• Stop Sainsbury's toxic legacy in Greenwich Peninsula: Lift 'restrictive clause'
    The clause which bars other food retailers leaves a toxic legacy by limiting the options: IKEA has now been granted permission for a full-size store and loading bay. IKEA aims to demolish the building and the eco-park which Sainsbury’s gave to the local community. The site is on the main commuter bus route to North Greenwich station. Locals will have to join the traffic mayhem or jostle for space on public transport through IKEA traffic to shop for food. If there is an emergency how will services reach the site on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides with IKEA at its neck? Instead of 'village living in the city' this is an urban nightmare. Sainsbury's says it is committed to helping communities and sustainability: Lifting the clause will mean that a more suitable retailer than IKEA can move into the neighbourhood creating diverse shopping opportunities for locals without overburdening transport networks and ruining the environment.
    216 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Lucy Early
  • Let our loved ones have the choice to die with dignity
    I hope that those of you reading this never have to look after someone you love who is terminally ill. But, if you do, that you can ensure they can choose the death they want, are out of pain and able as most of us wish to stay at home. Lord Falconer’s Bill on assisted dying will have its second reading on Friday July 18th. It proposes that anyone who has a terminal illness who is judged by two Doctor’s to have less than 6 months to live and who is mentally competent to decide the timing of their own death to be given life ending medication. Objectors worry about the impact on the elderly and disabled but they are not included. This clarification means that if you are faced with the devastating news of an inoperable, incurable illness you can choose a dignified death at the time of your choosing without fearing that your loved ones could be prosecuted if they were to help you end your life: which may include following your instructions not to send you to hospital or call an ambulance because they know that you want to stay at home rather than face death in a ward full of strangers or unfamiliar place. As Sir Chris Woodhead explains in his brilliant article in the Sunday Times “To know there is a way out is a great comfort. For the GP to assist me is rational. I don’t want to die in hospital”see - www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1433324.ece One can’t help feel the pain of Desmond Tutu’s final recollection of the way his great friend Mandela was treated as he echoes Woodhead’s words and makes a powerful case for “A mind shift on the right to die” see www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/12/desmond-tutu-in-favour-of-assisted-dying. As someone who finds it agonising to recall the pain of caring for a partner faced with a devastating cancer perhaps the only consolation is knowing I was able to enable him to be at home so that he could hear the birds and see the garden while being surrounded by peace, love and light. But it was a fight and one that could have been avoided if only Lord Falconer's bill had been passed. Please sign this petition to encourage the Lords to support assisted dying.
    151 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Janet Boston
  • Job Centre staff should have DBS cover
    It is important because everyone who works with vulnerable adults and children should have a DBS check and be vetted. Why should there be rules for us and rules for them. Surely if I as a teacher have to have a DBS check paid for and a certificate in my hand before I set foot in the building I am working in then so should they. If you have been to the job centre recently you will notice that it now looks and feels more like a drop in centre. It is full of despairing people , hopeless lives trying to get out from under. I feel it is paramount that the staff not only have DBS checks complete prior to working there but they also need extra training and to have regular skills up dates too. The job centre is a difficult environment to cope with for the best of us these days but particularly for the vulnerable in society more so. And ironically most of the vulnerable people in society are unemployed and they are on the verge of becoming homeless and suicidal as a consequence of these punitive and unreasonable cuts. This is why the staff need to be properly equipped and show a professional duty of care.
    41 of 100 Signatures
    Created by thomas wilson
  • Save Kew Gardens funding.
    Kew Garden is the largest oldest and biggest repository of plants and plant research in the world. The Governments and Defra's irresponsible action in cutting its grant aid and nudging it towards privatisation is a sacrilege, when we are dealing with the world's greatest. Rather our Government fund our own world ranking expertise than waste money on funding countries like India with overseas aid.It has achieved fame for being the world's greatest centre for botanical research, a place where the planet's rarest plant and tree species are preserved and studied. But now Kew Gardens, established more than 200 years ago, is set to become the focus of an international battle following an intervention by renowned biologist Jane Goodall, who has denounced a recently inflicted budget cut as "unbelievably stupid". Goodall, who carried out pioneering work on the behaviour of chimps, has written to the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, urging him to hand out £5m to restore the centre's budget in the wake of financial cuts imposed by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs. "To read that 125 professional staff members are set to lose their jobs because of cuts in government funding is shocking," Goodall says. In an interview with the Observer, she revealed that she had made contact with several Kew scientists while researching her book, Seeds of Hope. "There is a tremendous feeling of anger and frustration there and I share it. This an unbelievably stupid thing to do. This is the mother of all other botanical research centres. Britain should be proud of it, not dismantling it. It is like tearing up the union jack. That is why I wrote my letter. I want my protest to go viral. I want thousands and thousands of people to protest as well." Last month a petition demanding the restoration of Kew's budget – signed by more than 100,000 people – was handed to 10 Downing Street, while 34 MPs signed an early-day motion expressing alarm "that vital international conservation work would be threatened should further cuts take place" at Kew.
    84 of 100 Signatures
    Created by mick goddard
  • Democratic e-Consultations
    The government commission on Digital Democracy is investigating "the opportunities digital technology can bring for parliamentary democracy in the UK" and will make recommendations in January 2015 (Google "Commission on Digital Democracy" - on their site you can see all the submissions so far to the commission). This submission proposes a form of e-consultations which provides an approach to e-democracy that is genuinely democratic, with people rather than politicians controlling the process. It also may help to get more young people involved in democracy and provide a means of youth constructively expressing its views and perceptions (which were certainly very relevant in the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes!) Whereas e-petitions, e.g. as organised by 38degrees, go a long way in e-democracy, they can be dismissed as un-representative of the population as a whole. An "official" e-consultation mechanism would be less dismissible - it becomes the MP's job to convince his constituents to support his "party line" on each issue raised by himself or by others. If there is a "Silent Majority" then the proposed e-Consultations would help them to be less silent. The "campaign website" (linked to above) contains a draft detailed presentation of the idea, based on the principles of "liquid democracy", for eventual submission to the commission - comments welcomed. An outline of the proposal is- • Govt. consultation websites on which anyone can include their issue, e.g. a petition on which citizens can vote. • Any activist group (from a local community assoc. to Greenpeace or a political party) can include their viewpoint on any issue, including links to supporting evidence. • There is a web page listing all the issues, each linking to: A page on which all the viewpoints on that issue are listed, each linking to: a page presenting that viewpoint. • Like Google search results – what matters is the order in which entries for issues and viewpoints are listed on these web pages - their relative position. • All citizens have equal “units of influence” which they have delegated to activist groups which they think should be listened to. At any time they can change how their influence is delegated. • An activist group applies the influence units delegated to it - to vote on the relative position of issues and of viewpoints on the web page listings. • Thus each citizen directly influences which issues and which viewpoints are most strongly presented to their fellow citizens.
    7 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Richard Hopkins
  • Save Dorchester Hospital Pathology Lab
    We fear that privatisation could critically endanger the quality of Dorset County Hospital's pathology service and put patients at risk. We have been fighting an intense campaign against this privatisation in many different modes. Town centre petitioning events have provided 8000 signatures on paper. We need your help to lift this number as the campaign enters is last stage, so as to show the hospital the the Dorset public say NO to their important pathology laboratory being sold off. Where pathology labs were privatised elsewhere there were quality problems seen in the ensuing services and eventually financial problems had to be corrected. Where finance becomes tight then there is a temptation to cut corners. Over 100 people work at the Dorset County Hospital Pathology Laboratory, carrying out tests whose results guide the treatment of patients throughout a good part of Dorset and its surroundings. Private companies have been invited to bid to deliver this service in place of the existing NHS Pathology Laboratory. Should the service be moved away from Dorchester, there would no longer be the possibility of carrying out rapid on-site testing for patients in danger at the Dorchester hospital; moreover consultants would lose the valuable ability for close cooperation with the expert testers in cases of difficult diagnosis. The users of Dorchester Hospital Pathology Lab have no complaints about the service. It was being developed as a centre of excellence for cancer testing. The Dorset Health Campaign group was formed in late 2012 as a result of the 38 Degrees NHS privatisation campaign.
    3,877 of 4,000 Signatures
    Created by Chris East Picture
  • Glenda Jackson for Prime Minister
    The political climate is currently so bad traditional labour voters have been voting Ukip or EDL as a protest vote; racist, far right extremism as opposed to Ed Miliband. That's the sickening truth! People would rather UKIP were in charge than Labour. Why? Because Miliband has failed to inspire any faith or belief in the British public. But someone else on in the labour party has. And that person is Glenda Jackson. The people need somebody they can believe in, somebody they can trust, and that is what she has demonstrated herself to be. In her recent speech in the house of commons, she stood up for the welfare state, she stood for those who are suffering, and her stand has not gone unnoticed. The apathetic, disenfranchised but otherwise good people of this country stood up and took notice. They shared that video clip, indicating a glimmer of hope and inspiration to take an interest in politics. She was telling the truth, she was saying something I agree with. She was standing up for me and you. The only female Prime Minister we ever had in this country was a moral abomination. The current government are following in Thatchers ghastly footsteps, and if we keep following that path who knows what hell we'll end up in. Let's bring in another woman, a strong and intelligent woman who clearly cares about this country, who cares enough to stand in a room full of toffee nosed tories and tell them how it is. If Glenda Jackson were a labour candidate for Prime Minister, she would have my vote. Would she have yours? Sign this petition and lets show them how we feel about her, and about the future of the labour party being in the hands of somebody we believe in.
    28 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Naomi Yates
  • To secure a piece of land for the community
    Please see the body of the petition
    66 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Amal Basu
  • Open an inquiry into the sale of Royal Mail by the UK Government
    This is a public service, created by the hard working people of the UK in past generations, which has been sold off to make money for the government - but sold at a low price to ensure the certain people and agencies made money on the sale of the shares after going private. This is illegal, against the wish of the people, and a complete sham from a government who are supposed to represent and work for the will and welfare of the people. A full investigation should be held, and those who are found to have made money by insider knowledge held accountable.
    85 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Simon Zielonka
  • A call for more time and more choices before deciding the future of Pinner Park Farm
    Harrow Council has proposed two very similar choices for changes to the use of Pinner Park Farm in a recent informal public consultation; luxury housing with a country park that includes a large 'events field'. Whilst the link below offers a chance to share ideas, the two proposals were championed as the only options. http://www.harrow.gov.uk/info/200143/public_notices/1255/pinner_park_farm Converting the farmhouse and building new properties would change the character of the site forever. It is therefore important to consider a wide range of options before a final decision is taken regarding this historically important green belt land with listed buildings, that is also the last working farm in the borough. In summary, Pinner Park Farm is a much loved, important local space. We ask the council to extend the consultation period and publish criteria for alternative proposals so that the best option can be developed and supported. If we collect 2000 signatures by 22 July, the matter has to be considerd by full council. In order for your signature to be valid, please ensure that you work, study, or live in the Borough of Harrow. The address given must be a home, work or study address in the Borough.
    1,750 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Emma Baber
  • Stop Fracking in Rossendale
    Fracking is quite possibly one of the most dangerous forms of creating energy ever invented. Whilst drilling chemicals are released into the ground with the water that get released into the environment. The chemicals are supposed to stay in the concrete pipes but they rarely do... The pipes crack and the chemicals leak into the environment and into our drinking water. Also the chemicals are released into the atmosphere leaving people and animals to breath this toxic mixture of chemicals into their body. The result is illness, disability, cancers, unable to drink tap water, our animals dying and our plants dying. The result is a whole toxic mess... And then there's the earth tremors and earthquakes. "Fracking for Gas threatens us all. A fracking drill goes down vertically up to 2 miles, then horizontally up to 2 miles...possible under your house and then it is FRACKED." Source: RAFF - Residents Action Group on Fylde Fracking (2014) "Fracking is a controversial and potentially dangerous method of extracting oil and natural gas. Hydraulic fracturing involves injecting a mixture of sand, water and chemical into the ground at high pressure causing rock to fracture and release trapped oil or gas." Source: The Green Party (2014) Fracking is being held as a solution to our energy needs. It is claimed that it will bring down the cost of oil and gas. However, the sheer size of the world markets mean that the relatively small amounts to be recovered in the UK are unlikely to have a noticeable impact on the price we pay. Leaving at least two-thirds of fossil fuels in the ground avoids a two degree rise in global temperatures. We therefore need to invest in renewable energy in order to combat climate change, not extract yet more fossil fuels by fracking. Don't let the Government win this one!!
    400 of 500 Signatures
    Created by Karen Pollard-Rylance
  • Stop the snoops
    More time is needed to ensure proper laws are discussed and agreed. We do not live in a policed state... Maybe there is law firm out there that would take on a mass case of legal challenges by the public to force telecoms companies to destroy the data now and thereby force the government into proper dialogue with people they are representing!
    71 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Pete Hanley