Cyprus and Malta and other Mediterranean continually break EU legislation by allowing "hunters" and other cruel methods to kill lovely birds migrating across their countries every Autumn. This must be stopped NOW, otherwise our bird populations will be gradually wiped out forever. Cyprus is President of the EU for this 6 months, why don't they use this to stop this unnecessary cruelty? STOP IT NOW!!!!

The LCP is under scrutiny because there are claims that the withdrawal of food and water and the administration of strong painkillers is speeding up the dying process. This can all happen without the consent or even the knowledge of the patient or their family. Each year nearly 130,000 patients are put on to the Liverpool Care Pathway. That’s around 356 deaths per day. A national audit by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool and the Royal College of Physicians into the Liverpool Care Pathway found that last year, in 44 per cent of cases when conscious patients were placed on the pathway, there was no record that the decision had been discussed with them. That means that around 57,000 patients weren't informed that they had been put on the pathway last year. Our Story My mother Elise Devine was put on the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital, after recovering from a kidney infection. There was no justification for this - which a Jury concluded 7 years later at her inquest. A visiting doctor, who had spoken to Elsie just before she was administered unjustified Morphine, noted in the medical file that she was “happy with no complaints and waiting for her daughter”. Her son Harry sat in the lounge area and chatted quite happily with his Mother, not knowing the LCP regime had already commenced by means of a Fentanyl patch (135 mcg morphine), which had been hidden under her clothes. He kissed his Mother goodnight and said I will see you tomorrow. The next morning she was comatose with more drugs that had been administered by a portable syringe driver which was put into her back and placed under her pillow out of sight. The LCP commenced without Elsie or her family's knowledge or consent, no one has justified why our Mother was placed on the LCP which subsequently ended her life in 2 days, and neither Harry nor I ever spoke to our dear Mother again. What we need to do Currently, there is no legal requirement to get consent from a patient or family member before a patient is placed on the LCP. The NHS website states that “while legal consent is not required to place a patient on the LCP, the fact that the plan is being considered should always be discussed with a relative or carer and, if possible, the patient themselves”. This needs to change. Please sign the petition to ensure that a law is enforced to protect us and our loved ones. A document is needed to sign to show that we agree and understand why we, or our family members, are being put on the terminal pathway and that we have given consent. We shouldn't have to fight for justice after death; the law should be there to protect us when we are alive. This affects all of us at some point. We all have the right to say goodbye to our loved ones. Please make this happen for all our sakes.

20mph speed limits should be the norm in communties in Wiltshire, making them nicer, safer and healthier places to live. Many forward thinking Councils already have widespread 20mph limits and Wiltshire Council should follow their example.

Barnet Council closed the library last April because of budget cuts, and are planning to sell it off. The library has been a vital hub for the community since 1934 – providing everything from personal finance advice and pilates classes to computer access, as well as offering warmth for the elderly struggling with heating bills and a safe, quiet place for kids to do their homework. Occupy London activists occupied the library in early September, and re-opened it for the community. Thanks to books and computers donated by local people it is now being run by community volunteers on a rota basis. The occupation has the blessing of many residents who are delighted to see the locked doors of the library flung open once again. But Barnet Council have started eviction proceedings. Help us to keep our library open. We need 7,000 signatures to trigger a debate by the council. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-kDo7tVgAA

Lead is highly toxic. We have removed it from fuel, from paint, but it is still used for shooting in the UK. A single shotgun cartridge sprays up to 300 pieces of lead shot across the countryside where it is eaten by birds. It only takes a few pieces of lead shot to poison a bird, causing suffering and death for thousands of birds each year. Non-toxic alternatives are readily available, yet many UK shooters still choose lead. In 1983 a Royal Commission recommended phasing out lead shot, but that hasn’t happened and it is still poisoning our wildlife. More details can be found at: www.wwt.org.uk/stop-lead-poisoning-our-birds/ SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP THE USE OF LEAD SHOT.

This is so important for childrens lives of those who were granted a Freeing Order for Adoption and which may have been granted after the 28th September 2010 cut off date. It left a legal 'loop-hole' which means the Freeing Order (which frees the child from his or her birth family legally) may not be fully valid, so any Adoption granted on the back of such a Freeing Order may not be totally watertight legally. This has many implications for the future of such children and the Scottish Government needs to make this legislation totally clear. My family are suffering financially and emotionally because of the uncertainty this has caused, we have been waiting more than 2years now for clarification. Please sign the petition to help put pressure on the government to clarify things once and for all. Thank you.

THE RIGHT TO LIVE saving lives not lining the pockets of the big pharma companies

Approximately 1,000 young people (aged between 1 year and 30 years) die suddenly and without medical explanation every year in the U.K alone, leaving families with one burning question-WHY? A new test known as Genetic Autopsy can provide answers for up to a third of these families (up to fifth of S.I.D.S (cot death) cases) and,in some cases, can highlight the potential for death in siblings/family members. We want ALL families affected by Sudden Unexplained Death to be offered this test to provide answers and reassurance.

(1) BEES ARE VANISHING FAST! Over the past few years one in three bee colonies has gone from the UK, and worldwide there has been a massive drop in numbers. We could be heading towards a global disappearance of bees. The mass decline corresponds closely to the release of a group of insecticides called neonicotinoids: http://www.soilassociation.org/wildlife/bees?gclid=CNSJosP50LICFSTKtAodRwwAMQ (2) BEES ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE UK ECOSYSTEM AND FOOD SUPPLY. A UK without the buzzing of summer gardens and meadows is a terrible thought, but the idea of losing our most important pollinators is truly chilling. Without bees, fruit trees and many other flowering plants could no longer reproduce naturally and would die out. One in every three bites of food in the UK is the result of bee pollination. The loss of such an integral player in our natural cycles is likely to result in unpredictable and far-reaching negative repercussions, and may risk a total collapse of our native ecosystems and food supply. (2) STRONG EVIDENCE LINKS CERTAIN INSECTICIDES TO BEE DISAPPEARANCES. There is a growing body of scientific and anecdotal evidence linking neonicotinoid pesticides to Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder. This evidence has been deemed sufficiently potent by German, French and Italian Governments to ban the use of neonicotinoids, and for many pressure groups, including Friends of the Earth, to push for their worldwide suspension pending a satisfactory assessment of their impacts. For a highly watchable overview of the evidence check out: http://youtu.be/oVuFvxjBbig (3) WHILST OTHER EU GOVERNMENTS HAVE IMPOSED BANS IN RESPONSE TO THIS EVIDENCE, OURS HAS DISMISSED IT AS INCONCLUSIVE! Astonishingly, in a report last week DEFRA dismissed this body of evidence outright, stating that there would be no ban until 'unequivocal evidence' was presented that neonicotinoids WERE harmful to bees: http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/23/09/2012/135352/DEFRA-dismisses-study-linking-bee-deaths-to-pesticide.htm#.UGBH-hySw0I.facebook DEFRA's priorities are unnervingly back-to-front. It is plainly obvious that to dismiss ANY evidence, however small, which links an operational pesticide to the potential for the collapse of natural / agricultural systems is completely insane. DEFRA need to be made to realise that the people of the UK value bees and long-term environmental integrity above a minor economic / agricultural inconvenience, and that we demand their decision reversed with immediate effect. We also call for DEFRA to implement clear policy that ensures the burden-of-proof of the harmlessness of new pesticides to our native ecology rests upon the manufacturer prior to release, and not upon the public and independent bodies whilst they are already in use. The vital importance of these issues cannot be overstated. For more detailed information about this issue and for other things you can do to help, please check out: http://bees.pan-uk.org/what-can-you-do

Cleaners are as integral to the team as shop assistants, managers, and directors. Outsourcing the cleaning services is demeaning, discriminatory and clearly counter to your founder's vision. We are grateful to Polly Toynbee for alerting us to the situation in a recent Guardian article. For some of us, it is so unjust and morally repugnant that we intend to boycott John Lewis, Waitrose and Greenbee until this injustice is put right - and encourage others to do likewise.

We know that GCSEs are not working. We know that our education system is working solely due to the immense and highly admirable efforts of those who work tirelessly to improve the chances and opportunities of young people. We have the opportunity, as a people, to radically evolve this system. For a summary of why this government's proposals are likely to cause immense damage, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/michael-gove-gcse-reforms?newsfeed=true. Some of the world's most foremost experts in education, who have all achieved spectacular results, have suggested a very different route. See for example http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html. Rather than ignoring them, the government could and should make use of their considerable expertise. By taking the small step of revising the proposals through a committee of learning experts, the government has the opportunity to make positive and informed reforms that will benefit each and every child in the UK for generations to come.

On September 1st, the Grainger Medical Group GP Practices in Benwell, Newcastle were handed over to the private healthcare company Care UK. This followed a tendering process that was obscured from public view, with patients at the practice only finding out that their GP was being tendered out after the contract had been awarded to Care UK. Care UK have a poor track record of providing GP style health care services. In the past they have lost 6,000 X-ray records, and turned away a patient from an urgent care centre, who in fact had meningitis, because of the terms of their contract. Staff at the practice have resigned in protest at the decision. The Council has the power to scrutinise the tendering process, yet did not look at the bidding process. This is a serious error of judgement and does not bode well for the ability of supposed scrutinising bodies to play their role in an increasingly privatised NHS. With the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, private providers will become increasingly common place in our NHS. It is important our elected representatives hold them to account.