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

It is a simple fact of economics that if demand increases without a corresponding increase in supply then market forces will drive up prices. Our countries inability to build enough homes for the growing population is well documented. What is not so well documented is that the governments various schemes to help first time buyers onto the housing ladder simply exacerbate the problem of high house prices. The schemes may be welcomed by those in or near a position to buy their first home, but in the long run all the schemes do is drive house prices higher. Exorbitant house prices force a growing percentage of the population into private rental. As house prices increase private rental costs also increase, which in turn makes it far more difficult for those renting to build the deposit required to own a home. Those renting are forced to save a far larger percentage of their disposable income in order to build their deposit; and this of course relies on there being any disposable income left to save. Reports this week suggest that the average first-time buyer will have already spent £50000 on rent. With all this money being saved by those looking to build a deposit, there is less and less money being put back into the economy. The growing percentage of the country who are building a deposit will be eating out less, limiting their purchase of luxury goods and generally saving money wherever possible. There is a concept known as the velocity of money that effectively states that the faster money moves around the faster the economy grows; money sat in savings accounts is stagnant and does very little for the economy. The upshot of this is that growth of the economy is limited, which in turn limits the number of jobs paying a decent wage, which in turn forces more of the population to rely on taxpayer funded benefits. Less taxpayers money would be required to fund benefits if there were more jobs paying a living salary. The money made available by the reduced reliance on benefits could be used to increase funding for the NHS, reduce the tax burden on the population, make higher education free again, and many other causes. In short, it is my opinion that a large number of the problems facing this country could be resolved if the government truly committed to investing in a long-term infrastructure and house building program rather than wasting taxpayer money driving up the cost of already exorbitant house prices. This is a policy that would fairly benefit the whole country rather than just a few.

Anyone who has been admitted to hospital is aware of the vital role that junior doctors play in maintaining a health service open to all. Demoralise and demonise the junior doctors and the BMA and not only will a great many of our doctors be driven out of public service, but the NHS will start to fragment. We will end up with a privatised health service with access determined by income. Please do not let this happen.

Adlingfleet Common is a beautiful place set in the rural village of Adlingfleet in East Yorkshire. In the height of summer when the grass is long, butterflies flit from flower to flower whilst hares stand upright watching out for foxes and stoats. The buzz of bumblebees harvesting the nectar of the clover rich pasture is interrupted by the calls of hedgerow birds staking claim to their territories. Barn and short-ear owls hunt the margins whilst marsh harriers and buzzards circle above the adjoining fields. The ancient pond provides the ideal habitat for damsel and dragonflies that dart through the air in an array of multi-colours changing direction with split second timing. Tadpoles seek refuge in the margins as the kingfisher dives for the next unsuspecting minnow. Adlingfleet Common is 60 acres of refuge that sits, as a drop in the ocean, amongst 1000's of acres of the most intensively “farmed” land in the country and is registered, under the CRoW act, as a public space and also serves as a bridleway. Adlingfleet Common needs to be protected. In June 2014 the Cow Lane Committee, who are responsible for the "care" of Adlingfleet Common, permitted the spraying of a cocktail of pesticides. The derogation to spray was authorised by DEFRA. The common was sprayed with a total of 90 litres of Lupo and 30 litres of High Load Mircam at a cost of £1090 to the tax payer. Both Lupo and High Load Mircam are not permitted for use in public spaces. The spraying of these chemicals killed off many species of plants resulting in a major loss of habitat for butterflies and insects, may have resulted in the polluting of the pond and adjoining water courses and put the public at unnecessary risk to pesticide exposure. The pungent odour of chemicals lingered for over 3 weeks after spraying. It is important that small pockets of land are responsibly managed and set aside for the flora and fauna to flourish. If not they will be lost to the ravages of industrial farming - along with the butterflies, dragonflies, hares, bees, birds and every other creature that is unable to exist in a toxic environment. With your help we can take a step to making a change and this can ultimately effect us all. Success will result in protection for Adlingfleet Common but may set an example for other important wildlife habitats to be protected. Protected for the environment. Protected for you and your children. Protected for future generations. Funding for Legal Action We are presently trying to raise funds via Crowdfunder to assist in legal action against the Cow Lane Committee. Full details can be found here: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-adlingfleet-common/

This petition is not about censorship; it’s not about undermining freedom of expression or about anyone being offended. It is about protecting women’s right to access abortion freely, confidentially and without fear, intimidation or public shaming. Each year 40 Days For Life picket the BPAS Clinic, on St Mary Street in Cardiff throughout lent. They gather under banners and placards and hand out unsolicited, inaccurate, pseudo-medical anti-abortion material. These tactics are intimidating, distressing and damaging to clients and staff of BPAS. We respect everyone's right to peaceful protest; let 40 Days for Life publicly state their anti-abortion views, let them be held to account and their doctrine interrogated. What we can’t let them do is operate in the vicinity of BPAS to shame, distress and intimidate women who are accessing the legal and vital reproductive health care that they’re entitled to. It is inappropriate and unjustified for an anti-abortion organisation to be allowed to interfere with women’s fundamental human and legal right to seek medical advice and care in the case of pregnancy. If you want 40 Days for Life to remove their prayer, picketing and propaganda from the vicinity of the BPAS clinic, please sign.

The health secretary has frequently and publicly quoted statistics claiming that there is increased mortality in NHS hospitals over weekends. This is incorrect. In fact, fewer patients die in hospitals over the weekend than any other day of the week. The health secretary refers to research which claim an excess 11,000 hospital deaths amongst patients who are admitted into hospital over weekends. He fails to make clear that this refers to a "weekend" period of Friday to Monday (i.e. 4 days) and death within 30 days of admission, not upon admission at the weekend. He claims that these 11,000 "excess" deaths are related to lack of staffing by junior doctors at weekends; there is absolutely no evidence that this is the case. He incorrectly makes these claims, when even the very study from which he quotes, clearly states that there is no evidence these deaths are preventable and did not identify a causative factor. He fails to acknowledge research that has demonstrated the patients who are admitted to hospitals as weekends are often sicker than those admitted during the week and therefore more likely to die. Whilst there is a need to investigate these statistics in more detail and improve NHS care wherever possible throughout the NHS, these incorrect public statements should not be used as a justification for imposing a new junior doctor contract and should be publicly retracted. The incorrect use of statistics by the health secretary has led to huge, yet entirely unnecessary, anxiety to the general public, many of whom are now scared to be admitted to hospital over a weekend and have even not attended hospital when acutely unwell over a weekend because of these fears. This needs to be redressed.

Time is running out. 7 day-a-week access to hospitals is possible but it must be paid for. If Jeremy Hunt gets his way with these bullying tactics against one of the greatest assets we have within our NHS, our junior doctors, it will be a terrible loss to all of us.

Animals can and will be used as entertainment eg Dog Fighting and the use of kittens as live bait on dog fights

This is so important because it is affecting people's ability to feed their own family. How can we live in a society where people are punished in such a way that they cannot feed their children? It is right that any system of benefits has checks and balances in it so people cannot abuse the system but we also have to have compassionate limits which do not affect the health and well-being of those affected. So many families are having to access the country's Foodbanks because they have been sanctioned. when a sanction is put in place this usually means that the majority of a person's income is stopped immediately meaning they are unable to meet their regular financial commitments including buying food. If they get a hardship payment after two weeks of a sanction this has to be repaid afterwards which adds more of a financial strain. If you refused to feed your dog as a punishment for some misdemeanor you would be prosecuted for animal cruelty but for some reason the DWP can do just that to a family by removing their ability to feed their family. Where is the justice in that? We need a robust system which is also compassionate and acknowledges that these people are human beings with a right to feed themselves and their families.

There is far to much food waste when we have people going hungry. All stores should be required to donate unwanted food to charities and to food banks. It should apply to any supermarket with a footprint of 400 square metres or larger. If companies flout the law they are to incur fines. Supermarkets are to sign a donation deal with charities, which will be able to increase the quality and diversity of food that they currently get and distribute. In terms of nutritional balance, they currently have a deficit of meat and a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. This will hopefully allow food-banks to push a fresh source of nutritional quality food to people and families in need.

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

Just think the government and Department of Work and Pensions need to know what they are doing to genuine disabled people feel as though we are being tied with the con artist and fiddlers of the system. He dosen't want to be disabled, he has worked but now I have to come to terms he can't. And the people who interview you are not medical nurses doctors or anything of the sort they as questions tick boxes. Hows that getting a true picture - it's affecting families financially causing stress, making people more ill than they were before and they don't care