The official minimum voltage is 216.2 and all appliances will work with this. For every 10 volts above this your bill will be approximately 8% higher! So, my 255 volts could be costing me at nearly 27% extra on my bills. Carbon release is also unecessarily increased.

Societies are judged by how they take care of their most vulnerable. As you yourself, Mr Cameron, put it so very well: "...Fairness means giving money to help the poorest in society. People who are sick, who are vulnerable, the elderly - I want you to know we will always look after you. That's the sign of a civilised society and it's what I believe..." ... David Cameron 6 Oct 2010 Those in power should not be cynically trying to distract the public by attacking the weakest; the young, students, immigrants, sick, disabled and elderly. Don't expect everyone to be fooled by these tactics for too much longer. Sooner or later, they'll wake up and realise that they're next in line. Why not make our democratic society fairer by asking more from those who can afford it - those who have profited most from the shrinkage and privatisation of our national assets; the corporate companies, the bankers, CEOs and executives, the politicians with their own private health care companies, beancounters and lawyers, shareholders, the hedgefund managers, the private equity companies, PFI contractors, russian oligarchs, and other rich and thriving individuals? The lucky wealthy have grown richer by exploiting the poor and powerless, and this 'Bedroom Tax' is yet another attempt to reduce the welfare state. Meanwhile the government continues to cut, chipping away at our welfare state, disparaging worker representation through Unions, closing hospitals, schools, public housing, swimming pools, libraries, welfare benefits, ad nauseum. The rich don't need, and don't want to pay for, any of the welfare state - they just want to benefit from the rich prizes of opportunity as public services collapse, and they pick up the cherries. And, of course their wealth has grown enormously since the recession started. Despite the poor losing their homes, the wealthy continue to do very nicely "Thank you very much" on their fat salaries and fat pensions, insider / offshore dealings, their directorships, private schools, investments, private healthcare, property portfolio, gyms, golf clubs, not forgetting their offshore: bank accounts, companies, and lavish homes with untaxed spare bedrooms galore. Why are they so greedy? Why do they need my bedroom? Will they force me out of my home?

The employees of Remploy are mainly disabled and their work there provides them with a high degree of independance, self esteem and the benefits of working with other people. closing these factories, especialy in the current economic climate is likely to throw them on the mercy of the benefits system.

The law is a discriminatory one which relies on an individual police officer's judgement and, as such, is open to abuse. The police officer is open to criticism for misuse of the order and under 16 year old's are vulnerable to overzealous application and miss-accusations. The discriminatory nature of the order encourages the hatred and fear of young people and allows some to feel justified in discriminatory attitudes toward them. It encourages those who have suffered at the hands of badly behaved youths to believe that they are all like that and to become more afraid. It will only serve to alienate young people and make them feel that the police are there simply to control them but not to protect them. Already young people in Bangor are avoiding going out to the cinema and to after school clubs for fear of being caught in the curfew or of being beaten up by the marauding gangs that this order implies are on the loose in the city center. Bangor is a lovely historic place with much to offer young and old alike. It suffers from very little anti-social behavior apart from a very few people in limited areas and the usual after pub and club problems present in all cities. It is suffering in the downturn from an empty high street (the longest in the country) but there was no rioting in Bangor last year, the out of town JJB sports, PC World etc were not ransacked as was seen in other towns and cities across the UK, so why Bangor? There was no consultation with the public or even their elected representatives on the City Council. This is despite the ACPO guidance that there should be consultation with the effected community and a Rowntree report, which concludes that these laws have only been effective where consultation and involvement had taken place. This law is badly worded, heavy handed, discriminatory and draconian and it should be stopped now!

The Channel Island of Sark has just 600 inhabitants. They lead a peaceful and historic way of life that has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years. The islanders get around on bikes or by horse and cart - there are no cars or tarmac roads on the island. It is a unique and beautiful place, a rare piece of tranquillity in a chaotic modern world. But now the billionaire owners of The Telegraph newspaper, the Barclay brothers, are threatening that way of life. Twenty years ago, they bought the tiny neighbouring island of Brecqhou and built a huge mock gothic castle that looms over Sark. Ever since, they have been buying up every hotel, small business and piece of land they can get their hands on. The islands status as a tax haven means the brothers have to pay no tax on their fortune back to the UK. The Sarkees have been doing everything they can to resist their power over the island. In 2008, the Barclays tried to flood the island's first democratically elected government with their allies. When the islanders emphatically rejected them in favour of their own representatives, the brothers retaliated by firing everyone who worked in any of the businesses they had bought out - that amounted to a sixth of Sark's population losing their jobs. It doesn't end there. Those who speak out against the brothers' stranglehold on the island are publicly dragged through the dirt in the Sark Newsletter - a weekly propaganda piece written by the Barclays' lieutenant, Kevin Delaney. The islanders recently told the Guardian and BBC that they live in fear in a "culture of bullying and intimidation." The Barclay brothers company Sark Estate Management (SEM) has turned much of their good quality agricultural land over to vineyards, land that was traditionally used by the islanders for centuries for growing crops and grazing livestock. In November 2012 a peaceful protest at the Sark Mill vineyards against the spread of vines resulted in 120 Sark residents signing a petition asking the Barclays to reconsider their vineyard project but this was ignored. SEM continue to spray the vineyards with chemicals and residents fear for the health of Sark's pristine ecosystem and their fresh water supplies which come from under the ground. Sark is a dependency of the Crown but, so far, our government has left the islanders to fend for themselves. The Department of Justice has admitted that it has an "ultimate responsibility to ensure good governance" of Sark. They are aware of what's going on - former Justice Minister Lord McNally has already been to visit the island. It's time Lord Faulks, the new Justice Minister and Chris Grayling, the Secretary of State for Justice, lived up to that responsibility. You can find out more about the situation in Sark in this recent Panorama show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01px74c/Panorama_The_Tax_Haven_Twins/ Or this earlier Today programme piece: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9709000/9709518.stm

The age of criminal responsibility in England is one the lowest in Europe, and the statistics show that we are in danger of criminalising too many children and young people. The age of criminal responsibility needs to be reviewed in light of the standards set by the UN Convention and these international comparisons. Young children are simply not capable of the sophisticated mental reasoning required to be held fully responsible for criminal actions, and we need to take a far more "welfare based" approach in dealing with young people who commit serious crimes. Furthermore, there is concern among neuroscientists in this field that the age of criminal responsibility in the UK is unreasonably low given the emerging understanding of how slowly the brains of children mature, and the evidence of individual differences suggests that an arbitrary cut-off age may not be justifiable.

We call on Brighton & Hove City Council to investigate the feasibility of building a free, public bicycle pump track at The Level, giving local children, teenagers, families, BMX riders and mountain bikers another place to develop their cycling skills and enjoy outdoor recreation. Dear Brighton & Hove City Council, I am writing to propose the construction of a public bicycle pump track at The Level in Brighton. As a young mountain bike rider in Brighton & Hove, I believe that a pump track at The Level would provide a valuable recreational facility for children, teenagers, families and cyclists of all abilities. The track could include rollers, banked corners and beginner-friendly and more challenging sections. I would like it to be free to use, accessible to the public and designed primarily for bicycles, including mountain bikes and BMX bikes. Although Hove Lagoon provides a pump-track facility, a location at The Level could give people in central Brighton and surrounding neighbourhoods another place to practise cycling skills, exercise and meet other riders. It could also encourage young people to spend more time outdoors and take part in healthy activities. I understand that the park has many existing users, so I would welcome a feasibility study to identify a suitable location that protects green space, considers accessibility and minimises disruption to other park users. I would be grateful if the council could consider this proposal and explain how residents, particularly young people, can help develop the idea further. Thank you for your time and consideration. Kind regards, A local young cyclist

Having worked on the roads most of my adult life  I dread the hot summers with having to wear thick hi viz trousers. Being able to have the choice between trousers or hi viz shorts would make working in heat more comfortable.

I'm 73 on standard state pension. Many years ago I was advised by the tax office to share my marriage allowance with my husband. My husband pays taxes on his pension. He is 74, and now im being billed as well. I get basic pension, nothing else but now I'm being taxed even though I'm under the threshold. I'm struggling as it is without paying tax. 

To fix this, Edinburgh Council must immediately allocate funding to recruit and permanently station a dedicated School Crossing Patrol Guide outside 139 Bonnington Road. Additionally, the city must implement active travel traffic-calming measures to ensure child cyclists and pedestrians are safely prioritized over commercial heavy vehicles during the morning rush. As a mother and everyday cyclist in Leith, the bicycle is the only means of transport I have to get my 8-year-old child to school. Earlier this year, I personally suffered a heavy fall due to the bad design of the local tram rails. More recently, I was hit by a vehicle on these roads—and luckily, my child was not with me at the time. Crucially, neither of these incidents was due to a reckless driver. The terrifying reality is that even when motorists are being cautious and families are doing everything right, the infrastructure around the Bonnington corridor is fundamentally unsafe for young families. When you force double-decker buses, commercial lorries, and child cyclists to share the same narrow morning rush-hour space, there is zero margin for error.  I know firsthand the terror of being hit on these streets, and I am launching this petition because we should not have to wait for a child to be seriously hurt before our streets are protected. We need a permanent Lollipop Guide outside Bun-sgoil Taobh na Pàirce to act as that vital, life-saving human buffer.

I am a Year 2 nursing student, and although I do not have children or a mortgage, I have still been financially struggling because of the delays to our enrolment and funding. I have reached one of the lowest points I have experienced since I was 16. The uncertainty over when I will receive my money, combined with not having full access to Moodle, timetables and learning materials, has caused an enormous amount of stress and has taken a real toll on my wellbeing. I have reached a point where I have very little money left and genuinely do not know how I am going to manage until my funding comes through. I cannot imagine the additional pressure this situation is putting on students who have children, rent or mortgages, bills and other people depending on them. We should not have to choose between being able to afford essential living costs and being able to attend university. Moving teaching online temporarily would allow us to continue our education while giving the university time to resolve the enrolment and funding issues that are outside of students’ control. We are asking to be supported through this situation, not disadvantaged by it.

I am supporting this petition because I have personally experienced the difference that meaningful youth participation can make. I have attended UK Youth Parliament conferences and taken part in youth participation opportunities that gave me the confidence to speak up, engage with decision-makers and understand that my voice could genuinely make a difference. For me, this is personal. The support and opportunities I received through youth participation helped shape the person I am today. I am now studying Law at university, and I genuinely believe those experiences played an important part in giving me the confidence and ambition to get here. I am therefore deeply concerned about the future of the UK Youth Parliament beyond March 2027. Young people are constantly told that our voices matter and that we should engage with democracy. Yet political education and youth participation are already underfunded and too often overlooked. Removing or weakening a national platform through which young people can represent their peers risks sending a very damaging message: that young people’s voices matter only when it is convenient to listen to them. If there are problems with UK Youth Parliament, they should be addressed. If more young people need to be reached, we should invest in reaching them. But decisions about the future of youth representation must not be made without properly listening to the young people who are directly affected. I want the Government to hear directly from young people before making any final decision. We deserve to have a voice in deciding what happens to the institutions that exist to represent our voice.