Libraries are are havens, refuges and gateways, the vibrant hearts of the towns and villages they serve. They are engines of social mobility and social cohesion, places where knowledge and opportunity are available to all, for free . A library is also a rare space where a community comes together, from toddlers enjoying rhyme time to older visitors finding a place to browse and meet friends – and of course people simply wanting to borrow a good book,. Now that 1 in 8 schools do not have a library at all, public libraries are all the more vital. An open library is proof that we value knowledge and opportunity, as well as community and culture.

The UK is a wealthy country, but this wealth is very unevenly spread. The UK government doesn’t properly tax wealth, such as land, shares and property. Our current tax system gives an advantage to those who live off their wealth, as opposed to those who work for a living. This leaves us with under-funded public services and sets the UK on track to become one of the most unequal countries in the world. One change that the Chancellor could adopt is taxing income from wealth at least as much as income from work. The Institute of Public Policy Research estimate that this would raise £90 billion over five years. According to a poll Tax Justice UK commissioned with Oxfam the public overwhelmingly support this idea. Join us in calling for an end to the low tax lifestyles enjoyed by some of the wealthiest people in the country and a fairer Britain.

Saturday evening (18th Jan) saw yet another accident at this junction. A young man was thrown from his bike, injuring his leg. It could have been much worse! Living opposite this junction, I have been witness to the increase in accidents, prangs and near-misses (many of which never get reported) since the opening of the 'new' McDonald's. I have gathered concerns from local residents and shared these with the Hampshire County Councillor for Aldershot South, Bill Withers, who assures me that the junction is being "looked at". Yet residents and road users have seen no improvement in over 2 years, since the restaurant opened. We cannot put up with this delay any longer. The time for action in now! I don't want the next time I hear a collision and look out of my window to be faced with the scene of a life changing injury or even a fatality involving someone's loved one/family member/friend. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I could have, indeed should have, done more. The time for dither and delay is over! Hampshire County Council need to take action NOW!

Transport for London has privatised cleaning on London Underground. Underground cleaning has been handed to global outsourcing company ABM while London Overground has outsourced cleaning to Vinci. The collapse of outsourcing giants Carillion and Interserve has shown that outsourcing is both inefficient and unfair to workers. Despite working unsocial hours in dirty, hazardous conditions, cleaners are treated less favourably than directly employed workers. We call on the Mayor to commit to ending the privatisation of cleaning, bringing this work in-house and working to end privatisation and outsourcing generally within Transport for London.

Because of the detrimental impact the dysfunctional Special Needs System is having on families

The bollards which were erected halfway up Dale Valley were initially constructed by Poole Borough Council several years ago with the intention to reduce speeding. Yet the bollards have caused more collisions for road users and problems for pedestrians than they have prevented them. Motorists frequently crash into the bollards. As a result, the bollards quite often fly many metres from the chicanes. As a resident who has had one bollard fly as far as 20 metres from the chicane onto my front garden on impact, my family and neighbours are increasingly expressing their speculations and concerns that the bollards may, to put it bluntly, eventually hit an elderly person, a child or someone and cause a fatality. Each of the bollards weights can range from approximates of 25kg to 60kg and they are dense. More locally, a relatable case which occurred in Lymington, Hampshire, supports how fatal a bollard related accident can be, even when one is not crashed into by a vehicle going at a 30mph+, but instead, when stationary and loose. In this case, a young child reportedly spent 6 months in critical condition after one bollard fell on them. For more on that story, see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-50663631 Taking the above story into consideration: imagine if a bollard was hit by a motorist for whatever reason and seriously injured them, their passenger, another motorist or a pedestrian? As a resident and an older brother to a five-year-old, my family and I fear that a bollard could soon hit and fatally injure someone if crashed into. We do not want that to happen to anyone. Dale Valley Road is quite a populated area and a busy thoroughfare. The road is used by all kinds of people from residents with young children, schoolchildren, the elderly and commuters as well as people's animals etc... I have lived on Dale Valley Road on and off for around 13 years. Before the bollards were erected, I and others rarely witnessed or heard vehicles crash. But now, crashes are a frequent occurrence. At night time, typically when the bollards are hit, the area surrounding the bollards is poorly lit. That is not to say more lighting would solve the problems we have experienced and will most likely continue to do so as the bollards have been crashed into during daylight hours, and many motorists should use their lights when visibility is poor. However, lights won't decrease accidents or the impact they can have alone. Many residents are demanding alternative initiatives to reduce speeding, e.g. speed cameras. Based on the previous occasions of when bollards have flown off, BCP council have implied that they are fit for purpose; council workers have repeatedly put the bollards back up on numerous occasions. The bollards are frequently crashed into roughly around every 2-4 weeks now and this will continue unless BCP does something about it. So now is the time for BCP council to remove the bollards on Dale Valley Road outside Dale Close. Then perhaps the local authority should consider safer alternatives because the current method is proving to be a hazard in itself rather than accident prevention. If you are a local resident who lives in the area. Or a commuter, parent, school pupil etc... who uses Dale Valley Road as a thoroughfare. For example, you drop your child off at St. Edwards School by car or walking or you walk your dog up the road and around Parrs Plantation etc.. - then it may also be within your best interests to sign my petition so that we can mount pressure onto BCP Council into having the bollards removed then maybe come up with safer alternative solutions to speeding or bollards. Frankly, the bollards are increasing accidents. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please sign and share my petition!

Dear Boris, You promised before the election that would you look again at the issue of increased State Pension Age. This issue remains high on the agenda for 3.8 million women but that number is rapidly increasing as those born in the sixties and their daughters and granddaughters are waking up not only to the hardships endured by their family members but their own future which has no light at the end of the tunnel. Men too are increasingly aware of their own hiked up retirement age as well as the impact that this is having on their wives, sisters and mothers. The storm is brewing. Turbulently. It seems from your own privileged perspective to be as remote an issue to you as though perhaps we may reside in Antarctica. In oblivion. But you have read the stories. I wonder how much attention you gave to the individual stories of hardship? The millions of them? That you can sleep easily knowing that many women are being forced to sell their homes through lack of any income? Were you aware of the humiliating position many older women find themselves in, unable to claim state pension and unable to claim Universal Credit either because they have not been in a position to work during the two preceding years of a claim? This is relevant to me personally as having had nearly twenty years of zero-hour contracts and no ability to save or plan as I lurched from one short term agency role to the next, I was forced to leave my family and take work abroad. In Cairo. Once out there I became aware of the thousands of other British workers out there (mainly teachers but others too) who found it impossible in their fifties or sixties to obtain work back in the UK. All having to part company with their families to do so. So many of the job searches are pointless because the skills or experience required are irrelevant to a mature man or woman in their sixties. They haven't all had the benefit of IT training during their school years. Are you aware that training opportunities are not on offer for this age group? That the competitive jobs market ensures age discrimination is well and truly alive? That many are unable to accept work because of health or caring responsibilities? Is all this falling on deaf ears? Are you able to blot out the very real suffering without a care in the world? The winter of discontent is here. It is blowing up a storm. It is real. Very real. To ignore the plight of a generation of women whose lives were geared towards home and family responsibilities is nothing short of cruel. Who are not in a position to care for their husbands - many of whom are older than them as their own health is in decline. Is it right, just and proper that after a life-time of work, many are having to ask their children for financial support because they have no income of their own? That Universal Credit actually expects this as the income of children still living in the home ( because they can't afford a home of their own) now has to pay the cost of living of their own mother or father? I have had to ask for help myself from my daughter's first wage packet in her new job when she will only earn £16 000 per year. She should be saving for her own future with her boyfriend not helping me out. I am unable to ask my son as he is only a student himself. Is this situation right? Whatever happened to Dignity in Old Age? Would you wish this on your own mother? Have you ever tried the long back-breaking 12 hour shifts that many factories and companies now expect? Often without a toilet or drink's break? I'm sure you don't. Have any idea. As you sit in your ivory palace drinking champagne. And you talk about raising £120 million just to chime Big Ben? Have you any idea how insulting that is? You may as well be Marie Antoinette calling "Let them eat cake!" But the Winter of Discontent is brewing.

Highways England are planning on expanding the A38 to add an extra lane of traffic. In doing so, they will fell hundreds of precious trees from Markeaton park. Trees are important because they take carbon dioxide out of the air, and play a role in removing other pollutants produced by vehicles. The kinds of mature trees that will be destroyed as a result of this road expansion cannot easily be replaced. Central Government and Derby city council have both declared climate emergencies. We should be aiming to reduce volumes of traffic, not encouraging more cars and more toxic car fumes. Furthermore, the current plans for expansion are set to take four years. That's four years of disruptive construction for locals, just for higher levels of air pollution. Visit: https://www.a38derbychaos.org/ or join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stopa38derby/ for more information and ways to get involved with this campaign

I strongly feel that if the South Yorkshire Police took the time to launch a full investigation into these crimes and liaised with the wider police forces such as West Yorkshire Police in particular, they would have enough evidence to catch the culprits of these crimes; and restore justice for all the victims, so that people can feel safe again parking their cars at night. There are plenty of cases that I have become aware of that the police are yet to gather evidence for (as they have not spoken to the victims, looked at CCTV or investigated many of the reported crimes). Should an investigation be launched tying the crimes and the evidence together, the police should be able to catch the people responsible and restore justice, as well as a sense of safety within Sheffield and the wider community. Not only are the victims having to deal with the situation of having to get their cars fixed, which can cost thousands of pounds in repairs and also steeply hiked insurance premiums; but they also face the added fear of the crime happening to them again, as these criminals continue to roam the city stealing parts of targeted vehicles. If you yourself have had this crime happen to you or someone you know, or you just want this kind of crime to stop, then please sign this petition to make the South Yorkshire Police and the Local MP’s listen. There needs to be a full investigation into all the reports of car part theft in South Yorkshire and the surrounding areas to catch the people responsible for this.

In September 2019 the Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride stated that there is no greater public health challenge than suicide. Sadly, in these first weeks of 2020, his statement has proven all too accurate, with the tragic loss of yet more precious lives by suicide. More families have been plunged into unbearable grief and pain and communities have been left reeling, struggling to make sense of it all. Suicide is something everybody hopes never comes to their door, but the reality as we’ve seen is that it can affect any family. Yet we know that suicide is preventable, is not inevitable and can never be the answer. Mental illness is a risk factor in relation to suicide but mental illness does not necessarily lead to suicidal behaviour. Access to the right support at the right time can prevent suicide and right across our communities there are numerous excellent suicide prevention and crisis intervention services working tirelessly to help keep people safe and to reduce the risk of suicide. More people have died by suicide since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement than died as a direct result of the conflict. Our rates of suicide are the highest across these islands, something that is receiving international attention for all the wrong reasons. Behind the statistic of 307 deaths by suicide in 2018 are individuals who were much loved and continue to be mourned by their loved ones. While the suicide prevention strategy Protect Life 2 contains many good initiatives that must be fully resourced and implemented, it is clear that something more, and of a different measure, is now needed to tackle this crisis. It is regrettable that the New Decade New Approach document does not specifically address the issue of suicide. Alarm bells are ringing in all communities. The current suicide reduction target of 10% over 5 years, equating to roughly 6 deaths a year being prevented, is wholly inadequate. Similarly, the funding allocation of £10.35 million - a miniscule 0.2% of the overall health budget - is a fraction of what’s required. Access to services is piece-meal and waiting times for counselling vary greatly across Trusts, with people being forced to wait several months for an initial appointment. Going forward, it is vital for you to ensure that suicide prevention is prioritised within the upcoming Programme for Government, not only by your own department, but around the Executive table. Given the concentration of deaths by suicide in deprived communities, commitments in New Decade, New Approach, designed to address poverty and inequality, must also be recognised as suicide prevention measures and resourced accordingly.

Channel 4 have just announced that BP, one of the world’s biggest polluters, will sponsor their Tokyo Paralympic coverage this summer. While the world is facing a climate emergency, Channel 4 should not be entering deals with companies who profit from such disasters. BP is one of the companies most responsible for the climate crisis we’re facing, with Australia burning and species disappearing before our eyes. It is the 11th biggest corporate source of greenhouse emissions in history. By signing a sponsorship deal with BP, Channel 4 are allowing BP to protect and hide behind their brand and image. But huge public pressure from viewers like us could force them to u-turn. Will you add your name now?

This is important because this continues to make a form of Transport which has by far the highest carbon footprint a relatively cheap option. The Government should be subsidising and investing heavily in road and rail based public transport if there is any chance of the UK reaching a carbon neutral target by 2030.