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.

There is woefully poor provision for childcare of under 2's in Walthamforest. Waiting lists are often 12 months or more. Woodside is a amazing nursery that gives families somewhere safe and happy to put their babies. It is an important resource that needs protecting for families now and in the future. There needs to be more support to enable mothers to return to work once their maternity leave finishes - this is when a child turns 1, not 2. Please sign this petition to protect an important resource in the community.

Many tourists are finding it a big turn away to have to go from one end of the beach to the other just to use the toilet, it's a long walk for young children and disabled people and is affecting businesses and tourism.

On 24th July 2016, Go North East will remove the 11 and 11a bus services. These buses provide vital links between villages in Western Gateshead with Newcastle City Centre, including Blackhall Mill, Chopwell, High Spen, Greenside, Crawcrook and Ryton. Without the 11 and 11a services, local people face severe difficulty when travelling around their local area. I commute from Ryton to the Scotswood Road area of Newcastle every weekday. With the removal of the 11 and 11a buses in July, there will be NO direct bus from Ryton and several surrounding villages to Newcastle City Centre. Go North East have proposed to replace the cancelled services with a new 10x route, which will serve local areas 'at peak times' only: as an example, the new 10x from Ryton to Newcastle is only running at the 'peak' time of 7.25am - 7.55am! Go North East evidently believe that offering a replacement bus service for only 30 minutes a day on week days is enough. This is incredibly unreasonable: customers have found that the early morning 11 and 11a services are currently so well-used that it is often impossible to find a seat on the bus! The reason that Go North East give for axing these essential services is that 'the number of people travelling on the service 11 as whole means its not viable to continue running it.' (sic) With the forthcoming proposal of more than 400 new homes in Ryton alone, Go North East should be investing in our local area, not removing vital services from long-suffering residents! Please sign this petition and encourage your friends and family do the same - hopefully, Go North East will realise how important these services are to our local communities and scrap plans to remove them.

Veterans’ welfare, armed forces pensions and the handling of casualty notifications are all at risk as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) plans to privatise its shared services organisation – Defence Business Services (DBS). DBS employs over 2,200 people and is responsible for MoD armed forces and civilian pay, pensions and HR, delivering welfare to 900,000 veterans and their dependents, handling casualty notifications and administration 24 hours a day, UK wide security vetting and making payments to all defence suppliers. MoD’s track record with private companies in DBS generates some big concerns. In 2012, Serco and Accenture were brought in as management partners where they were paid for running the organisation but additionally received 40p for every pound saved via ‘efficiency gains’. This led to reckless cuts, asset stripping and manipulating of performance measures in a profit grabbing frenzy. In many areas of DBS, jobs were cut to generate a saving (and profit for Serco and Accenture) but were then reinstated at a later date. When the Serco-Accenture contract was brought to an end this year, it was hoped that common sense had prevailed. Yet now the MoD want to go one step further by fully privatising the running of DBS. The MoD argue that this will bring them savings but history tells another story. Instead, it will result in cuts to services, putting those who rely on DBS, like veterans, MoD staff and army personnel at risk. It could also open the door to offshoring of work and defence sensitive data as companies seek to maximise profits. The alarm bells don’t stop there. A recent National Audit Office report has revealed that privatisations of other shared services across Whitehall has failed to deliver value for money to taxpayers, with long delays and rising costs. DBS is one of the largest and most complex shared services organisations in Europe, carrying out sensitive and critical services to the MoD, its staff, the armed forces and veterans. The MoD should safeguard this by keeping DBS public.

Government plans to cap Local Housing Allowance (LHA) which would mean a cut in the housing benefit support for people living in specialist housing. This will affect thousands of the most vulnerable people in the country including older people, people living with a disability, those fleeing domestic violence, young adults leaving care, homeless people and young families. Some tenants will be forced to find £584 extra a month out of their own resources or face homelessness. The cap will decimate the support housing sector, making schemes that provide additional support to those who really need it simply unviable, with the expectation that public services such as the NHS will pick up the pieces. Inevitably rent arrears will accumulate and it is likely that supported housing schemes will be closed and the residents forced into being homeless. An example: I will soon be 81. I live in a 41 household sheltered housing scheme, one of seven located from Hull in the North East to Paignton in Devon, run by a small housing association based in London. I have been told that my housing association may have to close my sheltered scheme if it is not financially viable. That would mean forty-one homeless households, possibly 300 if the other schemes are also closed. The overall effect of the proposals will be dramatic with scores of homeless of all ages roaming the streets and countryside seeking shelter!

Barnet Council leased out the pavilion building in Cherry Tree Wood several years ago. Since then there has been very little progress on the renovation work undertaken by the leaseholder. Furthermore, the building was left in an extremely unsafe condition, with totally inadequate fencing around the site. It has become an urgent health and safety issue. In addition the dilapidated building has been attracting anti-social behaviour, followed by a serious crime in the wood in 2016. Previously the area was extremely safe. Cherry Tree Wood has a high number of visitors on a daily basis, (including use of the recreational facilities, school trips and school sports day events). Barnet Council urgently need to liaise with the leaseholder to make the site safe. It has totally changed the feel of the wood and the feel of surrounding area.

Westminster City Council has approved plans to demolish several key historic buildings in the Soho Conservation Area, and replace them with an oversized, bland and bulky office led development. SAVE is asking the Secretary of State and his planning minister to call the application in for a full public inquiry to ensure this important site and the wider character of Soho is not eroded. Soho is one of London’s most distinctive, historic areas – its diverse history and charm told through its buildings, streets and open spaces. The old Foyles building on Charing Cross Road is a landmark - strongly associated with all that makes Soho special, and is noted in the Conservation Area as a building of merit. The proposed development is nine storeys – much higher and bulkier than its neighbours - in marked contrast to the fine grain of the surrounding streets. Conservation Area status is meant to protect sites like this from insensitive development. SAVE is alarmed that Westminster has blithely approved the demolition of the Foyles building and adjacent ‘buildings of merit’ (their words). We consider the re-development will cause substantial harm to the character of the Conservation Area. SAVE is calling on the Secretary of State to call-in this application for a public inquiry, and to stop the plans as currently proposed. This is our opportunity to ensure the unique character of Soho is protected from harmful re-development.