The Council are close to entering into a contract to outsource the running of all of the borough’s leisure centres. We are very concerned about the secrecy surrounding this process and the lack of consultation which has taken place. Requests to Councillors for information have been met by statements that the information is “commercially sensitive’. This information is crucial so that residents and users can understand what is being planned. We challenge the refusal to answer our reasonable questions. We request that, if necessary, the Council seeks the agreement of the preferred bidder to waive any restrictions on the release of information which is stated to be “commercially sensitive”. it is impossible to know what the outcomes may be. I have therefore posted a petition on the RBWM website- please see link below- and would be most grateful for your support by signing it and encouraging any other residents you know to do the same. This matter is urgent. We understand that the Council may make a decision committing to sign the contract before the end of October 2014, so we welcome your support now. NB when you do sign up you’ll get an email and you need to click on the link they send so as to activate your signature!

The least wealthy of the richest 85 is worth $11bn. $25million is less than 0.25% of their wealth and considerably less than that for the wealthiest. It'll make no difference to them but will save the lives of countless people.

Where are the hundreds of people who visit Broadwater Park going to go when they need to?

Services are being broken up and sold off to private companies for them to make profit from crime. Criminal Justice should be above the profit incentive and motivated by justice, the clues in the name. People are being put at risk by the creation of artificial barriers between staff, depending on who they work for. This is very bad for the sharing of information and risk management. Work is already being skewed towards working with those who will be the best bet to comply, rather than according to risk. A lot of what was previously done to protect the public is becoming impossible because of a ludicrous diversion of resources. Staff in the private companies will not need to be trained as they are in the public sector. They will be dealing with violent domestic abusers and others who pose a real risk to the public. The Probation Service was already a high performing organisation that had exceeded targets set for it by government. This privatisation politically is driven and is not cost effective or in the interests of the public.

With a yes majority in Westminister we will be in a very strong position to fight for Scotland without being sabotaged by No parties. If we can achieve a pro-indy government we have the future of our nation back in our hands. Without a Yes majority Scotland will be back in its box, this is why we must focus the YES from each constituency so that we achieve a majority over the divided (Labour, Tories, LIb Dems, UKIP, BNP, ect) No vote.

There has been a rapid decline in the number of Sea Bass, due to increased commercial fishing and low numbers of young fish surviving to become adults. EU scientists have said that the EU must urgently reduce the landings of Sea Bass by 80% in order to meet the legal obligation to fish sustainably. Urgent action is needed now to prevent a crash in the Sea Bass population that may never recover.

The London Borough of Barnet is fortunate to have four excellent nursery schools (Brookhill, Hampden Way, Moss Hall and St Margaret’s) all of which have been graded 'outstanding' by OFSTED. All four are under threat from the latest Barnet Council proposal. http://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s18692/Nursery%20School%20Review.pdf All four nursery schools put in place the essential building blocks of education in a safe, social and rated ‘outstanding’ environment. Barnet Council Officers are proposing changes to meet the planned cuts in funding which, we are concerned, could spell the end for the 'outstanding' level of education offered by our community nursery schools. Currently each school has its own head teacher, deputy head teacher and each class has a teacher to achieve its outstanding status. This level of staffing cannot remain with the proposed changes to funding. We believe it is wrong that providers delivering basic childcare are funded at the same rate as schools providing ‘outstanding education’. This funding formula will result in drastic cuts in staffing which will directly undermine the schools' ability to provide the same high standard of education and support to parents and the community. We also fear the schools are at risk of ending up being stripped back to providing only basic childcare in 'bare minimum Barnet'. If these draconian proposals are put in place the damage will be irreversible.

The utility of excessive homework even at secondary level is far from clear and at primary level and below is deeply resented by growing numbers of children, their parents and their teachers.Ridiculous amounts of homework are routinely imposed on young children as a short term means of - for the teachers' and headteachers' benefits - passing tests and meeting targets that are themselves narrow, methodologically unsound, unnecessary and politically motivated. Whilst some might argue that 'moderate' or 'reasonable' loads of homework are not detrimental, the present structuring of education to such short-term school goals and the failure of the teaching profession to resist the associated attack on decent educational values ensures that such moderation now exists only rarely. Instead, teachers and headteachers are consumed in 'races to the top' of league tables directly at the expense of the children in their care. In the short term children are denied the leisures and pleasures (many of which are of far more learning value than homework) of the different childhoods they could otherwise have had. In the longer term, an inevitable and resentful disengagement from the love of learning scandalously underline the intellectual and moral poverty of our educational 'leaders'.

So Scotland gets the exact revenues from fisheries and oil and gas revenues that is due Rightfully due to Scotland.

The establishments threatened have long proven to be a hub of creativity and independent entrepreneurial talent, supporting both artists and creative endeavours which in return attracts valuable assets such as investors, students and visitors interested in our city. These local businesses and retailers are an important part of our economy, character and identity. The eradication of these cherished and unique aspects to our landscape would be a crisis both economically and culturally. For example, Rare and Racy are one of the few independent traders in Sheffield left who support local and national underground record labels, publishers, magazines ect. Syd and Mallory's are a highly respected grassroots Sheffield designer emporium, whose countless achievements include national fashion shows, training of future designers and most recently they have been commissioned to design the costumes for the critically acclaimed 'This is England' series. The eradication of these cherished and unique aspects to our landscape would be a crisis both economically and culturally.

Despite years of equality legislation and the declared will of many policy-makers, women continue to be subject to economic, health, safety and power inequality in the UK. These inequalities are experienced strongly in England where women’s inequality is increasing under current public policies. In recent years we have seen attacks on legislation intended to promote greater equality, existing legislation not being implemented adequately and a regression in public attitudes to the principles of equality and social progress. The recent Queen's speech and Government Programme address only some of these issues and only in part. The SW Women's Manifesto calls for action are now even more important. We call on The Minister and all Government and Opposition MPs to pledge support to our ‘calls to action’. We have identified a number of positive, achievable actions that would make a significant difference to women’s lives, making women: • safer; • healthier; • more financially secure; • a greater presence in public policy making We believe these policies would improve the lives of children, vulnerable adults and the elderly, irrespective of gender. We are particularly concerned that women from BME communities continue to be more disadvantaged, even more than other women, and that the position of women is becoming worse relative to that of men. The discussions are moving more towards ‘families’ and women as individuals are disappearing from the agenda. See: http://www.fairplaysouthwest.org.uk/manifesto

One in twenty adults in this country is affected by thyroid disease. Women with hypothyroidism outnumber men by ten to one. Symptoms include anxiety and depression, cardiological problems, hair loss, lack of libido, physical pain, exhaustion, hypertension, high cholesterol and weight gain. Some GPs also tell patients that diabetes is an inevitable long term consequence. The NHS diagnosis and management of the condition is usually through one blood test which measures thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). The lower the thyroid hormones in the pituitary gland, the more TSH the pituitary secretes. For decades now, this condition has been treated almost exclusively with Levothyroxine, a synthetic form of one thyroid hormone: T4. For most patients, T4 in the Levothyroxine converts to T3, which is then used by the body for energy. However, for a large proportion of hypothyroidism patients, this treatment either stops working or never quite starts. Even though these people’s TSH readings might fall into the ‘normal’ range (which, depending on your GP, can be anywhere between under 5 and under 10) their symptoms soon return and worsen over time. They are then told it’s ‘all in their mind’ or due to their lifestyle, and they receive no further help to cope with an ever-decreasing quality of life. Some may, in the meantime, be prescribed anti-depressants or be diagnosed with Fibromyalgia or CFS. Others develop heart conditions, particularly atrial fibrillation, which can occur both through under and over medication: this highlights the need for a more nuanced approach to their thyroid blood tests. Most, at any rate, simply have to deal with their condition(s) on their own with very limited help from the NHS. Much success has been achieved through some enlightened NHS endocrinologists or privately, however, using a combination of levothyroxine and liothyronine (T3) or natural desiccated thyroid, the old standard treatment before Levothyroxine. There is a growing trend amongst patients to feel the need to take their treatment into their own hands, including more extensive blood tests to show the real extent of their thyroid’s condition and activity, and thereby more accurately gauge the effectiveness of medication. This does, however, mostly have to happen privately due to the limited guidelines of the NHS. This means that, apart from the individual expense, monitoring of the treatment and condition is not regulated and information/research is not being gathered by the extensive NHS network to improve its understanding and treatment of hypothyroidism. We call on you to reconsider the NHS's adherence to the TSH reading as the principal guideline for diagnosing and monitoring hypothyroidism, to take patients’ symptoms more into consideration and to routinely use a full panel of FT4, FT3 and TSH blood tests for anyone still displaying symptoms of under-active thyroid, particularly when on thyroid hormone treatment. We also call on the NHS to make the combined medication of T3 – liothyronine – with Levothyroxine much more easily available to patients whose symptoms do not sufficiently improve on T4 alone. Considering the amount of work days lost and lack of quality of life for such a large number of tax payers, it is in the country’s interest that these patients should get more help. Their symptoms of exhaustion, physical pain, depression and anxiety, along with the increased tendency to develop cardiac disease and diabetes, should not be dismissed as just another malaise of middle age when there is a growing body of evidence to the contrary from people who have managed to treat themselves back to a level of health and vitality that they, and their GPs, thought they had lost for ever.