I’m calling for a change in the rules so that people with dementia are specifically eligible to apply for a Blue Badge, which means easier trips to the shop, the doctor’s or the hospital for dementia patients if they choose to apply. “I hope the Government will consider this change.” The final decision on who is eligible is up to local councils. But Government provides guidance can prove crucial in earmarking badges - and dementia is not on the list of criteria. Charities say some local authorities give blue badges to people with dementia while others enforce much tighter rules. Although the person with dementia may be able to walk the required distance that exempts them from being issued a Blue Badge the person has to be helped in and out of their vehicle, and guided, they can be unsteady on their feet and suffer dizziness/confusion as to where they are because of their dementia. This means that, e.g. they cannot be dropped off while a driver goes to park, because they are in danger from wandering off or walking into the road. Campaigners say the disease can be as mentally and often physically debilitating as other illnesses. The number of people with dementia is set to rise from 850,000 this year to over two million by 2051. Alzheimer’s Society national campaigns manager Sam Gould said: “Many people with dementia gradually lose their ability to walk and perform simple tasks as their condition progresses. “This means activities that many of us take for granted, like visiting the shops or attending GP appointments, can become physically challenging and make some journeys daunting. “We support the call for people with dementia to be able to access the Blue Badge scheme, as this could mean that more people with dementia are able to continue doing the things they enjoy and maintain their independence for longer.”

Residents have already been greatly affected by the recent restriction in opening hours to only three mornings a week. As such, most are expected to travel to the White Horse Medical Practice in Westbury to seek medical attention. Yet, this is very difficult seeing as White Horse Medical Practice in Westbury is situated on the outskirts of town and therefore is not accessible to those who do not possess their own transport. In addition, White Horse Medical Practice has already been struggling to cope with demand, due to continuing growth in the town's population. All in all, the current situation is already unsustainable and will only get worse, should Smallbrook Surgery close altogether at the end of the current 3-days-a-week trial period.

A David Bowie Monolith at Tunstall road Brixton, would be a wonderful addition to the Bowie Mural already there and would complete the story of David's phenomenal career .It's intended to be More of a piece of street art inspired by bowie's work and his influences than a memorial , and something anyone can enjoy. A Monolith I feel will look powerful and have a sense of awe about it and add an enigmatic, meaningful and symbolic representation of his life and work .It would fit so well opposite the Mural It would also compliment the mural and in no way over shadow it . Many other David Bowie fans that I have proposed this idea to on Bowie fan sites have also said how much they love the idea and support it and would like to see it happen . The Monolith would sit in the centre of the path facing the Mural so it would not block the view of the mural .You could then walk around to the other side Monolith and look through the blackstar cut out on the Monolith at the Mural as shown in the picture .I'm sure that when bowie fans come to see the Mural and pay respect to him , they would also like to see "The Bowie Monolith" too. It would make a wonderful photo too if fan's and tourists wanted to have their picture taken with their face in the blackstar cut out if they wished. It would look elegant and stylish and be fitting as it would represent his whole career . From the start of his success " space oddity " through to "Blackstar". After Bowie saw the Stanley Kubrick film "2001 A space odyssey" Bowie wrote " Space oddity" and created the "Major Tom" character who followed a thread of songs throughout his career from "space oddity" .."Ashes to Ashes" to "Blackstar" . Additional threads that have run through his work will also be included. F A Q's Q: Why do we need a Bowie monument ? there is already a Mural at the site . A: Instead of asking " do we need one? " .I ask "wouldn't it be great to have one " ?... Did we "need" the mural there in the first place ?.. No . but now we have it ,it's been loved by fans and visitors and been very popular so why not a monument too ?. Q: Why have it at the Mural site ? A: Since David passing ,fans naturally congregated to the site to pay respect to their Hero and has become a memorial site now already .Brixton was his birthplace so seems right that if there is to be a monument it should be there. Q: The Mural is fine on it's own though right? A: Yes the Mural is wonderful as it is but I think The Monolith addition will add a new dimension to the site and not only represent his whole career but will be a lasting monument to him that he truly deserves . He was / is a cultural Icon and legend not only for the uk for all over the world and one we all should be very proud of . Q: Won't it just distract from the mural? A: No , the idea was very much designed to not take away any focus on the Mural but to compliment it ,and complete the story of his work and life. Q: Why a Monolith? why not a statue? Why not something colourful to represent the colour of Bowie like a lightning bolt ? A: The Monolith idea came about with me wanting to try to combine a complete symbol that would represent his whole career from start to finish . David Bowie's "space oddity" was his first success and came about after David seeing Stanley Kubrick's "2001 A space odyssey" and we wouldn't have had the " Major Tom" character if it wasn't for the film, so the Monolith from the film instantly came to mind to represent the beginning .I wanted to use the blackstar symbol to represent his final work .A vision of me looking through the cut-out at the Mural sprang in my mind and the idea seemed so simple yet so perfect . A Monolith I feel will look powerful and have a sense of awe about it and would fit so well opposite the Mural and add an enigmatic, meaningful and symbolic representation of his life and work. The Mural provides all the colour and vibrancy at the site and already has "the lightning bolt" in the Mural so I feel something else like that "would" distract from the Mural. A statue is already in progress elsewhere so I didn't feel a second one would be right . Q: Isn't his music and life's work his real monument to the world? A: Yes it is , but people from all over the country and the world want to pay their respect to him at this site ,so why not make it extra special and have a monument there too ?

With the closure of Haywards Heath Sixth Form College local children are being forced to travel long distances to colleges in Brighton and Lewes. This is costing families travelling expenses of on average £100 a month per child,. At 16, though the children are forced to stay in education until 18, they have to pay adult fares. Hundreds of new houses are being built in Haywards Heath, and surrounding villages so that means even more children that have to travel miles to college . Haywards Heath is a rapidly expanding town, it needs a sixth form college

To show we, as a country really recognise unique achievements.

THE HOSPITAL IS NOW REGULARLY ON `BLACK ALERT` WHICH MEANS IT CANNOT ACCEPT ANY ADMISSIONS DUE TO LACK OF AVAILABLE BEDS AND BOLTON PATIENTS FALLING ILL/BEING INJURED HAVE TO BE FERRIED TO SALFORD OR WIGAN. MEETING AT `FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE` SILVERWELL STREET BOLTON ON THURSDAY 23RD MARCH AT 7.30 : SPEAKER DR JACKIE GRUNSELL GP.

My simple request was that I would as a wheelchair user like the same opportunity as everyone else to buy a cheap 1st class ticket for a long journey. If you are not a wheelchair user you are perhaps not aware that the majority of Virgin East Coast rolling stock are ancient Diesels which do have one wheelchair space available which is not accessible by most wheelchairs nor do they have an accessible toilet their own words! Only the electric trains have an accessible toilet in First BUT when phoning or looking online there is no way to know which trains are suitable for me ie electric and in consequence I have missed the cheaper tickets, apparently and according to Virgin East Coast my fault for not booking sooner! Follow this link and see for yourself. https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/rail-travel/your-journey/assisted-travel/

This is important because so many lives are ruined by domestic violence, this violence impacts on the lives of women, men and children, some children grow up to believe violence is a normal act and go on to become perpetrators themselves. Lives are lost to domestic violence everyday, stop the violence. On average the perpetrator will assault their target 36 times before police are called. The reluctance to call the police is born out of extreme fear and shame.

Self employed people generally work over 50 hours a week - many work considerably longer hours. They get no job security or holiday allowance. Their salary is not paid if they are sick and yet they contribute hugely to the nation's wealth. Many self employed people manage all aspects of their business from the PR, to office admin, to ensuring that they keep up to date with H&S, keeping accounts etc as well as delivering the core nature of their business. A three monthly submission process of tax return would create an unacceptably huge administrative burden on self employed people. It would stifle our collective ability to deliver our core business. It would discourage entrepreneurialism. In terms of the arts and third sector self-employment - it would add further administrative duress to an already ailing and underfunded landscape.

The IMF, the Bank for International Settlements, and many financial experts are warning of a new global financial crash far worse than 2008, caused by the same forces: the unbridled speculation in derivatives, and outright criminal activity, of City of London and Wall Street megabanks. Under current policy and legislation, government bailouts and “bail-ins” (the confiscation of assets and even individual bank deposits to prop up failing banks) will be used to attempt to save the financial system yet again. The City of London and Wall Street Too-Big-To-Fail (TBTF) banks have received US$19 trillion in bailouts since 2008, even as brutal austerity has been applied in the UK, USA and other nations. The TBTF banks are now 40% larger than in 2008. They remain heavily invested in derivatives, the world trading centre for which is London. Derivatives, such as the infamous mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the 2008 crash, now total US$1.2 quadrillion, compared with a global GDP of only US$50 trillion. While not lending to the real economy, the London/Wall Street banks have engaged in drug money laundering, financing terrorism, tax evasion, mortgage fraud and outright theft from their customers, for which they have been fined tens of billions of dollars. The UK’s National Crime Agency reported in May 2015, “We assess that hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars almost certainly continue to be laundered through UK banks, including their subsidiaries, each year.” Late 2016 stress tests conducted by the Bank of England showed that the major UK banks are woefully undercapitalised. Their derivatives holdings, aptly termed by Business Insider “unexploded nuclear bombs nestling deep in the financial system”, dwarf their assets (lending) and deposits. In the inevitable next crisis, major banks would likely collapse, triggering a meltdown of the trans-Atlantic financial system. The UK Parliament passed the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. It, however, merely provided for “ring-fencing”—separating “investment” and commercial banking within each bank, but, unlike Glass-Steagall, allowing them to remain under the same roof and be done by the same company. This “solution” was denounced by knowledgeable members of both the House of Commons and Lords as simply window dressing which would allow the present, wildly speculative practices of the TBTF to continue. Why full Glass-Steagall separation? The USA’s 1933 Glass-Steagall Act strictly separated deposit-taking commercial banks from the “investment” banks whose wild speculation had caused the Great Depression. Glass-Steagall operated for 66 years and made systemic banking crises impossible. But the City of London’s 1986 “Big Bang” financial deregulation, followed by the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999, which both London and Wall Street had demanded, led to the 2008 crash. Support for full-scale Glass-Steagall is non-partisan: In the USA, both the Democratic and Republican Parties adopted it in their 2016 platforms, and the AFL-CIO (the central labour federation) has endorsed it. In the UK, 445 MPs and Lords from all parties voted for it in 2013, many of them warning that ring-fencing would not work. The late Labour MP and former cabinet member Michael Meacher said, “It must be obvious to everyone that this device [ring-fencing] will be breached in no time by regulatory arbitrage in the City of London where all the big banks employ armies of lawyers and accountants for just this purpose.” Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell, a former member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and “Father of the House of Commons” until he retired in 2015, said, “What I mean by a complete return to Glass-Steagall is that we should have none of this nonsense of ring-fencing, which used to be called Chinese walls. It never works. Chinese walls turned out to be papier-mâché. I worked in the City for 40 years and I promise Members that it is impossible to make that work.” He was echoed by Lord Nigel Lawson, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer had supervised the “Big Bang”, but in the 2013 debate and ever since has acknowledged that the repeal of Glass-Steagall was a dreadful mistake. In the Guardian of 11 August 2015, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell wrote that “the Corbyn campaign is advocating a fundamental reform of our economic system”, to “include the introduction of an effective regulatory regime for our banks and financial sector”, and “a full-blown Glass-Steagall system to separate day-to-day and investment banking” (emphasis added). Only an aroused, mobilised population can ensure that Glass-Steagall is adopted now, before the TBTF banks crash.

Britain’s only clinic specialising in the treatment of chronic urinary tract infections has been closed to new NHS patients for over two years. Hundreds of patients who have been referred to the clinic cannot be seen. They are being denied care and living in agony because they cannot afford to pay for private treatment. This is deeply unethical and unfair. The partial closure of the clinic has also affected its ability to recruit staff and leaves its future uncertain. The LUTS clinic run by Professor James Malone-Lee is pioneering research and treatment of chronic urinary tract infections which affect hundreds of thousands of sufferers in the UK. This includes infections that have become antibiotic resistant. Chronic UTI wrecks lives. The LUTS clinic is doing vital, life-saving work and needs your help! After suffering for a year with repeated urinary tract infections, 40-year-old Kirstin Lavender was referred to her local hospital in Yorkshire for an exploratory cystoscopy. Doctors confirmed her bladder was inflamed but didn’t know why. Following this invasive procedure, Kirstin bled for 6 months and her infection symptoms – nausea, fever, frequent urination, urgency and back pain – got so bad she became bed bound. Repeated tests showed no evidence of infection so Kirstin’s consultant diagnosed the incurable inflammatory condition, Interstitial Cystitis. All doctors could offer her was pain management. Kirstin’s life was unbearable. She had lost her health, her job and her identity. She was disabled by extreme kidney and bladder pain and facing life in a wheelchair. Finally, Kirstin persuaded her GP to refer her to Professor Malone-Lee at the LUTS clinic. Here she was diagnosed with a chronic bladder infection that had likely become embedded in her bladder lining. Her infection was complicated but, after seventeen months in treatment with the clinic, Kirstin is healthy, free of pain and has her life back. In October 2015 – after a single adverse event – the clinic was closed at a day’s notice by the Whittington Trust. Professor Malone-Lee’s patients brought a legal action against the Trust and it reopened the clinic a month later. Worryingly, 29 months later the clinic remains closed to new NHS patients. Repeated assurances that it would open in April 2017 have come to nothing. Islington Clinical Commissioning Group is responsible for commissioning NHS services in the borough & wishes to see the clinic become a specialist tertiary provider. Whilst discussions for a move to a London tertiary hospital are ongoing, a phased reopening to new patients at the clinic's current location has, in principle, been agreed by the Whittington Hospital and the local commissioning groups for the spring of 2018. However, critical timelines have been missed, causing more delay to this phased reopening date. While NHS managers stall, hundreds of patients with chronic UTI are being denied treatment. No other clinic treats this way so they have no choice but to wait – in terrible pain with debilitating symptoms - while their condition worsens.

The Royal Family have never yet undertaken a state visit to Israel. Now is the worst time to start, with the apartheid system in Israel becoming ever more entrenched and Palestinians (and other ethnic groups) suffering more and more. This visit would be to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and I'd point out that that Declaration included the commitment that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”. This is an approach which Israel has signally failed to adopt. Many ordinary people deplore the actions of the Israeli state and actively pursue a non-violent course of boycotting the country. That's the most effective peaceful weapon that ordinary people have. Please stand with us on this cause, and against a violent and prejudiced state. The support of the Royal family would mean a lot.