The new UK passport design supposedly celebrates the British 'cultural pantheon' but in 16 pages features only 2 women, despite finding plenty of space for men, as well as everyday objects such as the postage stamp and telephone box. British history contains countless inspirational women such as Jane Austen, Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Bronte, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Laura Ashley, Boudicca, Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, Mary Wollstonecraft, Marie Stopes, Agatha Christie , Beatrix Potter, Maggie Smith and Amy Winehouse - and many, many more besides! It is wrong that in 2015 men and women do not have equal representation on this important document - a document that will be in the hands of every man, woman and child for years to come. We are constantly hearing about how we must encourage women and girls to become engineers, doctors, company directors and much much more, but this sends the message to our women and girls that their contribution to society does not count. Is the contribution of inspirational women such as Emmeline Pankhurst or Jane Austen really not as important or interesting as a postage stamp or telephone box?

This is such an important service, providing respite and a safe and controlled environment for our young disabled children. Especially so for children with severe autism. These children do not have friends to hang out with, they don't have hobbies or clubs they can go to. Many of these children cannot go to the cinema or bowling, it is too distressing for them. The outreach team provide the most wonderful, caring staff to take these children out. They become their 'friends' their lifeline to anything outside of home and school life. The staff learn the needs of these children and cater to them. They take them out. Sometimes it may just be for a drive. My severely autistic son Merlin loves to look at tall buildings and structures. He loves to go for a drive to look at tall things at night. This makes him so happy. I don't drive. He loves to go to the outreach flat and cook. He loves to make play dough. He loves to watch old videos of old kids programmes. The outreach flat provides all this. He always asks me if he can go out with outreach every night. it is his home from home. His outreach workers Emma and Andrew are his 'best friends' They understand him completely. He has built up a relationship with them that no one else comes close too. His autism effects every aspect of his life. This service is his life without it he has nothing to look forward to. We cannot lose it.

Christopher Clinton Wilkinson – who was said to be sleeping in the woodland surrounding a hospital because it was the only place he felt safe – was hauled before Doncaster magistrates. Representatives from Doncaster-based charity The M25 Housing and Support Group said using anti-social behaviour legislation to criminalise people sleeping rough was a ‘significant concern’. Wilkinson, aged 40, was given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice on October 5 – but told the offence would stay on his record. Prosecuting at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court, David Sheppard said it was the second time Wilkinson had been found sleeping in the grounds of St Catherine’s Hospital in Tickhill Road, Balby, after struggling to find accommodation. Mitigating, James Gray said: “His situation is an unfortunate one. “He suffers from mental health problems and is clearly out of the care of mental health services at the minute and not receiving any medication. “He told the police he felt safer being in the grounds of the hospital sleeping rough than anywhere else. “He was in his sleeping bag when police woke him up.” Mr Gray said Wilkinson had struggled to find accommodation but was hoping to receive help from Doncaster Council and M25. Community Protection Notices and Orders are issued under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act – legislation introduced last year to stop ongoing environmental anti-social behaviour. Specialist housing advisor Vince Bell of M25 said: “It is of significant concern that the police and local authority are using what can only be described as Dickensian measures to tackle rough sleeping in Doncaster. “Using anti-social behaviour legislation to address issues such as rough sleeping is not going to help but will hinder their situation. “Dragging a vulnerable rough sleeper in front of the courts to give them a criminal record serves only to exacerbate their situation. “This would appear to be a new mindset which undermines all the hard work M25 has done to dispel myths and convince communities that rough sleepers are not to be feared and can be supported to change their lives.” Mr Bell said the police should be offering support to those who find themselves sleeping rough rather than criminalising them. He added: “Considering the person in question suffered with mental health issues and was sleeping in the woods within the hospital grounds because it felt safe, then it would appear we have lost all sight of humanity and good sense. “If you judge a society by the way it treats its most vulnerable then I believe we have failed in this instance.” http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/crime/doncaster-man-prosecuted-for-sleeping-rough-1-7513585 and.. Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said: “I am concerned that a vulnerable young girl, who has repeatedly asked for help from Doncaster council, has been told at every turn that she is ‘not their responsibility’. “The law is clear on this, a child does not have to be ‘ordinarily resident’ in a council’s area – and Doncaster council should have assessed the girl’s situation when she came to them and presented as homeless. “I hope this case reminds other councils of their legal position when considering children in need who are from outside their area.” http://www.lgo.org.uk/news/2014/mar/homeless-teen-turned-away-doncaster-social-workers-when-she-turned-help/ From tme to time people will need help. Not prosecution or avoidance of the responsibility to help.

Children are bombarded with sensory stimulation from video games, mobile phones TV and computers almost 24 hours a day. Add to that the pressure of everyday life ....tests , changes in the family make up, poverty, and overworked parents! Combine these factors with the already difficult naturally occurring stages a child goes through and we are heading for many more generations of depressed over pressured young people and adults. What coping strategies do our children have to counteract all this bombardment and retain their individual Humanness in a virtual world .... We need to teach them how to find a stillness amidst all of the business. What coping strategies are we providing to prevent more generations of depressed over pressured young people and adults ???????

Increasing numbers of us have no option but to rent from a private landlord. That shouldn’t stop us having a place we can call home. Landlords have the legal right to evict tenants with only two months’ warning and without giving a reason. Not all landlords exercise that right, but a family has no idea if their landlord will until they get the eviction notice – and there is nothing they can do about it. They might have been living in their home for twenty or more years, like Helen and Jason, a teacher and gardener who live with their two teenage daughters as valued members of their south London community. They have paid rent to their landlord for all that time and now face a no-fault eviction with no prospect of any security in the place they move to. This imbalance of power is severely disrupting the lives of thousands of families and playing havoc with the education of increasing numbers of children. It’s time the law started protecting tenants from the whims of unscrupulous landlords. Sometimes landlords need to take back their property, either to carry out refurbishment, or to sell it if they are unable to keep their business viable. In such cases, the landlord should be required to help rehouse the tenant, including a longer period of notice than two months. But landlords don’t even need to use the eviction process to force tenants to move. They can just raise the rent to an exorbitant level. The government needs to protect tenants from this as well, and should therefore bar landlords from raising the rent by more than inflation. There are 11 million private renters in England – and counting. None of them should have the rug pulled from under them.

Like many other higher education institutions in Great Britain, the Royal College of Music (RCM) outsources its cleaning services. The outsourced employees are faced with inadequate employment terms and the institution refuses responsibility for their conditions, unlike those employed by the college directly. The cleaners at RCM, employed by Ocean Integrated Services, receive no occupational sick pay, the statutory minimum holiday as well as meagre employer pension contributions. Our new campaign season sets out to build upon the successes last year’s successful 3 Cosas Campaign at the central University of London and to bring further its demands for reasonable sick pay, holidays and pensions to outsourced workers at the Royal College of Music .

People who "contracted out" will receive less than the new full basic pension from April 2016. The Government claims they paid less into the system during their contracted out years and that money will give them a private pension. This is unfair in several ways. Annuities are so low that some people will receive less Private pension provision than the amount being deducted by the DWP. Many of those who contracted out were forced to do so by their employers, but the understanding at the time was that it would not affect their basic final pension. Many have paid more years of NI than is required - 18 years in my case. I paid 11 more years than the seven when I was contracted out. Yet my pension will be reduced because, according to the DWP "I paid in less so I will receive less." This is unfair and untrue. The DWP refuses to allow those who contracted out to make up the difference now in order to receive the new basic pension.

If this contract is imposed there is a significant chance that doctors and medical students will be pushed out of the NHS. The resulting brain drain will be catastrophic for the UK and the NHS

Department for Work and Pensions minister Priti Patel claimed any examination of temporary sanctions' effects would be "misleading" in isolation and should not be investigated. This is a cop out. They know that their cuts are causing wide scale mental health problems but also know that if they are forced to face up to this they will have to admit that their policies are wrong.

To plead to Bradford Council to open its empty buildings to the homeless in winter. I have slept on the streets myself, in order to raise money to help local churches to do this. While they provide a fantastic service, they only help a fraction of our homeless - there just isn't the room. I cannot imagine sleeping rough in driving, biting winds, snow, ice and winter rain. It's inhumane. It's also inexcusable when we have so many empty buildings. I'm not asking for permanent shelters; just somewhere warm and dry for our homeless to sleep in winter. Please sign this petition. Tag the friends you feel would like to see this. Thank you so much. Charities are doing the best they can, with limited resources and funding cuts. There are many empty buildings that can be offered, purely for winter shelter. Maybe these places can also then be used to facilitate targeted help to those in need of it - for support, help with housing, health care, advice and general care. Charities' resources could be used for support rather than spending their resources on providing the actual shelters. This is a necessary resource and if we pull together en masse we have more than a great chance of being an influence.

Farmers are throwing away tonnes of fresh food because supermarkets only accept “perfect” fruit and vegetables of an exact shape and size. The supermarkets are worried misshapen potatoes put customers off. But we are their customers - so let’s tell them we’ll buy fruit and veg that looks the way mother nature intended it. A huge petition, powered by shoppers, could convince supermarket bosses to stop rejecting perfectly good food.

Why should we pay fares to travel if going out of our area like we can travel in and around Scotland free on buses and certain coach companys but we cant travel free in the rest of the uk. one rule for one and one rule for another. please please abolish how far we can travel. think of people in wheelchairs crutches and other disabled people who cant afford to travel further afield to visit familys or seaside resorts for a holiday, or our wounded ex veterans who served there country