According to the end child poverty coalition, 27. 2% children live in poverty in Barnet. This equates to 6566 children after housing costs in 2018-2019. We, the undersigned, urge Barnet council to take urgent action and join the councils across the country and provide free school meals for those Barnet children eligible over October half term and beyond. Please sign below to support the campaign.

This is important to so many of our villagers. They love seeing our peacocks just wandering around the village where ever they like. It has been an awful year for most of us and the peacocks have brought so much joy and happiness to so many people of all ages

In return for a further bail-out of Transport for London, the government is trying to force the Mayor and Tfl, among other things, to agree to withdraw travel concessions (Freedom Pass) from London's pensioners. That would be devastating for older people who have no car, especially those who live alone. For them, the Freedom Pass is an absolutely vital lifeline; losing it would mean even more isolation than we have already suffered during Lockdown. Being unable to travel into town to meet friends or visit attractions, will have a terrible effect on our mental health - loneliness amongst the elderly is already a major problem, and this would increase hugely, as would the suicide rate - without social contact, life is not worth living! In fact, there is no point in living in the metropolis, if we cannot afford to travel and benefit from its many "free" attractions - its many historic buildings, museums and galleries, parks, concerts in the City churches, etc.,, and even just scenic walks along the Thames! I would move out of London, as would most of my friends, and we are surely not the only ones. London stands to lose much of the senior "spend" in its shops and cafes. The voluntary sector would grind to a halt, as charity shops rely so much on retired people, and the Friends of City Churches would lose most of their Church Watchers (mostly retired) who keep these wonderful buildings open for visitors and tourists to enjoy. If the govt. applies the Pension Credit limit, as they have for the TV licence, that would exclude almost all of us, as the eligibility threshold has not kept pace with inflation (the savings limit is the same as 10 years ago!). It means that the thrifty who have tried to save a little for their retirement and are just managing to scrape by, will suffer the most - after contributing to taxation all their lives! All we are asking is fairness. Travel is not a luxury but a necessity. Other countries subsidise their public transport systems far more generously, with less reliance on fares, so are less affected by the Pandemic. We ask the government not to punish the elderly for something which is not our fault.

We need to retain and recruit healthcare staff. There are estimated to be well over a 100,000 vanccancies within the NHS. To put this into context, £6.2bn was spent on agency and bank staff last year to cover staff shortages and keep the NHS afloat! We are now dependent on bank or agency staff to help plug the gaps, mainly to fill nursing roles. Staff state that the quality of care is “compromised” and one in six said “patient safety was put at risk. NHS staff have been forced to work outside of their skill remit and contracted hours of work to meet the demands of a failing workforce. There have been initiatives to recruit overseas nurses to bridge these gaps however this is not feasible due to the travel restriction at this time. In order to recruit and retain staff the NHS needs to be a safe working environment that puts patient safety and the health and wellbeing of its staff first. It is astonishing that NHS professionals cannot afford to live and are using food banks or exhausting themselves with second jobs to make ends meet. NHS staff need to be paid in line with other healthcares workers and pay inequality needs to be addressed by the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB). This petition is very important, the only report covering pay satisfaction was conducted in England and from the data collected it is clear that only a small proportion of staff were satisfied with pay the they received on AFC. The evidence states that staff satisfaction increased from 29% in 2017, before the pay agreement, to 36% in 2019. Therefore every signature counts towards evidence. Please sign this petition.

Over 75% of the UK National Trust members voted against hunting last year at the AGM...I am one of them.

The 60+ Oyster Card and Freedom Pass are currently under threat. Peak time travel with these concessionary passes has been suspended for some months but the Mayor has now been told to remove the passes altogether. Given the prohibitive price of travel in London, such an action would be catastrophic for older Londoners, many of whom are already struggling to make ends meet, and may lead to widespread social isolation and depression.

Jo Gideon, Conservative MP for Stoke on Trent Central, voted against the motion to provide meals for the children of poor/vulnerable families during the Christmas holidays. As a Trustee of the Charity, she should be supporting every single endeavour to provide food for those who need it; that’s what Feeding Britain is all about. Her action is extremely hypocritical and her position as a Trustee is incongruous.

MPs have voted against extending free school meals into the holidays for the poorest children in the UK, in the middle of a pandemic. They should under no circumstances benefit from free or subsidised meals out of public funds themselves. If the public purse cannot afford to feed the poorest in our society, why are we feeding those least in need? Already well paid public servants, set to receive yet another generous pay increase, whilst millions face hardship, job losses and poverty, do not need the public to pay for their food and drink. Public funds should be spent on those most in need of them. Read more about what expenses MPs can claim for food here: https://fullfact.org/online/mps-free-housing-alcohol/ UPDATE 23/10/2020: Portia Lawrie, who started the petition, said: "I only started this petition yesterday because I was so angry that some MPs had rejected the chance in parliament, and Marcus Rashford's campaign, to extend free school meals into the school holiday. I wanted to point out the clear hypocrisy between that and the food and drink the public subsidise for MP's whilst denying support to those most in need of it." "I couldn't quite believe what I was watching unfold as hundreds of thousands of people threw their support behind it in less than 24 hours. It’s simply unfair that the government is refusing to use OUR money for one of the most basic responsibilities of a compassionate society - feeding hungry children. And the level of support this petition is getting shows clearly the level of hurt caused by those who voted against it." "Many MPs are pushing for free school meals to be extended into the school holidays, and I applaud them. But It’s time for the government to listen to them, and us, and make sure children across the UK do not go hungry any longer. Enough is enough."

The Covid-19 pandemic has unleashed chaos on all our lives, however, it's hit our elderly the hardest. The very people who were asked to shield away from loved ones for months and were warned they were most susceptible to the deadly virus, are now facing a lengthy wait for this vital protection. This mess must be fixed. Hundreds of readers have got in touch with the Glasgow Times as the threat of winter flu season looms. Many of the people we’ve spoken to feel the NHS boards simply don’t care about their health because of their age. This is a national scandal and it must stop. Please sign our petition to help us give our OAPS a shot.

On 5th October, National Museums Liverpool issued a press release announcing that they were considering redundancies across its organisation due to the Covid pandemic. They explained that they would allow employees within the charity arm of the organisation to apply for voluntary redundancy as an initial stage, but compulsory redundancies might take place later, but not before March 2021. What was not disclosed is that within the commercial arm of the museums (National Museums Liverpool Trading), a process started to make staff compulsory redundant by the first week of November, giving just 4 weeks notice to employees working in cafés, shops and events. This is a kick in the teeth for those staff who returned to work back in July and were deemed as ‘essential workers for the reopening of the museum’. Staff who are risking their health and possibly their lives to keep the museums and galleries open during a global pandemic are being rewarded with every chance of losing their jobs with very little notice. The Trading Company does not recognise Trade Unions and despite making more than 20 employees redundant, has refused to engage with a collective consultation. This is unacceptable and morally wrong. In a time when jobs are more scarce than ever, when people on low wages are getting paid less but their bills and rent/mortgages are the same, when there is a backlog of benefit claims as more and more people are laid off, NMLT has chosen to give its staff only 4 weeks to arrange new jobs or other forms of income. Many of the staff will receive little to no redundancy compensation. Staff are also expected to re-apply for their jobs but with less contracted hours and less jobs available.

I had residents complaining to me about unmanaged fireworks affecting our UK elderly, sickly, people working shifts, and our pets, once again last night. The bins in Liden Lagoon were destroyed last night. The damage of public items and anti-social behaviour that happens when people get together to set off loud firework explosions in the night is unacceptable to residents. I have notified Swindon Nythe, Eldene and Liden NEL Parish & Police have been advised to act. I have asked Swindon Borough Council to issue letters to perpetrators for no exploding of loud fireworks close to residential housing for Liden, Eldene, Nythe, Park South & Swindon wide. Please report the noise nuisance & Anti-Social behavior to your local police, councils, and governments.

Shropshire County Council has given money that was intended to help businesses struggling because of COVID...to fox hunting groups. While shops on our high streets close their doors, aid that's meant to help them weather the Covid-19 crisis has gone to fund cruel bloodsports instead. Animal welfare groups and some MPs are already kicking up a fuss. Now what's needed is a massive outcry from the public - to show we don't want public funds going to groups that are propping up this cruel practice. Will you sign the petition now?