Palm oil production has destroyed vast areas of forest in countries including Indonesia, which is home to orangutans, the Rainforest foundation UK says palm oil companies are now planning to expand into the rainforests of the Congo basin in Africa, home to lowland gorillas and other threatened primates. Palm oil companies are also partly responsible for the recent devastating forest fires in Sumatra, which caused pollution episodes in Malaysia and Singapore.

The government may raise tax on solar in April 2017... unless enough people appeal. This would be a huge increase in the running costs of a rooftop solar installation that would affect both existing and new projects according to Solar Trade Association (STA). “In some cases, it would actually send installations into negative returns: you would be spending more on the system in tax and maintenance than you would be getting back from the sale of the power and the Feed-in Tariff support”, Paul Barwell, CEO of the STA commented. “We therefore need Ministers to step in as soon as possible”. Raising tax to such a crippling extent just over a year after the UK gov made a commitment to tackling climate change would drastically diminish our leadership in renewable energy generation at a time when the global mean temperature continues to rise. It would do this by discouraging 1000's of solar projects. It would be a hugely backward step by the UK in the midst of a collective global energy transition.

This race could undoubtedly bring the thousands of people far and wide to Hexham and Northumberland, benefiting businesses and creating profit to the area. The event can really put Hexham on the map!.

Until a few years ago people who could no longer clean their own home would be able to turn to their local Council and ask for one of the Council's team of home helps to be sent in. Without much discussion Councils have abandoned this policy leaving bewildered people who wonder where their help has gone.

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to sign or start the campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to sign or start the campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to start a campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to start a campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to start a campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

We currently face a problematic situation where there is a schism between the laws that protect patients within the NHS and those that relate to private healthcare when an injury is sustained by a patient due to negligent treatment. Private healthcare patients are commonly led to believe that the care they are paying for will exceed the highest standards offered by the NHS, and assume that the claims made in company mission statements, advertising literature and company accounts have to be correct and true by law. Unfortunately, this is not so. In cases where patients are treated wrongfully or negligently private healthcare patients currently have less access to adequate redress and compensation than NHS patients. This is partly because liability insurance for surgeons in the private sector is discretionary rather than mandatory meaning that cover can be withdrawn – even retrospectively – leaving patients without the possibility of compensation. The petitioners therefore ask Parliament to legislate to require all private healthcare providers/companies/institutions to have liability insurance covering compensation for negligence in the work of their employees and of freelance healthcare professionals working on their behalf or practising on their premises. Furthermore, private healthcare providers/companies/institutions should be obligated to ensure that the surgeons they provide to perform procedures are not only correctly qualified and competent, but also not under investigation, suspension or other disciplinary action from other private healthcare providers/companies/institutions or NHS authorities. At present legislation is insufficient, allowing one private healthcare company to permit their legal representatives to write in a legal defence document that they were ‘under no obligation to provide competent surgeons to perform surgery at the hospital’ and had ‘no duty to protect patients from harm, and risk of injury’. The Petitioners would like to add that legislation should be put in place to ensure that no surgeon under disciplinary procedures can work anywhere in the UK (NHS or private sector) until the issues for which they are being investigated are properly and completely resolved to the satisfaction of the GMC, the patient(s) and in the case of fatalities the patients' families. We ask Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt and the Department of Health to close the legal loophole which allows for private healthcare patients to be left without protection or redress when things go wrong. With an increasing role played by private healthcare companies fulfilling NHS contracts we must put public safety first and ensure that private healthcare companies are obligated to provide clinical excellence for all their patients, to be transparent in their investigation of complaints and to provide proper protection and redress if things go wrong. We must not allow negligent practice to run rife in the private sector, and we cannot allow ruthless profiteering without responsibility to permeate our NHS.

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to start a campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this city, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to start a campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign