Right now, the government is propping up the declining oil and gas industry by giving oil and gas producing companies massive tax breaks - to the tune of £2.7 billion every year. Meanwhile these same companies have paid billions of pounds to their shareholders, all whilst laying off large sections of the workforce. This scandal has to end. This financial support could and should be redirected to create jobs and support workers instead. Part of the additional revenue created by ending these tax breaks could fund a targeted jobs guarantee for those currently working in high-carbon industries like oil and gas, that ensures they can find equivalent alternative employment or funded retraining. It’s time for the government to take real action – end tax breaks for fossil fuel companies, and back workers instead. 

⚠️  Shock planning return for Our Village?! 🏡❌ I’m honestly baffled 😳 to see this planning application back on Somerset Council’s table. Not often that happens — usually, once it’s gone through an officer’s report, that’s it. So why now? Here’s the kicker: it’s an outline application 😡. That means:  • No actual houses need to be built yet 🏚️  • They just get to change the principle of the land from agricultural ➡️ housing 🌾➡🏠  • And it could push our village boundaries further out 🚧 Meanwhile, there’s plenty of land already available ✅ — old factory sites, brownfield plots, areas in the local plan. We don’t need to eat up more countryside just to satisfy developers’ profits 💸. Also, I’m incredibly puzzled .. 🤷‍♂️why is there no new officers report or any assessment and  why  has gone directly to planning board From what I can see, this has all the same problems as the last plan:  • Wrong type of housing ❌  • Wrong location ❌  • Minimal benefits to the village ❌ And here’s a huge problem: we STILL don’t even have a secondary school locally 🏫. Children would continue to be forced onto circular bus routes to Shepton Mallet or Castle Cary 🚍💨, and those additional transport needs are often ignored. This isn’t just inconvenient — it’s a real community failure. And don’t get me started on developer 💰💰💰 contributions… supposedly to help the community, but Somerset Council has one of the worst records for making developers actually pay up 💀. “Oh, they can’t meet their profit margin” 💸… and the council rolls over. Seriously? 😤 We need homes, yes. But we need: ✅ Affordable homes ✅ Properly designed homes ✅ Homes in the right places Not another cookie-cutter sprawl ruining our village and our community 😡 Perhaps this is yet another incompetent error administration? By  who ? The developer ‘chancing it”.. someone else ? 🕵️🪽🐷🐖🪽- I mean given it is adjacent to a former pig farm perhaps flying pigs are as likely! If you care about our village, this is the kind of thing we can’t let slip through. Speak up, comment, and ask questions before it’s too late 🗣️✊

I’m starting this because too many families are being hurt while a small number of online operators make huge profits. Gambling is causing sleepless nights, maxed cards, and the shame of chasing losses on slot games designed to keep you playing. That is not a fair fight. The scale is big. Industry takings are around £15.6bn a year, with online casino £4.4bn of that and £3.6bn from slots alone. These are exactly the products most linked with harm. At the same time, NHS referrals to gambling clinics have more than doubled in the past year, showing rising demand for help. Public health officials estimate gambling harms cost England £1.05–£1.77bn a year when you add direct costs and the wider health impact. Children and young people are still heavily exposed to gambling advertising online, even as rules tighten. Raising duties on the highest-harm, highest-profit online products and ringfencing the money for treatment, prevention and research is a fair, targeted step. A new statutory levy exists, but ministers control tax and can go further where the harm is greatest. This petition asks them to do exactly that.

The rainbow rail at Mile End skatepark is the least used part of the park, no-one likes it, no one skates it.  It's especially frustrating as underneath the rail is a perfect kerb, but the stupid rail is in the way. The park would be SO much better if we could chop out the rail and skate that instead. The kerb is what we all want to skate. It's perfect for beginners and more experienced skaters to practice on before taking tricks to one of the bigger ledges. Simply chopping out the rail would open up the obstacle and make the park much better.  Seriously, NO ONE wants to skate the rainbow rail. Please chop it out and get rid of it. 

Despite prostate cancer affecting tens of thousands of men each year - including one in four Black men - routine screenings for men at risk still aren’t available. But right now the UK National Screening Committee is deciding whether to recommend routine screenings, which could save thousands of lives every year.  Public figures and politicians are already calling for it and now we - the British public - are making the same demand: introduce routine screenings for men at risk NOW to save thousands of lives.

When private investors take over struggling companies, they often promise rescue — but when those companies fail, it’s ordinary people who pay. Greybull Capital owned Monarch Airlines, British Steel and Comet. Each collapsed, costing thousands of jobs and tens of millions in taxpayer money. Monarch’s fall alone forced the Government to spend £40 million flying stranded passengers home. It’s wrong that the same investors can then make a profit from failures and donate to political parties while their companies declare “no one in control”. The system rewards secrecy and punishes honesty. Passengers, workers and taxpayers deserve stronger protections, not another bailout for corporate speculators.

Pateley Bridge is a lovely Dales town, known for its natural beauty with a close community of residents.  However, vehicle speeding and impatient driving has become an endemic problem and is making people feeling unsafe and making residents lives a misery in a number of locations in town. The Ripon Road residential area, a conservation area, sees a great deal of traffic entering and exiting the town, often at a speed too dangerous for the road and pavement lay out.   Ripon Road is not a main road, yet many drivers treat it like one.  Data from March to May 2025 on shows many vehicles speeding excessively, with over 27,000 going over 35mph, 4,300 going over 40mph, and some going up to 60mph which is very dangerous.  The current speed limit of 30mph is not enough to keep everyone safe.   Statistics from other towns that have implemented similar changes show a significant reduction in accidents, increased walking and cycling to and from schools and enhanced community safety. The UK government guidance on urban speed limits supports this proposal, suggesting that areas with high pedestrian activities and narrow roads and pavements, like Pateley Bridge, should have reduced speed limits to increase safety.  It is vital we protect those on foot and vulnerable highway users from speeding vehicles by reducing the speed limit.  The Town Council and our County Councillor are fully in favour of this proposal.  Change is urgently needed to protect our entire community, including our most vulnerable.  Without it the safety, health and well-being of the children, older adults and wider community remains at stake.  Road safety will continue as a barrier to walking and cycling in the area, including to and from schools.   Maximum speed limits of 20mph have been delivered in many other rural areas of North Yorkshire. We want these improvements for the entire Pateley Bridge community.  Evidence shows that people hit by a vehicle at 20mph are around five times less likely to be killed than at 30mph.   Urgent action is needed now to protect the lives of people living in our community.  A maximum speed of 20mph, extended across Pateley Bridge will have an enormous benefit on our community.   Join the petition to North Yorkshire Council to reduce the speed limits in Pateley Bridge by extending the current 20 mph zone to the remainder of the town limits:  • the B6265 (Ripon Road) past Harefield Hall entrance to the Methodist Church • Old Church Lane to beyond the entrance to the Springfield estate • the B6265 (Street Lane), Bridgehouse Gate, to the turn off to Bewerley to connect with the existing Bewerley 20mph zone • Low Wath Road (past Nidderdale High School and Sunflowers Day Nursery).    

3 & 4 Lows Lane isn’t just another old cottage - it’s part of Stanton’s proud industrial history and the birthplace of Hugh Oswald Short, co-founder of Short Brothers and a pioneer of British aviation. From this small Derbyshire home, the Short brothers went on to design and build Britain’s first aircraft, working alongside the Wright brothers and laying the foundations of our nation’s aviation industry. Their later designs - including the Short Stirling, a key training aircraft in the Second World War - helped free up Lancaster bombers for critical missions, directly contributing to the war effort. Demolishing this birthplace would erase a vital connection between Stanton’s industrial past and Britain’s technological progress. Almost everything else from that era has already disappeared - this cottage is one of the last remaining links to where it all began. Once these historic places are gone, they’re gone forever. By standing together, we can show that our heritage matters - and that regeneration in Erewash should protect, not destroy, the places that tell our shared story.

It is important because people keep their devices for good reasons; they're used to them, they don't have the money or desire to change them, they don't want to learn yet again how to work with another device. As stated above the only place they can end up is landfill as these operating systems are used world-wide and are equally useless in the poorest countries. As an aside: computing power is not as important today as complex tasks are often carried out in the 'cloud' not on the device itself

Dear Kent County Council, Dartford Borough Council, MP Jim Dickson, and all local representatives, We’re asking you to stand with us - the people who make up Dartford’s wonderfully diverse community, and listen to the impact that Operation Raise The Colours has had on local residents. While some may see these flags as part of tradition, for many they’ve become a source of fear and division. The symbol has been used by far-right groups, and its appearance across our streets has left people feeling unsafe and unwelcome. Public spaces should belong to everyone. No one should feel intimidated for walking down the street, doing their job, or standing up for what’s right. Yet we’ve already seen incidents where a council worker, a taxi driver, and others who have spoken out have been threatened or attacked. That’s not who we are as a community. We’re calling on our local authorities to: • Speak directly with our diverse communities - hear how this has affected them. • Stand publicly with residents in rejecting intimidation, hate, and division. • Ask Kent County Council to change its position and remove these flags from public property. • Keep our streets neutral and welcoming – places where everyone belongs. As we’ve said before: the meaning of this flag today is mixed – once a symbol of patriotism, now also used by those promoting hate. And we do not believe those putting them up are doing so for community cohesion. We want our councils and representatives to stand proudly with all who call Dartford home. Let’s show that hope and unity are stronger than fear and division. ❤️ Please share this and add your name below if you agree. ✍️ Hope & Unity, Dartford 

Cleft is for life – and so are the complex dental issues that often come with it. Yet people born with a cleft lip and/or palate are disproportionately unable to access the dental care they need. In some cases, they are even explicitly denied treatment because of their cleft.  Being born with a cleft significantly increases the likelihood of dental problems. Children with a cleft are around one-third more likely to have missing teeth, decay or fillings, and adults are around one-quarter more likely compared to the general population.  Despite this, CLAPA’s survey shows:  • People with a cleft are twice as likely to have issues accessing dental care.  • 42% have experienced inadequate care due to lack of training.  • 38% cannot afford treatment linked to their cleft. • Over 7% have been explicitly denied treatment because of their cleft.  This is unacceptable.

This is important because every family deserves truth and justice when a loved one dies in the care of the state. Our family has been left with pain and silence. No one should be sent away for help and end up losing their life without answers. This is about fairness care and accountability. We need change so that families are not ignored and that no other person dies without someone taking responsibility.