Many hundreds of frontline healthcare workers have contracted Covid-19 and died. Details of the PPE fiasco that left them further exposed are now starting to emerge. The Government has committed £15 billion for buying PPE. Shockingly, three of the biggest beneficiaries so far are companies specialising in pest control, a confectionery wholesaler and an opaque family fund owned through a tax haven. Now, the Government has admitted that 50 million masks that they purchased from the opaque family fund “will not be used in the NHS” because of safety concerns. It means PPE which should be delivered to the NHS to protect frontline staff is now piled up in warehouses gathering dust. Why did the Government award vast amounts of public money to companies like this? And how many more of these contracts have failed to deliver PPE to the NHS? We don’t know. The Government is ignoring the usual rule that contracts should be published within 20 days. To prevent future PPE procurement failures and protect taxpayers’ money we need to uncover the truth of what really happened. Will you sign the petition and call on the Government to publish the PPE contracts?

Urgent action needed before the current ban ends on Monday! My name is Nichola. I have lived in my home in south London with my daughters for ten years. In May, my landlord gave me a Section 21 no-fault eviction notice, giving us three months to move out. We are devastated. I was furloughed for a while and receive housing benefit, but have managed to keep on top of rent. Sadly this hasn’t been good enough for my landlord who hasn’t given me a reason – they just want me out. The government has suspended most evictions over Christmas but they lifted this in September, so we have no option but to find alternative accommodation. But moving isn’t an option. Benefits would only get me a 1 bedroom flat, which is unacceptable with two girls, one of whom is about to start her GCSEs. And I can’t move away from my mother, who’s recovering from a stroke, or my daughters’ father. The local council can’t help – they’ve just sent us to letting agents who are demanding an above average income and the details of someone who earns more than £50,000 to guarantee the rent. Single-earner households are excluded from the rental market. And I’m a key worker, so I’m one of the lucky ones. There are thousands of others who have always done the right thing but the government has shut down their workplace, and hasn’t provided enough support to cover the rent. They too face homelessness when the courts open back up after the government’s Christmas truce. I spoke to Generation Rent about my experience - they estimate that homelessness could treble as a result of coronavirus. While the latest surge of infections threatens to overwhelm the NHS, the government must do all it can to keep people in their homes. He’s running out of time to keep that promise and keep us in our homes with He needs to act now to give renters and the wider public the protection we need during the pandemic

The majority of Young waged adults can’t afford to really own a home. We need to incentivise our young people to get out into the workplace and help get our nation out of an impending recession. "It's been difficult [getting on the property ladder]. Leaving uni' you think 'I'll save up for a couple of years and get my own place', but house prices keep rising so it's nearly impossible...You can only afford a home on a huge salary, and most young people don’t get that … by the time I move up the pay ladder, house prices would have risen even more." Sign this petition to Robert Jenrick - Secretary of State for Housing for the hundreds of thousands of young earners forced to rent or live with parents.

Jubilee Swimming Pool is a well-used, much loved and vital community resource for local health and wellbeing. It provides leisure facilities within walking distance for all demographics of citizens in Knowle. It is a heritage building and a unique survivor of formerly common Bristol swimming pools. It represents the last remaining operational 1930s (Baths Committee approved) swimming pools in Bristol. It is a place where people meet, share experiences of learning to swim and keep fit and healthy. A variety of classes are held here and there are elderly swimmers at the pool who still use it, decades after learning to swim there as children.

Reducing CO2 emissions from all cars is essential to prevent a climate emergency. SUVs are typically much less fuel efficient than smaller vehicles, thus contributing more to global warming. From 2010 SUVs have been the second-largest contributor to the increase in global CO2 emissions, second only to the power sector. Between 2010 and 2018 electric cars the increasing efficiency of smaller cars and electric vehicles in the UK has saved over two million barrels of oil a day but this has been rendered pointless since SUVs were responsible for over three million barrels a day growth in oil demand from passenger cars! On average, SUVs consume about a quarter more energy than medium-size cars. Despite car makers making a full commitment to lowering CO2, their aggressive and cynical marketing of SUVs has been the main cause of rising emissions. As the centrepiece of transport emissions policy the UK government also committed to an international car CO2 law a decade ago. Allowing the growth of the SUV industry makes the government’s promises to protect the environment look very empty!

Although we can paddle on almost all canals we cannot paddle on the Bridgewater canal. We have been advised that the people from the boat clubs have moaned about Paddle Boarders. Paddle boarding is one of the best form of staying healthy both mentally and physically. Paddle Boarding is the most environmentally friendly sport on the water We have licences which help to keep the canals and rivers clean.

Recently, The National Theatre provided NT at Home to keep us entertained during lock-down. It was available to all, including those who are never able to visit a theatre or cinema. The easing of lock-down and the return of National Theatre Live to (some) cinemas, means a return to the exclusion of many.

Students teachers know them best and to play statistical games with the futures of our young generation would damage confidence in the education system. Covid-19 is enough of a drawback and must not be compounded by Ofqual playing statistical games. So pass qualifications might be higher than ‘normal’ but better imperfect teacher assessments than flawed statistical algorithms. Have some compassion and reverse the downgrading.

On a hot day like this, I can cross the road, jump in the sea without a seconds thought.  I don't need to plan weeks in advance, hire expensive equipment and be at a specific place at a certain time. Who actually wants this? It takes the whole fun out of it. I can't believe I live in a town populated of almost 90 thousand people and no permanent disability access to the sea!  Hastings has always been about inclusivity, and being able to take a dip on a sweltering day like today is a very basic human right. There has already been great interest in this idea from many people in the Hastings area and people have come forward to say it has always been a dream to go in the sea whenever they want. With your help we can make these dreams a reality.

We are petitioning Ms. Griffiths to request that she reinstate the BME Network that she inherited when she was appointed CEO of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) NHS Trust on 1 April 2017. As Ms. Griffiths is aware the BME Network was launched on 24 September 2004 and over the years the Network has challenged the institutional racism that exists at the Trust, which has adversely impacted the lives of BME staff and BME patients. In 2007 the then Chief Executive Mr Duncan Selbie publicly admitted that the Trust was institutionally racist after losing an Employment Tribunal claim for racial discrimination. As a result, the Trust agreed to work in partnership with the BME Network to address these issues and this gave rise to the joint development of a Race Equality Engagement Strategy which was being implemented at the time of Ms. Griffiths appointment. When the Network first met with Ms. Griffiths, she refused to accept that institutional racism was an issue at BSUH. She then preceded to unfairly dismiss three senior BME colleagues who were instrumental in providing leadership to the Network; we understand that their Employment Tribunal claims are still outstanding. Ms. Griffiths also made it very clear to us, as the remaining BME employees, that she would no longer recognise the BME Network that exists unless we were prepared to do exactly as she demanded. Given we were established as an independent Network and given Ms. Griffiths demands were unreasonable, we informed her that we were unable to agree to her demands and as such she severed all links with the BME Network that she inherited. That said, Ms. Griffiths will be aware of the Public Health England report published in June 2020 which accepts that institutional racism is a longstanding problem within the NHS and in fact was a contributing factor regarding the disproportionate death of BME staff and patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is against this backdrop that we the current BME employees of BSUH are now calling for Ms. Griffiths to immediately reinstate the BME Network she inherited on your appointment as CEO of BSUH in 2017. In addition, we are also asking for the following: (i) Reinstatement of the Memorandum of Understanding between the BME Network and the Trust. (ii) The Trust Board to honour the commitment of Ms. Griffiths predecessors to establish a BME Patient Association. (iii) The implementation of an agreed race equality strategy to address the discriminatory practices that exist. (iv) Support for the BME Network (for example funding, protected time etc)

Glyphosate is used by Edinburgh Council as a weedkiller. Edinburgh City Council sprays Portobello's streets, pavements, parks, playgrounds, cemeteries and green spaces in an effort to control weeds. Research shows that pesticide use has multiple harmful effects on human and animal health, and causes environmental pollution and degradation. Although available data can be contradictory it seems sensible to use the precautionary principle, and avoid spraying chemicals in our environment unless they can be shown to be safe. Children are more at risk than adults due to their behaviour, for example, investigating nature, crawling and playing on grass and spending time in areas such as playgrounds and parks where pesticides are used. Dogs and cats are particularly vulnerable too due to their close proximity to the ground. There have been 3 successful lawsuits against Monsanto, which brought glyphosate-based herbicides to the market in the 1970s, and there are many more cases going to trial. Nineteen countries have already either banned or restricted the use of glyphosate, and 5 more have plans to do so imminently. Many towns and cities across the world have made the decision to go pesticide-free, using methods such as hot-foam, flame weeding, scraping, acetic acid solution and accepting a certain level of ‘weediness’. Edinburgh Council have already agreed to stop spraying pesticides in Balerno after the locals ran a successful campaign on the grounds of health concerns for animals and people. We call on Edinburgh City Council to put an end to all pesticide use in Portobello, using safe alternatives instead, to protect the health of people, pets, wildlife and of our environment. References: * Weedkiller use in Scotland: https://theferret.scot/glyphosate-weedkiller-cancer-councils-scotland/ * Countries that have banned Glyphosate use: https://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/toxic-tort-law/monsanto-roundup-lawsuit/where-is-glyphosate-banned/ * Monsanto sued over cancer claims: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/13/monsanto-cancer-trial-bayer-roundup-couple * Pesticides - risks of use: https://www.pan-uk.org/key-issues/?fbclid=IwAR1zDqJmDQZMULOhs5YUhFWPhG3wc_Fr73RoDFDIUpJINQbPjbY2y6DQRVI

By the time you finish this sentence, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos will have made £12,000. But despite its massive wealth, Amazon has started wriggling out of paying a new UK digital tax - by passing the extra cost directly onto the small businesses that use its website. At a time when these businesses are struggling to get by, it’s an indefensible decision. The UK Government introduced the new tax in April, to try to make massive digital companies like Amazon pay their fair share. But even though Amazon has made billions during the coronavirus crisis - and only paid 2% tax on it’s UK earnings last year - the company has found a way to get out of paying the new tax by directly hurting small businesses. Let's show them that is not acceptable.