The cruel archaic export of live farm animals should end because of the suffering caused by extremely long journeys often without mandatory breaks, food and water, then slaughtered in what would be unacceptable conditions in the UK. If the animals were killed as near to rearing as possible (which would create jobs in the UK) and exported as meat it would also end the time and expense of policing a trade that a great number of people find objectionable.

This is so important as you are looking at a mother who already has a disability who is then at risk of having a child / children with disabilities themselves. THIS IS CAUSING IMMENSE PREVENTABLE SUFFERING. Estimates suggest in excess of 20,000 people have been affected to date. CLINICIANS ARE NOT BEING PROVIDED WITH THE NECESSARY SAFETY INFORMATION by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the European Medicines Agency. Without widespread awareness the number of people affected continues to grow. The impact on the family can be devastating with many ending up as full time carers. Because of this many Mother’s cannot pursue their careers and are reliant on benefits. The tax payer is providing the support services that are required throughout the child's lifetime. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUESTS HAVE CONFIRMED that ONE child’s costs for Health, Education & Welfare will be in excess of £6 MILLION in their lifetime. IN EXCESS OF 20,000 PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED BY FACS! I have 4 children affected with the 2 youngest having Autism. I have become a full time carer and both boys are in specialist schools, as a parent you fear for their future as they will always need a level of support . Their cognitive functioning means they have low self esteem and depression and frequently self harm as they know no other way of expressing them selves. They live in pain on a daily basis with their joints and have few / no friends. Many families will end up with more than one child affected because although there may be facial features at birth they are often not recognised by the doctors and midwives and it is only as they get older and more problems present themselves that they realise there is something wrong. Many symptoms are diagnosed individually due to poor knowledge of Fetal Anti Convulsant Syndromes. WE WOULD LIKE A PUBLIC INQUIRY BY A HIGH COURT JUDGE TO INCLUDE: Independent Systematic Reviews • How medicines and medical products are regulated in the UK. • Why the Consumer has not been protected by British or EU Law. • Why successive governments have failed to improve flawed systems. As a mother I always put my children first and I would not choose to put them through a lifetime of pain, suffering, loneliness and dependence on others. I WOULD WANT THEM TO HAVE A CHANCE OF A FULFILLING LIFE OF THEIR OWN............THAT CHOICE WAS TAKEN AWAY! IF YOU ARE WORRIED DO NOT COME OFF OF YOUR MEDICATION BUT CONTACT YOUR GP / AND OR NEUROLOGIST! More information on the condition can be found at: https://www.oacscharity.org/about-fetal-anti-convulsant-syndromes YOU CAN HELP REDUCE SUFFERING AND SAVE BILLIONS OF POUNDS BY REQUESTING A PUBLIC INQUIRY AFTER THALIDOMIDE WE WERE TOLD IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN........IT HAS HAS HAPPENED AGAIN BUT THE NUMBERS ARE FAR GREATER AND STILL RISING. WITHOUT CHANGE IT WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN!

Michael MacDonald was arrested on the night of the 16th February when he was at home alone looking after his young son. The arrest followed an incident earlier in the day when MacDonald, known by friends and colleagues as 'Don', engaged with Nick Forbes, the the Labour Council leader, in the street. 'Don' wanted to discuss with Forbes, the effects of the cuts to Newcastle's youth services, which the youth worker fears will have a devastating effect on the most vulnerable residents of the city. Don was not threatening to him. He didn't swear. He only tried to explain to Forbes, as a professional youth worker, the effects these cuts would have on the city's services. The actions taken by Forbes and the police are not what we expect of those who are meant to serve and protect the residents of Newcastle. It is important that situations involving the police as outlined above are not allowed to occur, which serve to intimidate and disturb the people of Newcastle who exercise their right to peaceful protest and freedom of speech. Although a minor offence, if charged Don would be left with a criminal record and there would a black mark against this hard-working and well respected community worker. Don was served a fixed penalty notice under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, but has returned this notice to the court and has stated his intention to fight the accusation. His arrest has serious implications for public protest and freedom of expression in Newcastle and nationally. We stand with him against this attack on the right to protest. The accusation is unjust, meant to intimidate and is preposterous. It is clear that: 1. A civil servant has used their authority to demand an arrest. 2. The police have removed a family man from his home in the middle of the night when he had sole responsibility for his six year old child, detained him for four hours on the basis of a minor charge, during which time he was encouraged to accept a fixed penalty fine for doing nothing more than exercising the rights we all have as residents of Newcastle. Initial signatories: John McDonnell MP Kate Hudson, national secretary Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Jerry Hicks, Unite Grassroots Left Dot Gibson, National Secretary Pensioner Convention Bill Bowring, Haldane Society Socialist Lawyers Andrew Burgin, vice chair Coalition of Resistance

Currently, any Healthcare Professional causing the negligent death of a patient is not legally obliged to be Open, Honest & Transparent with bereaved relatives or to refrain falsifying the deceased patient’s medical records. Please sign http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/34926 Robbie's Law gets it's namesake from Robbie Powell, who died an unnecessary death at the age of ten, 22 years ago. Due to this loophole in the law, at every turn his death has been swept under the rug. His family and thousands of others have endured years of grief, injustice and frustration. Robbie’s family continues to campaign 22 years on, not only for justice for Robbie, but to ensure other families don't have their grief exacerbated by the dishonesty of the medical profession. Please sign http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/34926

At £8 billion, the Earl's Court redevelopment scheme is the largest in the world outside of China. It challenges the Government's committment to the Big Society and Localism and looks set to repeat the mistakes of property speculation that busted the Western economies. The campaign to save the Exhibition Centres, the rail depot and engineering works and the two council estates is on the front line battling to champion democracy and community in the face of rampant prfiteering by tax-havenbed entitiers at the expense of the poor, jobs and our international trade. The petition wording explains further.

In our village, farmland is under threat by many large developers. They obviously find fields an attractive proposition as they can just clear away the trees and hedges and build and this is more profitable than using brownfield sites however this is NOT the answer. Apart from homes, more importantly we need food that is safe to eat. I am sure this problem is an issue all over England since the government decided it was fine to build on green spaces which have previously been protected. Farmland is not just beneficial for providing food, it also helps with absorbing water and giving space to wildlife all of which assist our own health and well being.

Under the new qualifier, if you can walk from your vehicle to the other side of the road, you probably won't qualify for Higher Mobility Allowance! My Motability vehicle is my contact with the outside world. I can't use public transport, and would therefore be dependent on the goodwill of others. Many thousands are in this position, and would be trapped in their homes or deprived of the allowance under the current legislation. I have a degenerative condition of the spine. As things currently stand I would not qualify for the higher mobility allowance because it is deemed that by walking 20 metres you have sufficient mobility and therefore do not qualify. This is obviously not true. My condition means that it can be difficult to walk those distances. But under the rules as they stand I would not qualify. This will have a huge impact on my life, my wife and children. I was eligible for an adapted car, but under these news rules it may be that I don't qualify. There are countless people like me, facing losing mobility assistance and becoming prisoners in their own homes. The government must rethink this rule change.

Peaceful protest is at the cornerstone of our democracy and threatening to prosecute protesters for exercising this fundamental right undermines that notion of democracy and what is a civilised society. Protesters scaled the walls of the cooling towers in a week long protest at West Burton, Nottinghamshire. They hoped to raise awareness of the continued use of fossil fuel based power stations and the damage they do to our environment. EDF Energy is trying to scare people from demonstrating against using fossil fuels for our energy needs. By making an example of the West Burton protesters they hope that they will be able to limit the damage to their public reputation and go on building new fossil fuel based power stations. The right to non-violent protest is of fundamental importance in our democracy. We cannot let corporations from silencing our democratic rights to protest. We need to demonstrate to EDF Energy that if they continue with the prosecutions they will damage their brand and cost shareholders money in lost profits. We as citizens and as consumers have the power to make EDF Energy think again and drop the charges.

The UK's copyright laws for government works are archaic. In the USA for example works of the Federal Government don't get any copyright protection. The restrictive Crown Copyright rules that currently apply in the UK make it harder for campaigning websites to reproduce government documents in full and don't help information-based businesses. This campaign isn't for the rules to be scrapped though but rather for the period of protection to be reduced to 10 years which means the government can exploit its works commercially for one decade if it wishes to do so. In the digital era a government copyright term of longer than ten years cannot be justified.

Potash is a vital source of potassium which is an essential nutrient for plant growth that strengthens cell walls, increases disease resistance and aids the absorption of nitrogen and phosphorous. The York Potash Project will mine polyhalite, a unique source of potassium, magnesium, sulphur and calcium, which can play a key role in balanced fertilisation across the world. With growing world populations it is vital for food security that the UK has a long term supply of this mineral. The York Potash deposit is the largest and highest grade deposit in the world and a new, deep mine with infrastructure that is below ground or hidden behind extensive landscaping can set new benchmarks for sensitive development, whilst creating thousands of jobs and giving a major boost to local and national economies.

The BBC reported last November: “An ‘intolerable risk’ is being posed by hazardous waste stored in run-down buildings at Sellafield nuclear plant, a watchdog has found.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-20228176 The report by the National Audit Office (NAO) stated: “Some of the older facilities at Sellafield containing highly hazardous radioactive waste have deteriorated so much that their contents pose significant risks to people and the environment." http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1213/sellafield_risk_reduction.aspx This waste has already been created, and it has to be kept safe until a proper solution is in place for dealing with it. West Cumbria urgently needs government investment to enable it to safeguard this material on behalf of us all. What's more, the problem is growing - there’s 44 tonnes more waste currently being moved down from Dounreay, with another 30 tonnes in the pipeline. The Government must immediately commit the investment to make Sellafield safe. This is one item of expenditure that simply must not be cut back. The Government must also order the NDA to stop shipping waste into Sellafield, until the facilities are given a clean bill of health by the NAO.

It is much more sensible to convert the wood which will be used in biomass energy generation into wood into everyday useful products like building materials and furniture that can last for tens of years rather than going up in smoke in seconds. Because of the payment of carbon credits, traditional users of this resource are not able to compete fairly. Energy generators are able to pay more than double the price paid by UK manufacturers who traditionally use wood to make their products. This has driven up prices by 60% in the last five years and, inevitably, these costs are passed onto all of us. Wood used in manufacturing ensures carbon is locked in for up to 35 years, then recycled and only then the remaining unusable scrap timber is burnt for heat generation instead of going to landfill sites. Whereas burning trees directly from the forests will release tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere now. Here’s the science: when wood is burnt, C02 is emitted – one tonne of dry wood burnt in a power station will emit 1.8 tonnes of CO2 which goes into the atmosphere. The DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) has ignored these emissions; they argue that the carbon released is offset by the carbon absorbed by the growing forest so they assume that wood used as biomass fuel is a ‘carbon-free asset’. This means that they can completely ignore the very real carbon emitted by the smokestacks of power plants, on the assumption that it is offset by the growth of trees. Unfortunately, this dismisses the fact that forests are already growing and already storing carbon. When the trees are harvested and burnt, that carbon storage is reduced and the carbon that was in the tree is released into the atmosphere. So the energy companies are being paid to increase carbon emissions now. And, to add insult to injury, the environmentally disastrous results of burning wood for energy is subsidised by almost a £1billion a year, with households providing the money for this subsidy via their energy bills – that’s you. If only half of the planning permission applications for biomass power stations are approved, they will have the capacity to consume many times the entire annual UK sustainable timber harvest. This subsidy has the potential to result in many negative outcomes: increased C02, loss of British jobs and manufacturing, unnecessary increased prices of wood-based products and also the possibility of endangering already fragile eco-systems across the world. As the price increases for items such as wood panels, builders may consider plywood instead from sources such as China. This raises more environmental issues as timber from these sources may have come from threatened rain forests and illegal logging. Timber from threatened rainforests in Brazil, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea is used in making plywood and it is still imported into the UK with the WWF estimating that around £712million a year is spent on illegal wood. This year the EU has at least passed a new directive to address this problem but it’s likely to be some time before the legislation is rigorously enforced. Meanwhile, more and more vital habitats for threatened species are being destroyed. So the knock-on effect of the government’s subsidies will have repercussions around the world, not only increasing C02 emissions produced by the energy companies but also indirectly adding further danger to the fragile ecosystem of the world’s dwindling rain forests. It can be stopped.