A succession of MPs and Lords have abused their positions to peddle influence for money and exploit expenses. Here are some highlights. November 2002: Elizabeth Filkin resigns as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. She was forced out after launching scores of inquiries into sleaze or corruption by ministers and MPs of all political parties. Martin Bell, an independent MP elected on an anti-sleaze ticket said, "She is an outstanding public servant and should have been offered another term of office with her resources increased and her mandate unchanged… I was aware of a whispering campaign which did indeed start within weeks of her taking office and it was done by friends of people in high places.” February 2010: Cameron attacks the lobbying industry. “It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money.” March 2010: Twenty politicians were approached by undercover reporters posing as people seeking to buy influence. Fifteen agreed to meet, ten arranged meetings, and nine secretly filmed. Labour MP Stephen Byers claimed to have influenced government policy in the past for money. Conservative MP Sir John Butterfill offered to lobby to benefit the fictitious company and use his political connections for a payment of £35000 a year. May 2011: Liberal MP Mark Oaten took a £2,000 taxpayer-funded trip to Athens for a meeting of a body that was being abolished despite no longer being an MP. Politicians can remain as delegation members for six months after an election unless they replaced. December 2012: -Then Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, shown to have claimed more than £90,000 for a second home where her parents lived. Although the Parliamentary Committee on Standards found that she had over-claimed mortgage expenses by £5,800, it did not uphold the key allegation – that she used public funds for her parents’ benefit – because she was already caring for them. However, she was forced to apologise for her “attitude” to the inquiry. May 2014: Conservative MP, Patrick Mercer, exposed after tabling a series of questions on behalf of a fictitious group lobbying for Fiji to be readmitted to the Commonwealth. He had been paid £4,000 as part of a contract he believed would earn him £24,000 a year. The Parliamentary Committee on Standards recommended he pay the money to charity but admitted “We have no powers in this matter”. September 2014: Long after the expenses scandal outraged the public, The Parliamentary Committee on Standards recommended no further action again Peter Bone, Conservative MP and accountant, for expense claims made while living temporarily in Essex. Although it was against the rules at the time – as the house was neither in his constituency or Westminster – the committee decided he had been “new and inexperienced” and did not know this. November 2014: Mike Hancock MP represented the UK at a three-day meeting of the political affairs committee in New York City in November last year two months after he quit the Liberal Democrats over a relationship with a vulnerable constituent. His travel came to £4,356 and hotel and subsistence £1,096. January 2015: Peter Lilley, Conservative MP, accused of failing to declare his directorship in an oil firm during a debate on energy prices and climate change laws. The Parliamentary Committee on Standards decided the rules had not been clear at the time and that it would “not be fair” to find him in breach. July 2015: FOI request reveals that MP and Speaker John Bercow claimed £367 for going to Luton to talk about the expenses scandal. His car to Lady Thatcher’s funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral, less than two miles from the Commons, cost £158. An official car to Canterbury for Archbishop Justin Welby's enthronement had cost of £524. September 2014: Sixty MPs spent £70,000 on new iPads, iPhones and laptops before the general election, prompting the expenses watchdog to express concern. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) wrote to MPs involved to seek assurances that they were using the equipment exclusively for parliamentary duties. Some of the MPs wrote back saying they took exception to the request. September 2015: Parliamentary Committee on Standards clears Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind despite the public being appalled by what these men were filmed saying. Rifkind had denied he was paid an MP’s salary. “You’d be surprised how much free time I have. I spend a lot of time reading, I spend a lot of time walking. I’m self-employed. So nobody pays me a salary.” And Straw boasted of his covert influence in changing EU rules for a company that pays him £60,000-a-year. "...the best way of dealing with these things (lobbying) is under the radar.”

Jobs at risk The cost of solar panels since 2007 has fallen by over 70%. It is now the cheapest of all renewable technologies. This week, India announced the creation of 50 solar cities. Solar around the world is booming. In a few years, it won't need any support at all. But the UK Government seems to want to do everything it can to kill solar before we get to that point – and risk tens of thousands of jobs in the process. This is not the first time the Government has tried to kill the feed-in tariff, the scheme that pays people to feed clean electricity into the national grid from their solar panels. Back in 2011 Government tried to kill off 90% of the scheme with retrospective cuts. Friends of the Earth, together with the solar industry, took the Government to court - and won. Ministers were forced to backtrack. But once more, 35,000 jobs in the solar industry are on the line. (Quote from Friends of the Earth and image credit to intel free press)

David Cameron announced we’ll welcome 20,000 more Syrian refugees. But there’s a catch. This will take 5 years, leaving thousands of refugees in limbo. It’s now up to us to show that in cities, towns and villages all across the country we’re ready to welcome people now. Aylan, the toddler who drowned fleeing Syria, was just three years old. His town was under attack by Isis. His five year old brother and his mum also died trying to reach safety.We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome

Junior doctors are on the front line of the NHS, working long hours with few breaks, meeting huge demands, and regularly making life changing decisions. From new graduates up to senior registrars, we cover a wide range of roles in patient care and many have over a decade of experience and numerous qualifications. Despite earning a wage that is already lower than many university graduates who spend less time in training and have less responsibility, the government has decided to introduce a new contract from August 2016. This would mean working more hours, expected to exceed 90 hours per week, removal of safeguards that currently prevent hospitals forcing doctors to work extra hours unpaid, and reduction in salary. This will lead to hospitals being run by doctors who are exhausted, demoralised and therefore not safe to look after patients. The government have chosen the easiest target in the healthcare work force to impose this unfair new contract on, and are depending on their compassion and goodwill to continue working despite making working conditions worse. They are using an empty promise of providing a "7 day NHS" to make people believe healthcare professionals do not provide services at the weekend. If this is allowed to continue the same treatment will be given to senior doctors and eventually other healthcare professionals such as nurses, radiographers, health care assisstants to name a few. Ultimately this will lead to hospitals staffed with employees who are overworked, underpaid and unhappy, or who have to leave their job for one with a wage they can survive on. The effect this will have on patient care is unthinkable. With current demands for emergency services, GP appointments, waiting times for elective surgery etc already at an all time high, this change will inevitably make things worse for staff and patients. Avoidable sickness and death rates are predicted to rise, particularly for those who cannot afford health insurance and medical fees. This is one of several moves supported by the conservative government, many of whom have stocks in private medical firms, which will culminate in the dstruction of the NHS. This paves the way for them to privatise health care in England. The same people have caused a media blackout, to prevent this hitting the headlines and keeping the public in the dark. Every single one of us and our loved ones will seek medical help eventually, so we have a responsibility to prevent this from happening. Sign this petition, write to the government with your views, make this problem known as widely as possible. Tell the government their treatment of hardworking junior doctors and the resulting detramental effect on the NHS is unacceptable. If the worst happens and the junior doctors take industrial action, they need your support and for you to understand it is as much in the publics interests as their own. Healthcare isn't a privilege for the rich who can afford it, it is a right for everyone in this nation. Earning a wage that reflects your level of training, hours worked and responsibility held is also a right that is about to be revoked for junior doctors. Please sign and help now

At the Sanctuary on Sea launch event in June 2015, Brighton & Hove was named 'Sanctuary on Sea' in recognition of the city-wide efforts to create a culture of welcome for people fleeing conflict and persecution. At the event, you underlined the city's commitment to welcome refugees to our city. Now is an important time to deliver on that commitment.

As stated above there are many people that find it very difficult to walk to bus stops outside Zebon Copse, especially in very bad weather.

This campaign is now calling for the present owner of Castle Toward, Argyll & Bute Council, to protect this treasured Scottish icon from development. We want and seek to work together to restore the Castle, to be the flourishing hub for youth arts and sport that it once was. This campaign will demonstrate that within the ethos of Culture for Life, this project can attract funding from Scotland, the UK and further afield. From renowned conductor Sir Simon Rattle to Andy Scott, sculptor of the world famous Kelpies, our campaign has united more than 100 artists, musicians, and actors to tell personal stories of how their time at Castle Toward proved career defining. This new and independent campaign is not aligned with any political interest or previous activity. Its aims are simply to bring prosperity, increased visitor footfall, credit and artistic prominence to Argyll and Bute. Please visit our website for further information: www.iheartcastletoward.com

We're going to see Iain Duncan Smith next month and we want to take this petition with us with as many names as possible. You may not get why we're so wound up about it. Let me share a few stories (all real, local people). Before I do, lets just remember what tax credits are for. They are contributions from the government towards the cost of ofsted registered childcare so that work is possible. Many users of tax credits are single parents but many are also in couples. They are for people for whom work would not be possible without assistance towards childcare (which by the way has to be paid one month in arrears and is subject to fines for late payment). One woman was told that her tax credits would stop because her daughter doesn't exist. The fact that said daughter was crying in the background whilst her stressed and bewildered mother was trying to sort it out whilst wondering how she was going to pay for childcare was irrelevant. Another woman was told that her tax credits would be cut to £85 a month (a contribution towards an £800 childcare bill for 2 children representing well over half of the whole family's take home pay.)This was because concentrix concluded that a previous childcare provider had not been ofsted registered and therefore this lady was in debt to them for falsely claiming help towards childcare that year. Of course the provider had been ofsted registered, we may never know what information concentrix used to reach their conclusion but our member had to shoulder the full responsibility of proving her case, all the while on reduced tax credits and even had to arrange a meeting with her employer to explain that work would not be feasible if she couldn't prove her case. The member is now vindicated but the stress she was wrongly put under was extremely serious and unnecessary. Another member was subject to a thorough investigation of her circumstances after which concentrix reached the bizarre conclusion that her total childcare costs for 2 children were £4 a week....totally validates any claim that the government and their agencies are out of touch with real life...if such a cheap provider exists I want their details! I could go on....case after case, story after story - already vulnerable people being made to feel desperate, hopeless and quite frankly criminalised. Please, if you agree with us, sign and share to say this is not OK. Perhaps there's a case to be made for people to be investigated as benefit fraud happens - but the way it is being done is unnecessarily negatively impacting people who could do without it!

I believe this issue is important because we have to whatever we can to save the lives of those that have embarked on these journeys. These children have had to flee their homes in search for a better life and we need to provide some sort of comfort for them. A few Syrian kids were asked What makes you happy? Moiad,8, from Dara'a, Syria said "There is no war here. Reading and playing. Helping my mum." Briksam,9,from Homs, Syria."I like going to school,studying and taking tests.Being with my family." Najam,6,from Homs, Syria. "Toys.When my older brother, Ahmed, comes to visit." These Children only want one thing , to live their lives as normal children and this is something they should be able to experience in a free world and not caught in the middle of war. We must remember that although their homes have been taken , we need to ensure their futures are not taken away from them. To find out more go to www.unicef.org.uk

Because it will be abused by people intent on bullying and victimisation.especially among younger users.

Glyphosate is the most widely sold weedkiller in the world; you might know it as the active ingredient in Roundup. Government figures show its use in UK farming has increased by 400% in the last 20 years. Many farmers routinely use glyphosate and other herbicides to clear their fields of weeds before crops emerge in the spring. On the advice of the big chemical companies like Monsanto, farmers also use herbicides on crops shortly before they are harvested, in order to dry out the plants and make them easier to harvest. Tests by the Defra committee on Pesticide Residues in Food have found up to 30% of Britain's bread contained glyphosate. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation, identified glyphosate as a ‘probable carcinogen’ to humans. The safety regulators in the UK and EU only look at glyphosate on its own. But in the real world, glyphosate is always mixed with other chemicals to make sure the glyphosate sticks to, and penetrates the plants it’s sprayed on. Many of these other chemicals are toxic. According to recent research, some of these mixtures can be up to 1,000 times more toxic than glyphosate alone. A recent European study found 7 out of 10 people had traces of the weedkiller in their urine. Glyphosate has also been found in the breast milk of German women. We now know that glyphosate has potentially significant health implications for all of us. There is no excuse for glyphosate use. Please sign our petition and keep weedkiller out of our bread.

People think that because the Yulin Dog Festival has apparently been stopped, dogs are no longer on the menu. Just because it isn't labelled as a Festival doesn't mean it has gone away. Dogs and cats are still rounded up, some stolen from loving homes, tortured and killed or skinned alive in preparation for eating. These animals are thinking, feeling creatures not that much different from us. They deserve love, kindness and a good home, not starvation, cruelty, torture and death. The situation in Guangdong hasn't changed either, with thousands of dogs slaughtered and eaten locally or shipped to other places around the country.