Barbecues on London Fields have been trialled for several years and were approved again for 2017. Barbecues are banned in most of the parks of London on safety and health grounds. It is the only park in Hackney where the Council overlooks their own strict bye-laws banning fires in parks. As a result, London Fields is now popularised through social media to the point that on a sunny summer weekend it attracts thousands of visitors and tourists from all across London and beyond. The smoke from BBQs and fires makes it impossible for residents neighbouring the park to open their windows on hot summer days. Depending on the wind, dense smoke carries across the park in different directions - into houses and flats, up to the Lido or across the children's playgrounds. The smoke is unpleasant and represents a significant pollution risk, especially for people with breathing difficulties. A highly toxic particle known as PM2.5 is released into the atmosphere when burning barbecues. There is no safe level of PM2.5 and it can: * suppress lung function in children * cause heart disease and strokes * cause and aggravate asthma * cause lung cancer [Source: "Every Breath We Take", RCP / RCPCH pub. Feb 2016] In the summer of 2105 an investigation by King's College London pollution team showed toxic PM2.5 air pollution levels during barbecues on Highbury Fields, Islington, to be up to 3 times the kerbside levels at one of London's busiest roads in Marylebone. In 2013 a study involving 312,944 people in nine European countries revealed there was no safe level of particulates. Hackney Council has an air pollution plan (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/air-pollution) and an air quality action plan (http://www.hackney.gov.uk/air-quality-action-plan) - and does nothing to stop toxic smoke over children's play areas in the Fields. Anti-social behaviour is an ever-present worry with small groups staying in the park overnight. Mounds of litter are left behind, overflowing the many extra bins provided. On Sundays and Mondays, parts of the park are unusable by local residents until clear-ups are undertaken, bins are left on fire and discarded food attracts rats. Every summer this costs Hackney council-tax payers a potential £80,000 or more in extra bins, refuse disposal, signs, security and damage repairs to the park. According to an FOI request, £57,000 alone is paying for a security firm to watch just the BBQ area all summer long*. To put this in perspective - if the park charged 800 visitors every week for the whole summer £5 to BBQ (15 weekends) it would only raise £60,000 - and not cover those costs. And the security is there only on weekends - and BBQs are lit every day during the summer. London Fields is a small park. It just cannot sustain this pressure on such a tiny piece of land. It is time to call an end to a failed experiment and treat London Fields like any other Hackney Park – a green space which visitors should respect and use with care. Local people should not have to dread sunny weekends. And what if there were no barbecues? Well, they are no real loss to anyone; *picnics* are rather similar in nature but much less annoying and polluting - and they are fun, cheaper, eco-friendly, no smoke, no fire, less mess (except perhaps for egg sandwiches) and they can be eaten anywhere, in any park, in any neighbourhood, not just a tiny, barren corner of London Fields. So please sign this petition and share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and email - and in the street - to ask the Mayor and Hackney Council to end this abuse of the Fields. * Hackney Council claim the security is for the whole of the park; this is not what the security staff say - or do.

The referendum was called purely as a sop to various conservative members of parliament and their voters, who hinted they would join UKIP. It has cost the country a huge amount of money, time and energy for what is in effect an internal party problem. The government and its supporters are now split in a most acrimonious way, and can not pretend to be a functioning government. After the results are announced, whichever way they fall, there will be in-fighting within this party of government and a lack of concentration on the needs of the nation. They will have a large percentage of the population seriously disgruntled with what result there is. We, the people, must demand a fresh government, through a democratic election, and not through various internal oustings of existing holders of office.

So that MPs are not cushioned from the effects of their decisions ,so they fully understand the problems of low income citizens not just in theory but in direct practice,to give them an practical incentive to improve the lives of the UK.s lowpaid worker, to eliminate careerist /opportunist MPs from our Parliament(I.e those who enter parliament for selfish monetary motives ,or as a stepping stone to careers in the media ,business or the eurocracy),to end the divide between the political elite and the working class of people which is so corrosive to our society,and which leaves the way for unscrupulous demagogues, non democratic ideologists,etc to flourish.,and in many countries has led to extreme political violence. Such a measure would purge our parliament of the selfish

The government recently introduced the Living Wage, which was long overdue. Employers have been slow and reluctant to adopt the living wage, and some, like Samworth Brothers, are guilty of trying to offset the increased costs involved by sneakily cutting other employee benefits, such as paid breaks, and anti-social hours payments. Employees like Kumaran, who has been a loyal Samworth Brothers employee for 12 years, should not be forced to shoulder the cost of introducing the living wage, and should not have to be afraid of losing their jobs if they stand up for their rights by joining a union.

The station is a main link for our community and at the present time cannot be accessed freely by people with children in prams and wheelchair bound. The nearest station with these facilities is Eastleigh where you have to change trains to get you back to the right side of Hedge End Station. Which involves time and hassle.

I have been emailing for over a year about the large volume of traffic using Kinsale Road as a cut through and the extreme speed that they drive, without any response. Not only is there a large volume of cars but it is also used by large vehicles, vans and delivery drivers who drive fast and aggressively. Not a week goes by that myself or a neighbour doesn't witness road rage on our road. There is currently a new primary school, with capacity for in excess of 271 children, being built at the end of our road. We have heard no plans for traffic calming or how the increased traffic caused by the school will be managed. On the 19th June a car was driving so fast down our road that he crashed and has written off 3 cars and damaged a fourth. He hit one parked car with such force that it moved the car parked behind it, with its hand brake on, over 10 metres backwards! If he had hit any of our residents rather than a car the result would have been fatal. My son was in our car the day before, at the same time of day, helping me to clean it. If we had been in the car when the accident happened only 24 hours later I dread to think what would have happened to us. Sadly this accident didn't come as a surprise to anyone living on our road. This is a tightly knit community with over 20 young children living on the road. I urge you to take action before something terrible happens. Our children have the right to cycle to school safely and to be free to cross the road to play at their friends houses, without fear of speeding traffic.

There are concerns that advanced treatment technologies may not be adequate to deal with the levels of dissolved solids in produced water, limiting the ability to treat it on site. A spokesperson from Greenpeace Science Unit states that releasing huge quantities of water loaded with large quantities of metals, radioactivity and chemical components into marine environments is a retrograde step. Campaigners have voiced concerns about the problems, such as earth tremors, caused by the actual fracking process but there has been less focus upon the problems caused by waste water.

Bernard was stabbed as he tried to protect Labour MP Jo Cox. He showed true British spirit in tackling the man with a gun and a knife. So many people today would stand by and let things happen, but this 77 year old pensioner was incredibly brave and had the guts to do something. The George Cross is the highest bravery honour that can be given to non-military personnel. Good people need to be recognised.

Like me you were probably angered and saddened by the disgraceful scenes of English football fans in Lille mocking and humiliating begging children. One seven year old was even reported to have been forced to down a pint of beer in exchange for a handful of coins, others to fight for the 'prize' of small change. It is possible that a number of these children were refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. Imagine fleeing your homeland, maybe losing contact with your mum and dad and walking across Europe only to be confronted by this cruelty and indignity. Wherever the children are from, the sight of wealthy men getting their entertainment from humiliating children reduced to begging on the streets was repulsive. Like you these scenes made me feel ashamed to be English, ashamed to be a football supporter and powerless to do anything. The French police are unable to stop this behaviour until a crime is committed. However, the Football Association does have it in their power to identify and ban supporters from buying tickets for its games and frequently works with the police to prevent them from travelling abroad. It also has the power to speak out, through its officials, manager and players, against this behaviour which shames us all. But I am writing this two days after the first reports and it has done nothing. There is a precedent to this: earlier in 2016 PSV Eindhoven supporters were caught on camera similarly humiliating people begging in Madrid. The PSV Eindhoven club immediately issued a video and written statement promising to identify and issue banning orders to those involved. You can read their statement here: http://www.psv.nl/english-psv/news/article/gerbrands-these-are-not-our-moral-values-and-ethical-norms.htm There is no reason at all why the English FA can't do the same. By not speaking out and not pursuing those responsible the FA are effectively saying that the experience these children have gone through doesn't matter. Please sign below and let's encourage the FA to send an important signal that we have not lost our compassion and humanity and that bullying children cannot go unpunished. Thank you.

The Transport for London (TfL) proposal to cut the 167 bus route so that it only runs between Ilford to Loughton station will significantly impact people who live in Debden or who need to get to Debden. In particular, people who don’t have cars and who depend on public transport such as school children, elderly people, people with mobility problems and parents with young children. The carer for my disabled son relies on the 167 bus route to travel to my house in Debden twice a week to provide me with much-needed respite care. This proposal will make it much harder and longer for her to get to and from my house. The proposed new route 677 will have just one bus in the morning and one in the afternoon and will follow the existing route of the 167 until Loughton and will then become a shuttle service from Loughton to Debden to cover the secondary schools. This plan is flawed and inadequate. My son goes to one of the local Debden schools and with only one bus he will struggle to get on the bus along with all the other students from Davenant Foundation School, Roding Valley High School and Debden Park High School. If he can’t squeeze onto the one bus or has after-school activities or if he misses the bus then he will be left with little choice for transportation. This proposal is not only unfair as it impacts hardest on those who are most in need of good public transport. But it is also short-sighted as: - The Central Line is already under heavy pressure and cutting the 167 will push even more people to use an already overcrowded tube line. - There are a number of proposed residential and commercial developments in the Debden area, this will increase demand for transport not reduce it. One of TfL’s mottos is ‘Every Journey Matters’ and we want to say that the 167 bus route matters! It is extremely valued and well used, serving all members of the community and we appeal to you to scrap your proposals and let us keep the existing 167 route.

Watch 'the world at war' and you'll understand how important good working relationships, justice and compassion are. It would also be good to write to TV channels to ask them not to give him coverage should he come to Britain.

The Bristol Estate is located in East Brighton. An area predominately made up of high and low rise social housing. The residents are currently feeling isolated from the rest of the city due to the infrequency of their bus service. A few years ago buses used to take folk in and out of the estate every 7 mins. Now, however it is every 30 mins in the day time and a shocking every 75 mins in the evenings. With buses running on Sundays only once an hour. For the many elderly people living here the infrequency of the buses is adversely affecting their well being. The elderly talk about not wanting to go into town to the theatre or to see a concert anymore as they cannot risk being stuck at a bus stop for well over an hour. People talk about not being able to take on evening jobs as they would not be able to return home safely. Residents talk about the difficulties in getting to the Doctors and the Dentists. There is only one small shop servicing the whole estate, so locals rely on the bus for eating, for leisure activities, for health care, for work, for education. The residents feel like they have been forgotten, that they don't matter, that no one cares that they cannot get out and about for their good health and well-being like other residents in the city. We call upon Brighton and Hove City Council to ensure that the residents of The Bristol Estate have a fair and equal access to the city centre by making the provisions needed to allow a more regular and frequent bus service to and from the estate. Please do not allow the poverty gap to increase further in our city by not doing all you can to make sure that residents can move easily and frequently in and out of the estate on public transport.