It was announced today that the renovations to the Palace of Westminster will cost up to £4billion and involved the MPs moving out for 6 years. This will leave us (the British people) with a magnificent looking building, but a parliament in the same state it is now with MPs involved in a scrum to attend each morning to bag a seat! In addition, the UK is already too London centric; despite rhetoric about building a "Northern Power House" the government has yet to do anything practical in this direction. The current debating chambers are not fit for purpose; there are insufficient seats for every member of parliament. A new building could provide to the needs of a 21st century and offer both space as well as technology solutions such as telepresence so that MPs can be involved in debates while not attending in person; allowing better use of their time as well as allowing a better family life / work life balance. Cost and time overruns are likely to make renovations cost much higher than the estimated £4 billion and we will still be faced by an antiquated building not fit for purpose. So lets look to the future not to the past and consider what is BEST, not what is convinient for individual MPs.

It is another step to privatisation of the NHS. Walk in centres are all-new buildings financed by local taxpayers. They alleviate pressure on A &E. It is always very busy and its usual for an hour's wait to see a nurse which proves how well used it is

The footbridge is the last of its kind in the country. It has been in place since 1892 and it is vital it stays in place to keep the Victorian ambience of the station which is one of the Gateways to the South Downs National Park. The wooden heritage footbridge at Alton Station in Hampshire was installed in 1892 by the London and South Western Railway. It is now the only surviving example of a wooden railway footbridge in situ anywhere in the UK. It has stood the test of time well, but it is now in need of a full repair and restoration. The footbridge is important for several reasons: it is part of the atmosphere for those visiting the Mid-Hants Railway (aka The Watercress Line); it is a second means for passengers travelling to London to cross the line (under cover) and it is part of Alton's architectural heritage. A new footbridge with lifts was built by Network Rail in 2013 and the old bridge was due for removal. A group of concerned local residents got together to form Friends of Alton Station (FAS), initially as a steering group in 2014, then as a membership organisation in 2015. In that time we have been patiently negotiating with Network Rail to save the bridge. After a number of surveys, and the closure of the bridge to the public, Network Rail have decided that they are not able to spend money restoring the bridge. However, they are willing to offer their budgeted removal costs of £250k to the pot if we are able to find other funding. In saying this, they have given us an ultimatum to find likely sources of external funding, possibly as much as £500k, before the end of December 2016. Therefore, there is a new urgency to take action. We are asking you to sign this petition to show your support. We also encourage you to sign our other petition on Change.org: www.change.org/p/network-rail-save-the-heritage-footbridge-at-alton-station-in-hampshire If you want to know more, please see our website www.friendsofaltonstation.org.uk and if you want to add extra support, please do become a member and/or make a donation. Many thanks for reading this and we do hope that you will be able to add your name to our petitions.

I'm a transgender myself and would love to have SRS straight away but the rules are preventing me for having my wish I feel extremely uncomfortable in my body and am scared of going out as people stare, I have noticed other people in the same position who would love to have the rules changed so they feel more comfortable and I think this would give us the freedom we always wanted and give us the correct body and allow us not to feel trapped.

Please ban the spraying of Monsanto's Roundup and other glyphosate herbicides on our streets and parks.The use of glyphosates has already been banned or restricted in 8 countries. It is not acceptable that ourselves, our children and the animals we share our community with are being routinely exposed to these chemicals whether we like it or not. Please help us ban the spraying of Monsanto's Roundup and other glyphosate herbicides on our streets and parks.This is a matter of great importance for those of us who care about each other's health and the health of our children, our cats, our dogs and all the flora and fauna of this town and its surrounding villages, of course including our beloved bees. If you don't live in this area, click here to sign or start the campaign for your city: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/start-a-pesticide-campaign

I am the wife and carer for a gentleman with complex, permanent and debilitating physical disabilities and life-long mental health problems. Just before Christmas 2012, my husband was stripped of his Disability Living Allowance (DLA) following a Work Capability Assessment. He had received this vital benefit since suffering two unfortunate industrial accidents, which meant he could no longer continue to work. His DLA enabled him to access a Motability car, which he lost through the process. This meant he could no longer maintain the same independence in life. Now, this summer, another Work Capability Assessment this time for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), the DWP has found my husband to be "fit for work". However, he's not elligible for Job Seeker's Allowance - because the Jobcentre acknowledge he's too sick and disabled to work - so he has fallen into a welfare gap. He now has almost no income and is entirely dependent on me (I work full time as well as care for him), for all his care needs, his mobility and his home. This makes him feel about an inch tall. We now have the prospect of a stressful appeal process through an Employment Tribunal. From speaking with many other people in the same position as us, we realise that there is a serious problem with the Disability Welfare Reform process, that many able-bodied people in society are not aware of. There are a lot of very vulnerable people in our country who are suffering terribly - not only because of their disabilities but also from extreme financial hardship - from The Austerity Choice that our government has made. There are people dying because they have suffered shock, trauma, lost income and people actually can't survive without the care they once received. My husband is lucky - I earn a wage. Many people are alone, alone and uncared for. I think this is an issue that needs to be heard - in 21st Century Britain, the systematic disadvantage of the most vulnerable in our society shouldn't be ignored. Everyone has a valuable contribution to make to society, not just those who pay tax. I'd be nothing without my husband by my side. Surely we all have a piece of our heart we can find to care for people who are less fortunate than ourselves?

Because I am one of many people who is hard of hearing and hearing aids can cost as much as £1000 such as the ones l was issued recently, fortunately for me our trust hasn't stopped issuing hearing aids yet.

Because there are too many empty properties and too many homeless people

A spit hood is a material bag that goes over someone’s head with a drawstring to tighten it - and the Metropolitan Police want to start using these restraints on people across London. Spit hoods are degrading and inhuman, and can be used on anyone. In Suffolk, a spit hood was placed on an 11 year old girl with severe learning difficulties. Having a bag put over your head while being held down would be traumatic for anyone, let alone a vulnerable child. The police already have handcuffs, batons, leg restraints and are allowed to use force... Do they really need to use spit hoods too? There appears to be little solid proof they are actually necessary, but what is certain is that they can be dangerous, and cause significant panic for a detainee, whilst officers could protect themselves with masks and eye protection instead. The image of their use has been described as reminiscent of torture and horror films. They can prevent recognition of urgent health issues involving breathing and swallowing, and with inequality a hot topic currently for the UK society at large (including the Police), there are questions around whether or not their use could deepen social divides and exacerbate inequality issues, particularly bearing in mind their recent use against those with mental health issues. Major police forces around the UK don't allow the use of spit hoods - and they shouldn't be allowed to be used in London.

This is important because the UK is one of the least wooded countries within the whole of Europe. The country was completly covered in trees when the first people arrived. Now only 13% of our land area is wooded. Woodland is the naturally occuring habitat for this country. Fields, wildflowers, breakland and heathland although great for wildlife are habitats that arose in the abscense of our woodlands. Without woodlands on our east coast the land is being lost to the sea due to erosion. Without woodlands in our uplands the soil and wildlife are suffering amd floods downstream in our urban areas are rife. Most of the UK' indigenous biodiversity resides in our wooded areas because that is the natural habitat they would have had in this country before the great clearances of the forests. Surely for a country which is naturally of woodland habitat it is the duty of the Government to make sure there is plenty of this rich habitat left and that it expands. -Woodlands hold our greatest biodiversity. -Woodlands act as a windbreak (when enough of them) so should reduce effects of wind on urban areas. -They are brilliant places for people to escape to. -Trees help give us clean air and beautify the landscape. -They slow down and in some cases prevent soil erosion. -Trees help to prevent flooding by slowing down the process of water falling as rain getting to the sea. I believe if this cannot be done then the east coast of the country should at least be focused on. We loose meters of land a year to the North sea on the Holderness coast due to soil erosion. Houses cant be built on the cliffs, its a danger for people to be there. With the addition of trees the soil wound be bound together, it would be less saturated and as a result erosion would be a fraction of the rate it is now.

TTIP may be dead but worse still is the upcoming Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta). Not only the NHS but every service will be totally controlled by corporations that can simply sue governments for any supposed future profits that it claims to lose if action is taken to protect the public. We elect governments and hold them to account - we do not elect corporations to decide what is best for us.

They are already using enough equipment to apprehend and pacify offenders.It is very worrying that the met police are going to use this in custody suites where there are no independent witnesses. Police officers are not in a position to establish whether an individual is in a satisfactory medical condition to carry out this forceful and highly stressful action.