone should be charged such an extortionate fee for simply making a phone call.

Mark Spencer MP recently received a free game bird shooting weekend courtesy of lobbying group British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). We are, in turn, asking our MP to stop accepting gifts from shooting lobbyists and from now on support a ban on the damaging practice of driven grouse shooting. There are many very good reasons for banning driven grouse shooting: -Government subsidies support this practice (at a time when everywhere else is feeling the brunt of cuts: why aren't millionaire landowners?); -the illegal killing of grouse predators (especially the hen harrier, which is now almost extinct in England due to persecution on grouse moors); -grouse moors are extensively 'managed' in such a way that causes far higher flood risks downriver; -increased water pollution (which inflates our water bills- there is evidence that bills would be cheaper if the rich man's driven grouse shooting was banned); -increased greenhouse gas emissions due to the practice of burning the moors to keep a habitat that boosts grouse numbers; -millions of birds are killed each year.

Fatima Naoot's case should never have made it to court. It suggests the state is turning a blind eye to the advocates of religious extremism. As for the nature of the religious festival Fatima criticized - I won't upset you with the details. But if you want further information, Google the following: Eid al-Adha animal sacrifice More info here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-courts-poet-idUSKBN0L121M20150128

Chipping Sodbury Library is an exceptionally well run local community asset that provides services and a meeting point for all people in the Town. There is now a very real threat that it will be closed completely due to South Gloucestershire council spending plans, resulting from the government's austerity policy. This will result in the loss of one of the only community focal points in Chipping Sodbury accessible to all and especially useful to the elderly and families with young children. Removing community assets such as libraries can have a profound affect on the local area and should be strongly resisted. Please join us by signing this petition and look out for local schemes to support the library.

As a cultural hub that has long served the local community and embraces all cultures around Ladbroke Grove, The KPH has been listed as Asset of Community Value by the local authority. However, we feel that more protection of this unique venue is required in order to safeguard it against closure and unsympathetic development. Situated in an area of high property value, developers have spent two years running an aggressive legal campaign to rid the venue of its current manager and redevelop it for sale to an estate agent. The case is particularly urgent due to a complication arising from a legal dispute between the current manager, Vince Power, and the freeholder, SWA Developments Ltd. If an appeal hearing on 17 March 2016 is decided in favour of the latter, The KPH faces immediate closure. https://player.vimeo.com/video/155539254?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 The KPH has been a pub and entertainment venue for 150 years and is located on a busy junction on Ladbroke Grove. It borders on what used to be the slums of Notting Dale and North Kensington and is in walking distance of world-famous Portobello Road and the more affluent streets of Notting Hill and Holland Park. It has a colourful past of serving famous and notorious patrons, from John Christie to The Clash. Under its current management, The KPH has succeeded in attracting members of the area’s diverse social and ethnic backgrounds, warmly welcoming new arrivals as well as long-standing regulars from the Irish and West Indian communities. There are already too many examples of pubs closing in the area. Even if the facades are kept intact, conversions into supermarkets, estate agents and luxury flats have a lasting effect on the neighbourhood’s distinctive look and feel. This particular section of Ladbroke Grove has retained some significant original features and is in danger of irrevocably losing its distinctive character. The KPH is one of many pubs facing closure in the current climate of aggressive property development. According to CAMRA statistics, 29 pubs are closed every week across the UK. Music venues face a similar fate, and the Music Venue trust is at the core of a campaigne to protect grassroots music venues like The KPH. Unfortunately, the anticipated legislative changes may come too late for the KPH. https://player.vimeo.com/video/147334918?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 Please sign and share this petition asap.

The principle of reciprocity currently seems violated by those refusing to pay what they are due whilst taking full advantage of their right to have their voice heard in how the nation is governed; seemingly undermining the principles of a democratic nation. Depriving tax dodgers of their right to vote may help tackle this trend, whilst adding to the national treasury, which seemingly fits in with the intent of current austerity programmes.

Ethical treatment of employees outside of the UK is quite rightly championed, with many consumers opting to purchase fair trade alternatives that command a higher premium. Yet in the UK, poor treatment of staff continuously falls outside of the consumer spotlight. Prominent displays of working conditions, as appraised by staff, would likely inform shopping habits and ensure employers take appropriate steps to provide fairer working conditions. The consequences of doing this should not be underestimated:- • It is likely to reduce stress related illness that is largely responsible for circa £6.5bn per annum. • It is likely to reduce the financial burden incurred by the NHS in terms of treating patients. • Should employers feel obliged to increase wages, it seems entirely plausible that the financial support given by the government could reduce. • Lastly, unemployment may similarly reduce if potential employees see that their working conditions are guaranteed to meet at least a ‘good’ standard. Consequently I implore you to consider the health and financial well-being of UK workers and the UK itself by encouraging a good employer ethos.

Southwark Council are threatening to evict the Feminist Library from the building on Westminster Bridge Rd, London, that has been its home for 30 years. The council have given notice that the rent on the Library’s space in the building, which has housed a variety of community groups alongside the Library for the past 30 years, will be raised from £12,000 to £30,000 a year. Council officers are refusing to negotiate - join us in calling upon them to work with us to save the Library. On 10th February, Southwark Council Cabinet approved a report that ‘highlights the need for a thriving VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector) that mobilises community action and makes best use of community resources, skills, knowledge and spaces’. We cannot understand how treating our organisation in such a way is consistent with approving this report. [1] Dr Laura Schwartz, Associate Professor of Modern British History, University of Warwick has said: ‘"The Feminist Library is a wonderful cultural resource that needs to be defended at all costs. Generations of my students have used it for their academic research, as well as informing themselves about the continued oppression of women in our society and how to fight against it. The Library is now the only archive in London where a wide array of feminist publications are truly accessible to the general public and available on the open shelves. It also provides one of the few spaces in central London where women and feminist activists can come together to meet and organise for a better world. If the Feminist Library is evicted from its current premises, Southwark Council will not only be guilty of cultural vandalism but also of silencing women." Learn more about the Feminist Library and donate to our Emergency fund here: http://feministlibrary.co.uk/support/emergencyfund/ About the Feminist Library: The Feminist Library has an incomparable collection of over 7,000 books, 1500 periodical titles from around the world, archives of feminist individuals and organisations, pamphlets, papers, posters, and ephemera. We also provide space for meetings, readings, exhibitions and events, a space which supports and encourages research, mutual support, activism and community projects, with well over 20 different groups having used the events space just in the past calendar year, a number of them national and international. We are volunteer led, as we have been all our life; we are intergenerational, being significant custodians of our feminist heritage, whilst looking to the future; and our approach is intersectional – we provide a space for different feminisms to co-exist. We support not just archiving work, but also publish our own zines and support independent producers and artists. We are a registered charity, and completely self-funding. [1] Details of report http://casouthwark.org.uk/focus-southwark/southwark-council-agrees-new-voluntary-sector-strategy ‘Southwark Council Agrees to New Voluntary Sector Strategy’

In 2000 the UK banned all fur farming, to prevent animal cruelty. However the law does not prevent the import of real fur. There is no legal provision to make suppliers declare whether their products are made with real or fake fur. Real fur from abroad is now common in high street clothing shops. To send a message to our overseas business partners that the UK does not tolerate the cruel methods of fur farming; we need a law that bans the import of all real farmed fur, and which puts the onus on importers to prove that any fur they use is fake, vintage or taken from free-range animals that died of old age.

There are plans to close Lynton House Surgery on London Road High Wycombe and relocate to a unit in Wycombe Hospital whilst reducing appointments in the hospital surgery. Where possible they will be pushing patients to their Cressex Surgery - A 2 bus journey for many patients! The Big Issue is.... There is a notable shortage of Doctors Surgeries in the east end of High Wycombe. If Lynton House Surgery closes and moves out of Ryemead there will be no local practice in the area . We already have a shortage of doctors in High Wycombe and this is a serious problem in the East end of High Wycombe We are faced with a housing explosion in the east end of High Wycombe and we are faced with several Doctors practices in the Wycombe area not taking new patients. We need Lynton House Surgery to remain and for Bucks County Council, Primary Care authority and NHS England to step forward and fund the delivery of a new Health Centre to meet the needs of Ryemead and Micklefield residents in the east end of High Wycombe. We are 3 doctors short in High Wycombe already!

The scoring of children in their first weeks on entry to their new schools: -Is Damaging for children and inappropriate practice at an important transition time -Will undermine the current methods of assessment and practice used in early years settings -Will not improve the quality of schools -Is not a reliable source of data -Will lead to a further formalisation of learning in the early years and downgrading of play -Transfers funding from school budgets to private companies -Prevents the local education authority from having an active role in overviewing and monitoring assessments in the early years across the county and places this role directly into the hands of the private assessment providers and the DFE. We call on the Borough Council to write to the Secretary of State for Education calling for the removal of Baseline Assessment and the retention of the existing Early Years Foundation Stage Profile in our schools. We also call on the Borough Council to support any school that chooses not to implement the Baseline assessment. Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35549611

We call on Lewisham Councillors to reject the planning application for a 19 storey tower block beside Catford Station, where there is already an approved plan to meet Lewisham's housing needs. This plan should be enforced and any future proposals consulted on widely. A 19 storey building is wholly disproportionate and out of keeping with the human scale of the area. Approval would set a very dangerous precedent that would affect the whole of Catford.