On 30 January 2013 the executives of Cumbria, Allerdale and Copeland County Councils will vote on whether to continue with Government plans to build an underground nuclear dump in the Lake District of up to 25km square. Scientists from the Government’s Nirex investigation in the 1990s onwards have made it categorically clear that an underground nuclear depository is not safe in mountainous areas of high waterfall where radioactive waste is likely to leak into the water table, where the geology is unstable as in the whole of the Lake District region, with multiple cracks through which radioactive material could escape. There is no scientific evidence that an underground nuclear repository would be safe anywhere, and yet the Government is determined to continue with its plans to bury waste anywhere people can be persuaded to take it. Voting No would force the Government to take a more responsible attitude in its plans for nuclear expansion – burying the waste out of sight is not the safe answer to this dilemma. http://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/truth-to-power-no-nuke-dump/ http://www.davidsmythe.org/nuclear/documents.htm http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/Publications/2010/rock-solid-a-scientific-review/ Please also sign the petition to the leader of Copeland County Council on 38 Degrees 'No Nuclear Dump in the Lake District' http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-nuclear-dump-in-the-lake-district We need to put pressure on all the Councillors who will be deciding on this issue.

We work at Animal Lifeline – a registered charity based in Stoke-on-Trent. In the thirty years it has been running, the situation with unwanted or abandoned dogs is the worst we’ve ever seen it. The problem is most critical with Staffordshire Bull Terriers and breeds associated with a macho image. Such dogs are often bred for fighting, and charities like ours are bursting at the seams with animals that have become too much of a handful for people to look after. We want to see a law enforced saying that no one can breed pedigree dogs without a license. The stipulations of that license need careful consideration but we’d recommend that: Any individual granted a license must follow a ‘Responsible Breeder’s Code of Practice’, All recipients must be properly home-checked, Spot checks are carried out on breeders by authorised authorities to ensure they adhere to animal welfare laws and the Code of Practice, A log book similar to the log book of a motor vehicle , to be passed on if the dog is transferred to new owners Please sign and share the petition. This trend of the overbreeding of 'macho-image ' dogs must be addressed.

Many members of the Church of England and Church in Wales, both clergy and lay people, LGBT and not, are in favour of allowing gay marriage ceremonies. In time a new hierarchy will also be in favour and at that point it will be much simpler to allow "opting in" than to go through the process of amending legislation. Meanwhile the C of E will be just as well "protected" as the Roman Catholic and other churches which do not wish to hold gay marraige ceremonies. Legislating to make gay marriage illegal in the Church of England and Church in Wales simply makes homophobia legal, which wouldn't be allowed in any other institution.

I believe the only way forward to address this justly is to stop NHS investigating itself and make Trusts accountable- financially! Therefore my suggestion is a fully Independent complaints system funded by a Complaints pool. The PHSO process currently costs over £30m per annum to investigate less than 2% of complaints brought to it..that 98% left unresolved! Funding for Independent Complaint Resolution could come by scrapping the ineffective PHSO process, we would save £m's and each Trust paying into a Complaints Pool (with Trusts failing at local resolution (first stage of complaints process) to pay in substantially more.) I feel there will be a willingness to keep costs low, implementation & learning lessons may be the real winners.

As part of its budget proposals Newcastle City Council is proposing the closure of 10 branch libraries, along with staffing cuts at City Library. Public libraries provide a vital service for all sectors of the community, but it is the most vulnerable who will be hit hardest, just as access to information becomes even more essential in view of all the other government changes which are about to hit. Not everyone affected will be able to afford to travel the increased distance to a library, and children are particularly likely to lose out. Once these local libraries are closed they will never be restored and we will all have lost a vital resource. The City of Newcastle will have suffered irreparable damage to its reputation as a centre for culture and learning. As local author David Almond said recently, "a library is one of humankind's greatest inventions and is at the heart of our culture".

Cystic fibrosis is a life limiting condition affecting the respiratory and digestive system of sufferers. There is no cure at present only medical treatments to alleviate symptoms, fight infections and digest food. These medications need to be taken several times a day. Prescriptions now cost over £7 per item. CF patients should not have to pay for medications that keep them well and alive.

The 'big four' supermarkets: Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsburys do not pay the Living Wage. These companies employ around 900,000 people meaning that together they employ the second largest number of people in the UK after the NHS. The Living Wage is “the threshold at which people can live above the poverty level with a sufficient safety net to provide for quality of life”. We need to ask these supermarkets to pay their staff the living wage. Big companies don’t like bad publicity. 38 Degrees members put pressure on the Olympic sponsors who were dodging their tax in the summer, and they caved to public pressure. We need to shame them into paying their staff a wage which affords them dignity and shows that they’re worth more than the legal minimum. Sign this petition to show the CEOs that you think they should pay their staff a wage they can live on! Together we can work together to lift people out of poverty. These supermarkets can afford it! The salaries paid to their CEOs are evidence of this. Justin King, the CEO of Sainsburys, receives £3.2 million a year; Philip Clarke of Tesco, £6.9 million; Dalton Philips of Morrisons, £4 million; Andy Clarke of Asda's pay is not in the public domain. If they can afford to pay their bosses this much, they can afford to pay their staff a few pounds more an hour. Tesco announced sales of more than £1 billion a week and annual profits of more than £3 billion despite the impact of the global downturn. Sainsburys opened five supermarkets, 28 convenience stores and two extensions, adding 267,000 square feet to its estate over the last three months. If they can afford to expand to at this rate, they can afford to pay their staff more. The Living Wage is beneficial to employees, employers and taxpayers. It prevents working poverty and the exploitation of low-paid workers. Taxpayers top up the low wages of supermarket workers by £50 a week in tax credits. If all low paid workers earned the living wage, the government could save £823 million a year by decreasing welfare benefits. It’s not just those who are unemployed who are in poverty, it’s also those in work who just don’t earn enough money to pay for the basics. One-fifth of women and one-seventh of men earn less than £7 per hour. More than six million working adults in Britain are living in poverty. Since the beginning of the Living Wage campaign in 2001 led by Citizens UK, they have lifted 45,000 people out of poverty and put over £210 million into the pockets of some of the lowest paid workers in the UK. *UPDATE* I have made a short link if you'd like to share the petition on Twitter: It is http://bit.ly/Big4LW745

**UPDATE: Job Done! (House of Bishops statement 11 Dec 2012). Many thanks to all supporters - keep praying!** 42 out of 44 Dioceses have voted for women bishops; the House of Laity vote clearly did not reflect the democratic wishes of the membership they are supposed to represent. A year's delay will enable Dioceses to reflect again, and make their views even clearer to their Synodical representatives.

* Aesthetic reasons- not to cramp the historic site of the Abbey itself. * Historic reasons - there has always been an hotel there for centuries. * Archaeological - the hotel is in the grounds of the historic Abbey complex. * Social and Economic - UK tourism began in this area and it continues to attract tourists from all over the world. The first part of Tintern they see is the Abbey and the hotel.

**UPDATE - Victory! Danny Nightingale's sentenced was quashed and he has now been released! Thank you to everyone who signed the petition.** Danny was convicted of illegally possessing a pistol which his trainees in the Iraqi army had given him as a gift in 2007. He planned to donate the pistol to his regiment but soon after had to return to the UK following the sudden deaths of two of his closest friends. His colleagues packed all his belongings, including the pistol, in boxes which remained unopened until 2010 when police searched his house while investigating a complaint made against his housemate. In 2009, Danny collapsed while on a fund-raising trek in Brazil and incurred serious memory damage. During his court martial, expert witnesses said he probably had no memory that the gun was in his possession The prosecution praised Danny's character as being exemplary. Despite this, a war hero has been imprisoned and his wife and children are now facing being evicted from their home. He has been unfairly imprisoned. Please release him immediately. You can read more here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9669410/SAS-war-hero-jailed-after-betrayal.html

I am sure many of you are aware of the measures that the Govt has in place to root out the supposed fraudsters claiming Disability and Sickness Benefits. Samuel Miller has taken the time to make a complaint on behalf of the British People and has provided a long list of links to support this. If a Canadian is going to put the effort into helping us, surely we need to speak up with him. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has investigated the United Kingdom Government. Their report, released on 24th of April 2024, shows the committee is appalled by reports of deaths linked to benefit claims that it says have a disturbingly consistent theme. (https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRPD%2FC%2FGBR%2FFUIR%2F1&Lang=en) Further, a Freedom of Information Request made by The Big Issue in 2023 showed that in the last 10 years, £350m has been spent trying to uphold decisions made by the DWP regarding Personal Independence Payment and that 68% are then overturned at Tribunal. This suggests a possible £320m waste of money. (https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefit-appeals-pip-universal-credit-cost-dwp/ )  In addition, According to an interim Parliamentary Report on Suicides, one suicide is estimated to cost £1.67m. (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhealth/300/30005.htm) and according to research carried out by Professor Barr, which was presented to The Commons Work and Pensions Committee “the work capability assessment (WCA) was linked to about 600 suicides in just three years.” (https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/dwp-ignored-hugely-alarming-research-that-linked-wca-with-600-suicides-mps-are-told/ ). Thus, the 600 suicides over a three year period has cost Britain £1,002,000,000 or £334m per year. Sadly, according to the Interim Report on Suicide Prevention “those who have lost a loved one due to suicide are more likely to commit suicide” and that for every suicide, a “minimum of six people will suffer a severe impact”. That is a potential minimum of 3600 families and friends affected by a suicide who will try and seek help from their GP etc, adding further costs that may not be recognised by The Government. Unfortunately, Professor Barr said it was not possible to examine the impact of universal credit on mental health, and whether it had also led to suicides, because DWP was refusing to release the data needed to carry out that research “when it is within its power to do that and it would be possible to assess those impacts”. Another complainant, Craig Bulman, has said that "The persistent cruelty of the government has driven me to submit the UN report to the International Criminal Court. I contend that these actions may constitute crimes against humanity as defined under Article 7 of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court Act 2001, Schedule 8, Article 7. It is my sincere hope that the International Criminal Court will consider launching an investigation into the actions of the United Kingdom Government from 2010 to 2024. Such behaviour is wholly unacceptable in a civilised and democratic society. We, as a democracy, pride ourselves on upholding the rule of law—a cornerstone of our values—and it is utterly inconceivable that any agency or government department could justify conduct that inflicts profound harm on vulnerable populations. This is not the standard of governance we expect, nor should it ever be tolerated."   "Since 2010, successive Conservative governments in the UK have orchestrated policies that not only marginalised but systematically dismantled the safety nets for the disabled and vulnerable. This severe and sustained assault has led to unprecedented scrutiny from the United Nations, marking the first time a member state was investigated for potential human rights violations against disabled persons. The UN's damning findings echoed the chilling narratives captured in John Pring’s pivotal book, 'The Department,' which lays bare the harsh realities and sometimes fatal consequences of these policies that have not just failed but actively harmed those most in need of protection, exposing disturbing truth about The Government’s responsibility and the real human costs of austerity." If you would like to make your own complaint to the ICC, and submit evidence, you can do so using this link https://otplink.icc-cpi.int  While you have your health, none of this matters. One simple mishap could expose you to this chaos. Please share this Petition as much as possible.  http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/23/united-kingdom-government-denounced-for-crimes-against-disabled-people-to-international-criminal-court-in-the-hague/ UNCRPD investigates UK Govt  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/20/un-inquiry-uk-disability-rights-violations-cprd-welfare-cuts Ian Duncan Smith and Chris Grayling reported to Police over fitness to work tests. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/iain-duncan-smith-police-assessing-possible-investigation-into-dwp-ministers-over-fit-to-work-tests-a7020471.html UN probe into Disabled Human Rights violations http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/13648683.Revealed__contents_of_dossier_which_sparked_UN_probe_over_disabled__human_rights_violations_/?ref=twtrec Did David Cameron admit multiple murders to Andrew Marr? http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/04/20/did-david-cameron-admit-multiple-murders-to-andrew-marr/ Why the U.K. Government Has Failed the Disabled Community http://www.newsweek.com/uk-government-has-failed-disabled-community-461517 The increasing death toll due to the loss of benefits. Telling it as it is https://mzolobajluk.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/the-increasing-death-toll-due-to-the-loss-of-benefits/ The Mirror "Tory Welfare Cuts grossly violated rights of disabled people" says the UNhttp://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-welfare-cuts-gravely-violated-9215742 "Ken Loach's Film is not true to life" comment reposted from original article by fairer society. http://www.afairersociety.uk/2016/11/07/its-a-fact-ken-loachs-film-is-not-true-to-life-it-doesnt-show-how-bad-it-really-is/ UN urged to act after Conservative Government refuses to act http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/11/13/un-urged-to-act-after-conservative-government-dismisses-report-on-disability/

Year after year gas and electricity prices have risen, to the point that millions of us can't afford to TURN THE HEAT ON, and thousands freeze to death every winter. Yet, the Big Six energy companies are so profitable that they pay billions of pounds in dividends to shareholders and millions of pounds in pay and bonuses to their executives. And no wonder they make so much money - in just over 8 years, from October 2004 until February 2013, my gas charges increased by a whopping 279.36%* and electricity charges by 69.89%.** Poverty is destroying the lives of millions of people in the UK, and if the misery and deaths caused by fuel poverty are ever to be eliminated, energy must be affordable by all. This will never happen while our energy sector is in the hands of private profiteers. We must TURN THE HEAT ON Government to get rid of The Big Six and restore the UK energy sector to public ownership. * from 1.439p to 4.02p per kWh ** from 7.328p to 12.45p per kWh