This is such an important service, providing respite and a safe and controlled environment for our young disabled children. Especially so for children with severe autism. These children do not have friends to hang out with, they don't have hobbies or clubs they can go to. Many of these children cannot go to the cinema or bowling, it is too distressing for them. The outreach team provide the most wonderful, caring staff to take these children out. They become their 'friends' their lifeline to anything outside of home and school life. The staff learn the needs of these children and cater to them. They take them out. Sometimes it may just be for a drive. My severely autistic son Merlin loves to look at tall buildings and structures. He loves to go for a drive to look at tall things at night. This makes him so happy. I don't drive. He loves to go to the outreach flat and cook. He loves to make play dough. He loves to watch old videos of old kids programmes. The outreach flat provides all this. He always asks me if he can go out with outreach every night. it is his home from home. His outreach workers Emma and Andrew are his 'best friends' They understand him completely. He has built up a relationship with them that no one else comes close too. His autism effects every aspect of his life. This service is his life without it he has nothing to look forward to. We cannot lose it.

Christopher Clinton Wilkinson – who was said to be sleeping in the woodland surrounding a hospital because it was the only place he felt safe – was hauled before Doncaster magistrates. Representatives from Doncaster-based charity The M25 Housing and Support Group said using anti-social behaviour legislation to criminalise people sleeping rough was a ‘significant concern’. Wilkinson, aged 40, was given an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to failing to comply with a Community Protection Notice on October 5 – but told the offence would stay on his record. Prosecuting at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court, David Sheppard said it was the second time Wilkinson had been found sleeping in the grounds of St Catherine’s Hospital in Tickhill Road, Balby, after struggling to find accommodation. Mitigating, James Gray said: “His situation is an unfortunate one. “He suffers from mental health problems and is clearly out of the care of mental health services at the minute and not receiving any medication. “He told the police he felt safer being in the grounds of the hospital sleeping rough than anywhere else. “He was in his sleeping bag when police woke him up.” Mr Gray said Wilkinson had struggled to find accommodation but was hoping to receive help from Doncaster Council and M25. Community Protection Notices and Orders are issued under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act – legislation introduced last year to stop ongoing environmental anti-social behaviour. Specialist housing advisor Vince Bell of M25 said: “It is of significant concern that the police and local authority are using what can only be described as Dickensian measures to tackle rough sleeping in Doncaster. “Using anti-social behaviour legislation to address issues such as rough sleeping is not going to help but will hinder their situation. “Dragging a vulnerable rough sleeper in front of the courts to give them a criminal record serves only to exacerbate their situation. “This would appear to be a new mindset which undermines all the hard work M25 has done to dispel myths and convince communities that rough sleepers are not to be feared and can be supported to change their lives.” Mr Bell said the police should be offering support to those who find themselves sleeping rough rather than criminalising them. He added: “Considering the person in question suffered with mental health issues and was sleeping in the woods within the hospital grounds because it felt safe, then it would appear we have lost all sight of humanity and good sense. “If you judge a society by the way it treats its most vulnerable then I believe we have failed in this instance.” http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/crime/doncaster-man-prosecuted-for-sleeping-rough-1-7513585 and.. Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said: “I am concerned that a vulnerable young girl, who has repeatedly asked for help from Doncaster council, has been told at every turn that she is ‘not their responsibility’. “The law is clear on this, a child does not have to be ‘ordinarily resident’ in a council’s area – and Doncaster council should have assessed the girl’s situation when she came to them and presented as homeless. “I hope this case reminds other councils of their legal position when considering children in need who are from outside their area.” http://www.lgo.org.uk/news/2014/mar/homeless-teen-turned-away-doncaster-social-workers-when-she-turned-help/ From tme to time people will need help. Not prosecution or avoidance of the responsibility to help.

Children are bombarded with sensory stimulation from video games, mobile phones TV and computers almost 24 hours a day. Add to that the pressure of everyday life ....tests , changes in the family make up, poverty, and overworked parents! Combine these factors with the already difficult naturally occurring stages a child goes through and we are heading for many more generations of depressed over pressured young people and adults. What coping strategies do our children have to counteract all this bombardment and retain their individual Humanness in a virtual world .... We need to teach them how to find a stillness amidst all of the business. What coping strategies are we providing to prevent more generations of depressed over pressured young people and adults ???????

Increasing numbers of us have no option but to rent from a private landlord. That shouldn’t stop us having a place we can call home. Landlords have the legal right to evict tenants with only two months’ warning and without giving a reason. Not all landlords exercise that right, but a family has no idea if their landlord will until they get the eviction notice – and there is nothing they can do about it. They might have been living in their home for twenty or more years, like Helen and Jason, a teacher and gardener who live with their two teenage daughters as valued members of their south London community. They have paid rent to their landlord for all that time and now face a no-fault eviction with no prospect of any security in the place they move to. This imbalance of power is severely disrupting the lives of thousands of families and playing havoc with the education of increasing numbers of children. It’s time the law started protecting tenants from the whims of unscrupulous landlords. Sometimes landlords need to take back their property, either to carry out refurbishment, or to sell it if they are unable to keep their business viable. In such cases, the landlord should be required to help rehouse the tenant, including a longer period of notice than two months. But landlords don’t even need to use the eviction process to force tenants to move. They can just raise the rent to an exorbitant level. The government needs to protect tenants from this as well, and should therefore bar landlords from raising the rent by more than inflation. There are 11 million private renters in England – and counting. None of them should have the rug pulled from under them.

People who "contracted out" will receive less than the new full basic pension from April 2016. The Government claims they paid less into the system during their contracted out years and that money will give them a private pension. This is unfair in several ways. Annuities are so low that some people will receive less Private pension provision than the amount being deducted by the DWP. Many of those who contracted out were forced to do so by their employers, but the understanding at the time was that it would not affect their basic final pension. Many have paid more years of NI than is required - 18 years in my case. I paid 11 more years than the seven when I was contracted out. Yet my pension will be reduced because, according to the DWP "I paid in less so I will receive less." This is unfair and untrue. The DWP refuses to allow those who contracted out to make up the difference now in order to receive the new basic pension.

If this contract is imposed there is a significant chance that doctors and medical students will be pushed out of the NHS. The resulting brain drain will be catastrophic for the UK and the NHS

To plead to Bradford Council to open its empty buildings to the homeless in winter. I have slept on the streets myself, in order to raise money to help local churches to do this. While they provide a fantastic service, they only help a fraction of our homeless - there just isn't the room. I cannot imagine sleeping rough in driving, biting winds, snow, ice and winter rain. It's inhumane. It's also inexcusable when we have so many empty buildings. I'm not asking for permanent shelters; just somewhere warm and dry for our homeless to sleep in winter. Please sign this petition. Tag the friends you feel would like to see this. Thank you so much. Charities are doing the best they can, with limited resources and funding cuts. There are many empty buildings that can be offered, purely for winter shelter. Maybe these places can also then be used to facilitate targeted help to those in need of it - for support, help with housing, health care, advice and general care. Charities' resources could be used for support rather than spending their resources on providing the actual shelters. This is a necessary resource and if we pull together en masse we have more than a great chance of being an influence.

Farmers are throwing away tonnes of fresh food because supermarkets only accept “perfect” fruit and vegetables of an exact shape and size. The supermarkets are worried misshapen potatoes put customers off. But we are their customers - so let’s tell them we’ll buy fruit and veg that looks the way mother nature intended it. A huge petition, powered by shoppers, could convince supermarket bosses to stop rejecting perfectly good food.

Because all workers in the UK deserve the same workers rights! Prison Officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland do no currently have the right to take strike action over legitimate disputes! The Scottish government have this week given back Scottish Prison Officers the right to take strike action, the same must be afforded to colleagues in the rest of the U.K.!

Air pollution from road traffic causes tens of thousands of people every year in the UK to die prematurely. Children's health is suffering too. Norwich has several air pollution hotspots. These include Castle Meadow, where diesel buses contribute to unsafe air quality. Signing the petition below would put pressure on Norfolk County Council to promote clean green buses. 5,000 signatures are needed to trigger a debate by a Full Norfolk County Council meeting. As the local transport authority, Norfolk County Council can influence the emissions standard of bus vehicles run by private bus companies; for example it can specify bus vehicle standards: - when letting Park and Ride contracts - in providing bus priority measures - by creating low emissions zones. Thank you for your support.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director for England has opened a £75 million super hospital in Northumberland. It is his vision of the future for all hospitals in the U.K. Sir Bruce explained: “This is all about ensuring patients with complicated needs or life threatening conditions get to a centre with the appropriate expertise in place.The challenges facing A&E services across the country are immense and OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE is very much in line with what Northumbria Healthcare have already been developing with the opening of the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital to look after THOSE WITH SERIOUS, LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCIES." (Please see photo / http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-whistleblower-fears-patients-die-6875670 .) “It is testament to the clinical teams at Northumbria, who began thinking about their NEW MODEL OF EMERGENCY CARE many years ago, that the North East is now well ahead of other parts of the NHS in making THE NATIONAL VISION for urgent and emergency care a reality for patients." (See photo.) “I very much look forward to returning to the North East to see first-hand progress with the hospital which will be at the forefront of emergency medicine.” My name is Martin Jackson and I work for a North East Ambulance service and I would like to invite Bruce back to the North East to see first-hand the progress. At least 3 local A & E units, from North Tyneside to Hexham have now changed into 24/7 'Urgent care centres'. This super hub which you have created may work for parcels or pizza delivery but we are talking here about peoples’ lives. This is one result of your vision for the future of all hospitals... 120 mile emergency round trip passing Berwick, Alnwick, Ashington and Cramlington Hospitals. This is a fact which can be verified by the Ambulance service. The Ambulance service uses a TerraFix system. It is a sat. nav. which logs the location and time of every ambulance in the North East. We had just cleared at your new super-hospital in Cramlington and got a shout to a sick baby. Driving in fog up the A1 on blues and twos 60 miles north to Berwick hospital. The infant was in a hospital with a mild case of croup. The Berwick hospital could not cope and wanted the child to be seen at Cramlington. We blue lighted the infant to Cramlington and fortunately arrived before 11 o'clock because paediatric A & E closes at 11. If the call had been life threatening we would have had to continue an extra 20 minutes to Newcastle. This must raise several serious questions. My main question is to Jeremy Hunt and Sir Bruce Keogh: If this was your child with meningitis, would you be happy with this service? A 2 hour stretcher wait before even being booked in? This is happening NOW. This is a fact which can be verified by the ambulance service TerraFix system. Thinking about the "Golden Hour", so crucial to stroke patients. This is your NHS. Is this what you want? This is not the desolate North East. Please take a second to stand up and be counted. Please click this petition and feel good for the rest of the day. Thank you! martin The views expressed in this petition do not necessarily reflect the views of the North East Ambulance service.

Andrew and Claire Stoddart have been farming in East Lothian for 22 years. During this time they have invested heavily in infrastructure and buildings on their farm at Colstoun Mains, creating a profitable and well-managed business. The Stoddart family are an integral part of the community. Andrew and Claire are well liked, and their 3 children go to the local school, as do the 4 children of their employees. The Stoddarts have been asked to leave the farm by the end of November. Once evicted, the Stoddart family will be forced to move from the local area, laying off their two employees, and taking their children away from school and friends. They are to be given very little recompense for the investments they have made over their lifetime, leaving them both homeless and unable to buy a farm elsewhere. I urge you all to show your support by signing this petition to ask the Scottish Government to intervene and stop the forced eviction of the Stoddart family. I address this petition to Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, and Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian. Some of the issues around this eviction are highlighted in the channel 4 news item below. You can see what Andrew Stoddart has to say at 6:33 minutes. https://youtu.be/E-6DzKzmFtA Thank you for your support.