Upon speaking to a call centre employee (based in India) he was forced to work overtime to make up time taken for 'holiday'; this may not seem like a big deal, but he has no holiday entitlement for the first 6 months of his employment contract with BSKYB (or whichever third party they are sub contracting the call centre work to)!!!… can you imagine anyone here in the UK having to endure that working arrangement? It's already bad enough that these multi-billion dollar corporations take jobs out of the British economy, and although workers in the developing world may not need equal pay scale don't we as fellow workers feel they at least deserve some basic working entitlements (for example accrued holiday earned via the hours they work)… Currently in India the statutory minimum is merely 1 days entitlement for every 20 days of work performed the previous year!!!… SHOCKING when you consider SKY TV has millions of customers here in Britain paying BIG MONEY every month into the coffers!!...

1. To maintain independence and dignity for Disabled service user citizen's of Birmingham. 2. To secure the "fund"from being used elsewhere within the peoples directorate and being absorbed into the overall budget. 3. To Ensure a level of Independence, openness and scrutiny as a beacon status service performance indicator. 4. To maintain Birmingham's position as the second city, that cares for all it's citizen's and promotes Equality for All. 5. To comply with Statutory Equality Duty, Human Rights, Equality and Community Care legislation.

Everyone knows what is going on here and it is getting ridiculous: We talk about a "bad food environment" and yet there is little legislation to prevent the powerful retailers who supply most of our nutrition from using pernicious sales tack-ticks. Supermarkets know that will power is finite resource and the most effective way of getting customers to crack, is to tempt them with high sugar foods in close proximity for a long time. These counters are designed cause sugar cravings. They are deliberately overriding the consumers free will and in light of the obesity and diabetes pandemics it is a disgraceful business practice.

It is a disgrace that during this time of austerity when so many people do not even have enough to eat, and benefits are being cut that tax-payer's money should be wasted on champagne for the elite. The budget for champagne in the House of Lords alone is £65,000 according to an article in the independent http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-you-want-to-see-the-gap-between-the-house-of-lords-and-reality-for-yourself-then-just-look-at-their-champagne-budget-9910611.html Why should the tax payer pay for any alcohol at all for members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons? Surely this money could be better spent in this time of austerity.

Fracking is a dangerous and polluting way of getting oil and gas out of the ground. It's dangerous in so many ways: it poisons our water, it can cause earth tremors and produces a huge amount of toxic waste. And, it gives the land under our homes to giant oil corporations.

Nigel Mills admitted to having "probably had a game or two" of Candy Crush during a Commons committee hearing on pensions, but still claims he was "fully focused" on the meeting. The Work and Pensions committee help to make decisions that will effect the lives and futures of millions of people across Britain and Nigel Mills's actions, and flippant attitude in response to the allegations, demonstrate a huge lack of respect for the people he represents and how trivially he views his work as an MP, whilst perhaps underscoring a wider issue of accountability in the commons. It's time politicians took our future seriously! This is not a game!

Diesel fumes are a dangerous hidden killer in major cities of the UK. Tons of diesel particulates are breathed in by British people every year, unseen and causing untold illness and early death through their inhalation. Cars, lorries, diesel trains at stations, chocking us with this stuff every day of the year. Paris has a strategy to eliminate diesel pollution by 2020. But in the UK, their is no strategy. No serious and thorough monitoring of diesel vehicle emissions in our cities accompanied by restriction of traffic if dangerous levels are reached. No long term strategy to reduce the usage of diesel cars and trucks overall. No strategy to eliminate highly polluting diesel trains by speeding up the electrification of the rail network and replacing ancient rolling stock. Why not? Because the government couldn't care less. The government are happy to allow pollution of our cities with these noxious fumes, little caring about the appalling health effects, and making no attempt to restrict them. Cyclists, pedestrians, babies in prams, open food displays, everybody using our city streets and railway stations, are breathing in the dangerous, and unseen diesel particulates, slowly but surely damaging their health. Something must be done. Starting now. Sign this the petition to demand that the government take immediate and effective measures, and implement a strategy to drastically restrict diesel fumes from wrecking the health of many British people, setting targets for drastically reduced limits of measurable diesel particulates.

How many of you with a landline actually use it? Ofcom proposed an upto 8% cost reduction, yet the costs have just gone up by 6%+!! Ofcom produced a report that proposed the reduction in the costs of landline rentals over a number of years. At the time of the Ofcom report, 11th July 2013, the wholesale cost of a landline was £93.27 per annum or £7.77 per month. These are phone lines rented from BT by the likes of Sky, and then re-sold to Sky subscribers at a cost of £196.80 per annum or £16.40 Ex VAT per month (current price after latest price rise). The current landline rental price from Sky Is £16.40 Ex VAT per month and that's a rise of 6.49% on last years cost - yet Ofcom proposed a reduction in these rental costs! Ofcom stated in its published article 11th July 2013, and I quote: "Wholesale line rental: the regulated wholesale price today is £93.27 per year. Under Ofcom's proposals the prices will fall in real terms by between CPI - 2% and CPI - 8% every year" and if the proposal was successful the reduction in charges would come into effect on 1 April 2014 and run until 31 March 2017. CPI = Consumer Price Index. See full details of Ofcom's proposals here:http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2013/new-prices-for-landline-and-broadband-services/ What happened to Ofcom's proposals as monthly costs for landlines are still rising? Perhaps this text below explains the price rises?! According to a BBC article; Latest figures from the regulator, Ofcom, show that consumers spent three billion minutes fewer on their landlines in the year to June 2014, a reduction of 12.7% in one year alone. As a result, operators lost out on £85m of revenue compared with the previous year. "Call volumes are declining," said James Barford of Enders Analysis. "People are using Facebook or WhatsApp, or even email if they're a little old-fashioned, so operators are having to recover their costs from increased line rental," he added. see full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30251029 The landline price increases: Sky: up by 6.49% to £16.40 a month BT: up 6.25% to £16.99 Virgin Media: up 6.25% to £16.99 Talk Talk: up 4.7% to £16.70 Why are the costs of landlines still rising and what happened to Ofcom's proposals to reduce the costs of landlines? We all understand that companies have to make money but making a margin of £103.53 per year, per landline, per customer is scandalous, especially when the likes of Sky do not have to do any work or maintain the landline, as they pass this job back to BT. We do understand there are processing costs associated with these charges though!! Let's put this into context:- SKY have 5.3 million subscribers who need a landline to receive the full TV service from Sky and use their broadband services. So, all the subscribers have a phone line, thats 5,300,000 x £103.53 (Sky's margin on landlines) = £548,709,000.00 income from landlines per year! That's over HALF A BILLION plus revenue, per year from landline charges! BT, Virgin and Talk Talk are making vast amounts of money as well from landline rentals per month. There where as of December 2013 - 22.6 Million residential and SME broadband connections - do the maths at £103.53 margin per connection! See full details here: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts/ 'Margin' is the amount of money made by Sky when charging for a landline:£16.40 x 12 = £196.80 less the £93.27 quoted by Ofcom = £103.53 Margin. What about the elderly that don't have SKY TV or Talk Talk TV or BT TV/Sports? These are people that need a landline to stay in contact with family and the outside world? The fact that it costs them £16.99 + VAT per month or £203.88 +VAT per annum for a landline from BT is outrageous. Is it any wonder some elderly people will not put the heating on? They probably can't afford it when they are paying £16.99 + VAT a month NOT TO TALK! In 1995 BT ran an advertising campaign with the late great Bob Hoskins and the strap line was "It's good to talk". Their next advert should use No Doubt's song 'Don't Speak' as the backing track and they should have a Dick Turpin character holding a sign with the strap line "It's great for us!" or they could pay Bork to use her version of the song 'It's Oh So Quiet" with an elderly person in a cold house, staring at the landline telephone!! The more people that sign the petition the better. "Come on BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin, show some community spirit and immediately reduce the costs for landlines for the elderly and for those who need landlines to communicate with the outside world because they are house bound. Individually we can moan about the costs of landlines, sign the petition and collectively we could get cost reductions as proposed by Ofcom. Please sign. Thank You Philip Smith-Lawrence

The small amount we receive in profit is apart of our Welfare State and should go back to the few public services we have left. Our Government seems to be trying very hard to privatise our NHS and ALL of our transport services and the ten million pound yearly profit from the Eurostar should play a small part in financing what our nation needs the most. The money made from selling it will disappear very quickly and we will never know how that money was spent. Every time we have privatised a public service, such as the Royal Mail, the estimated profit was never reached and it just so happens that George Osborn's close friend, Peter Davies bought the most shares. Interestingly, very few other share holders made any profit where Davie's is said to have made £18 million. It is important that our politicians realise that if they sell everything the State owns, then there will be nothing left to help the Nation in benefits, health and education. These are fundamental issues that are not being looked at enough by our Government and the Eurostar is just one example of how, little by little, our Welfare State is being shredded to pieces. Please sign this petition in the hope that this will play a role in saving our services. We shouldn't sell business's that generate any kind of profit which could be put back into our system.

It's important that the Inland Revenue are fair to the tax payer. Collecting for days you didn't use the car on the road feels like theft. I got caught twice because I have a private number plate. I had to pay road tax for the vehicle I was buying on 14th November. By the time all the documents were returned & I took delivery of the new car on 2nd December, I lost the whole month. I correctly sent off the sale part of the V5 for my old car on 2nd December but won't get a refund for any of December, it's unfair.

Our rural roads are becoming lethal to everyone . Many have no pavements.Both drivers, horseriders, cyclists, horses, pedestrians are being killed or injured on a regular basis. Animals are also getting slaughtered on the road such as horses, donkeys, dogs. Outside some stables many rural roads are 60mph and horses have to get across the road. Some rural roads have become residential after farms are becoming family homes and yet the road can be 60mph. Many parents do not allow their children to walk along the country roads as the roads are so fast., and there is an obesity epidemic. Elderly and disabled people struggle to walk on the roads to get to their letterbox. Commuters risk their lives every time they walk to the station or bus stop. Massive HGVS and coaches now use narrow country lanes adding to the hazard. It is time for change.

Lord Malloch Brown, the former UN deputy secretary-general and a crossbench peer, said if Lansley got the job it would be a sign Cameron had used the global organisation for a “political dumping”. He told Channel 4: “This is one of the most difficult, important jobs in the world. There are millions of people in desperate situations from Ebola victims to victims of war in Syria who are highly dependent on the humanitarian activities of the UN. It’s an act of great cynicism to allow someone who does not have background and qualification in this area to be put forward.”