Residents will and are being unfairly ticketed by parking enforcement officers, especially given people are still working from home

Early October 2019, I'd recently found out I was pregnant. Not planned and I'm not ashamed to say that my plan going forward at that time was uncertain. Shortly after, I began experiencing bleeding. Sometimes very light, sometimes nothing, sometimes heavy. Although I was aware that some bleeding in pregnancy can be totally normal, I was concerned it wasn't normal for me, having had 3 healthy pregnancies with no early bleeding. I spoke to my EPU and was referred for a scan. By the time my appointment arrived, I'd been bleeding on and off for 12 days. Firstly I was greeted by a lovely trainee GP who I spoke with, explained my choices were uncertain but I had suspected a miscarriage. I made it clear that had that been the case, I would like to progress with the surgical management option to recover, at least physically from the ordeal as quickly as possible. She agreed. I was then scanned by another lady. My scan confirmed something I didn't expect. Twins. I was shown the screen and immediately felt a wave of guilt that I'd even considered termination. Seconds later, the sonographer told me One twin is significantly smaller than the other, I'm sorry but twin A has no heartbeat, I'm going to move on and check twin B' Seconds felt like hours. Then, ' twin b hasn't either. I'm sorry but your pregnancy isn't viable' At this point, my ears were ringing I couldn't process the information I'd been told. Twins. No heart beat. Neither have heartbeats. Non viable pregnancies. I felt like I was underwater while the world above continued. I was escorted in to the room next door, back to the trainee gp I'd seen earlier. The dr placed my scan photos, faced up on the table, clearly visible. I asked if I could take them, i was told no, due to data protection. But I could take photos while she had her back turned and pretend it hadn't happened. Still to this day, I'll never understand why photos of my babies would cause a data protection breech... I was handed a few forms to sign and a brown bag containing medication. At this point I reminded them of my want for surgical management route to be informed that because I'd miscarried, I would need to go to gyne and could be waiting days. She handed me the 1st tablet after explaining that she'd given medical management to 'help me out' I was informed I needed to take the 1st tablet in front of them and then I was free to leave to continue my treatment at home, 24 hours later. I walked out of the centre and I wasn't quite sure I even understood what just happened. I went home and looked at the pictures I had taken of my scan. Twin 1 measured 4.6mm and twin 2 measured 4.7mm. Going by my LMP, 5th September 2019, I was 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant. Mentally, I struggled. The days rolled in to nights, I led awake rearranging sernarios in my head. Forums, Google search and information pages became my life. I obsessed over it. Something didn't add up. I was told during my scan that one twin was 'significantly smaller than the other' My scans confirm that there was .1 of a mm between them. After my nights and days of scanning the net, I was also aware that there are many cases where mothers attend scans and it's simply been too early to see a heartbeat and they attend a week or so later to see a healthy flicker on the screen. Then it clicked. My babies were too small to confirm miscarriage. But it was too late. The misdiagnosis had already been given and the medication to expell them from my body had been taken. I began to explore the guidance set out by NICE. They state if the Crown to rump length is less than 7mm and no fetal heart beat is detected, perform a second scan a minimum of 7 days later, before a miscarriage can be confirmed. In my case, this did not happen. I was not offered a re scan. I was not given the opportunity to let them develop. My choices were taken from me. Because, I trusted the guidance of a professional. A professional that do not choose to follow the guidelines of NICE that day. For what reason, I have no idea. But there will never be an acceptable reason to justify what happened. I want to change that. I want to make it mandatory that in early pregnancy, if a heartbeat isn't detected and there is a possibility that a heartbeat is not yet established, health care professionals should ensure expectant mothers should be called back, before a diagnosis of a miscarriage can be given. Hospitals are given guidance to follow. But what I still struggle with on a daily basis is a prime example of why the change is so important. Living with the uncertainty of whether my pregnancy was a healthy one or a non viable one is something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. That could of been prevented by simply calling me back for another scan. Please help me change 'guidance' to mandatory to ensure many more women don't have to go through the experience that I, and no doubt so many others have had to. Thank you.

Ahead of hosting the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, the UK must lead the world by ensuring our recovery gets us on track to net-zero emissions and limits the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees C. Our best chance of building a resilient economy goes hand in hand with tackling climate change. We are ready to play our part, and we call on you to join us.

Dame Vera Lynn has just died at the age of 103, and at this time it seems most appropriate to honour a lady whom even younger people would/do find inspirational in everything she achieved in her life. It is particullarly pertinent at this moment in time, not only because of her achievements in bringing pleasure to thousands of servicemen during WW2, but because she was such an uncontroversial personality that I cannot inagine anyone objecting.

DAMAGE TO HOMES, ROADS, FINANCIAL LOSS, INJURY, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS. PERSONS LOSS OF USE OF THEIR HOME & POSSESSIONS UNECCASSAIRLY.

Rough sleepers across the country could be about to be forced back onto the streets. With day and night shelters still closed because they’re simply not safe, and the Hotels for the Homeless scheme ending, there’s simply nowhere for hundreds of people to go. The coronavirus pandemic is far from over. With some schemes coming to an end, the government must take urgent action to ensure alternative housing and shelter is put in place for homeless people so everyone can be kept safe, not just those who qualify for benefits. For many vulnerable adults who are homeless, this could be the difference between life and death. So, if you think everyone deserves a safe roof over their head, sign the petition for the government to ensure no rough sleepers are pushed back onto the streets.

A third of British wild bees and hoverflies are in decline, according to a study in 2019. If current trends continue, some species will be lost from Britain altogether, the scientists say. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47698294 The new analyses provide further evidence of the serious, long-term and ongoing decline of UK butterflies, with 70% of species declining in occurrence (based on the BNM distribution data) and 57% declining in abundance (based on the UKBMS) since 1976. Source: Butterfly Conservation. If we want to protect the local ecosystem, we must re-introduce habitats. The Runnymede roundabout, and the surrounding verges, provide an excellent starting point, while also saving the Council money through a reduced mowing schedule.

When the Agriculture Bill was debated in the House of Commons in May, MPs rejected an amendment aimed at allowing the importation of only those agricultural goods that meet standards as high or higher than current UK standards for animal welfare, environmental protection, food safety, hygiene and traceability. This is despite the assurance from Tory MPs who campaigned for Brexit that there would be no lowering of animal welfare or food safety standards after the UK left the EU. E.g. Michael Gove stated in July 2017: “We are not going to dilute our high animal welfare standards, or our high environmental standards, in pursuit of any trade deal.” (1) MPs know that there are good reasons for public concern. Incidences of food poisoning in the US affect 14% of the population annually, contrasting with 1% in the UK (2). US restrictions on various aspects of food production are much less stringent than those of the UK and EU, meaning that imports will pose potential risks to the health of humans and animals in the UK. These include the overuse of antibiotics on farmed animals, pesticides, food colourings and genetically modified crops that are currently banned in the UK (3, 4). Trade negotiations currently underway appear to give the lie to previous assurances. Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt has refused to say that a ban would remain on chlorinated chicken, hormone-fed beef and other US imports after an upcoming trade deal with Donald Trump (5). In place of regulation, she said she believed “we should be trusting the consumer,” echoing Sonny Perdue, the US secretary of agriculture, who has said: “If the consumer doesn’t want [such food products], they won’t buy them and that will change production, both in the United States and the UK.”(6) But our choices are only real choices if we have proper information, and yet the US considers nutrition labelling a ‘barrier to trade’ (7). As individuals, we have little influence over international trade deals, but retailers have the power to protect their customers’ right to high quality produce. They need to know that we will continue to shop with them only if the food they sell is explicitly and unequivocally guaranteed to meet pre-Brexit standards for animal welfare, environmental protection, food safety, hygiene and traceability. (1) https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-05-13/debates/D4889925-5B63-498E-BC68-BFCF91691C66/AgricultureBill (2) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-40725738/michael-gove-says-no-to-chlorinated-chicken https://www.sustainweb.org/news/feb18_US_foodpoisoning/ (3, 4) Centre for International Environmental Law Lowest Common Denominator 2015; https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/19/crucial-antibiotics-still-used-on-us-farms-despite-public-health-fears (5) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chlorinated-chicken-us-trade-deal-brexit-penny-mordaunt-a9556591.html (6) https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/inside-the-tory-row-over-food-standards-in-uk-trade-policy (7) Office of the United States Trade Representative Report on Foreign Trade Barriers 2019

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland are refusing to commission abortion services, despite regulations now in place which make abortion provision a legal requirement. This means that only limited abortion access has been provided and too many women and pregnant people have been refused treatment or forced to travel to receive treatment. The Minister for Health has also stated that limited access is an ‘interim’ measure, but there has been has been NO attempt by the Department to provide the abortion provisions that we need. We have the law. Now we need the access.

West India Dock facilitated the transatlantic slave trade, to store the sugar from the West Indian plantations where enslaved men, women and children worked. Our successful campaign led to the removal of slave trader Robert Milligan’s statue. This was a step forward in reconciling with the history of systemic human exploitation to amass wealth. However, this is not enough. It is equally important to install a monument to represent the movement against institutional racism by honouring a Black African abolitionist. Olaudah Equiano was born around the year 1745 in Guinea. At eleven he and his sister were kidnapped while out playing and were enslaved. In 1786 in London, he became involved in the movement to abolish slavery. He was a prominent member of the 'Sons of Africa', the first Black political organisation in Britain to campaign for abolitionism. In the spring of 1789, he published his autobiography, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African'. It is one of the earliest books published by a black African writer which contributed hugely in setting the scene through religious and economic arguments for the abolition of slavery. Equiano’s work had the overt anti-slavery agenda and a more subtle anti-racist project to dispel some of the racist myths existed in eighteenth-century England. Equiano did not just publish the book and leave it to fend for itself. Instead, he vigorously promoted it by going on lecture tours around England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and by promoting his book he was also promoting the idea of the abolition of slavery. During the early 1790s, Equiano had not just turned his life story into a document opposing slavery but had transformed his entire life into an anti-slavery document. Equiano is a symbol of resistance to the slave trade and slavery. To honour the millions of slaves who were exploited to the benefit West India Dock, to honour all those who suffered from the transatlantic slave trade, we demand a memorial of Olaudah Equiano. You can read more about Olaudah Equiano at https://brycchancarey.com/equiano/biog.htm The short bio of Olaudah Equiano is compiled from Brycchan Carey's blog entry. He is an academic and author on slavery, emancipation, and abolition. #Black Lives Matter

This site is very important to Scottish history many if our ancestors fought and died for Scotland and its people its major tourist attraction from many people across the world

Pauline was the first black actress on British TV, the first black woman on the BBC world service radio and the first black female justice of the peace. She was also awarded an OBE in 1969 for her extensive work with the National Council for the Unmarried mother and her child, then later with the Brook Advisory Centres. Emigrating from Jamacia with her family in 1919 she lived in the UK until her death in 1998. She was my great grandmother and she was strong in all the right ways. She lived and died with dignity, intelligence and with an undeniable presence for anyone who met her. When I think of Granny Paul (who died when I was 13) I think of a woman who commanded respect, she knew who she was, she knew what she'd been through but didn't let that stop her breaking barriers. The lessons I carry from my Jamaican heritage are to act with intelligence, don't be afraid to change authority and the status quo, and to be a positive member of your community. I am incredibly proud to have a mixed heritage, it reminds me that I am a citizen of the world and that this is represented by the diversity here in Britain.