Smart meters only record electricity used and not the excess electricity generated by small generators like personal homes with solar panels. The government pays a feed-in tariff but the excess electricity is still being placed on the national grid and sold by electricity companies when they have not paid for it. This is theft, pure and simple. Stop this theft by ordering all smart meters to record both incoming and outgoing electricity and make the electricity companies pay for the excess being generated or deduct the excess from the incoming electricity.

300 football pitches an hour of forest are being lost to Palm Oil producers. It's in half of the products in the supermarkets and no one is doing anything to stop it or make the big companies accountable. Orangutans amongst the other forest dwelling animals are losing their homes and lives.

Aylan, the toddler who drowned fleeing Syria, was just three years old. His town was under attack by Isis. His five year old brother and his mum also died trying to reach safety. Yet our prime minister said ‘we won't take any more refugees’. He thinks that most of us don't care. But 38 Degrees members do care. We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome

The Scottish Parliament passed the bill to introduce MUP in May 2012, with widespread support from political parties, health professionals and charities who deal with the consequences of alcohol misuse. Despite also gaining support from some alcohol drinks producers, the Scottish Whisky Association launched a legal challenge to the bill, delaying its implementation by years, and postponing the proven benefits of MUP on family and social life in Scottish communities. http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/43354.aspx

People have to face travelling on their own, after they have perhaps lost a loved one and why should they have to pay all this extra money for being on their own. I could see the point if they were given a twin or double room, but not for some of the so called single rooms available. The single supplements for abroad are even more horrendous.

Because 7 months ago a company I worked for called Griffin Place Communications used a loophole in the law to set up a Telesales Communication's Company in my deprived neighbourhood , taking full advantage of the Welsh Government's grants that were on offer which totalled £600.000 and then went bankrupt leaving 120 of us without pay and destitute while they and then set up a new Telesales Communication's Company in another Welsh town just up the road from us.

The use of debt recovery companies by the council clearly victimises the least financially secure people in the town who are struggling to keep up with council tax bills, rent (often due to bedroom tax) and even parking charges. Some of the companies employed by the council use bully tactics, harassment and intimidation to coerce people to pay debts. To make matters worse they add crippling and punitive charges on to debts adding further stress and worry onto those who cannot afford to pay their debt. A recent example of this was a situation where one person owed Merthyr Council £45 but had to pay Excel Debt Recovery £150 on demand and have been told they will again return to collect a further £245. Giving the person further stress, worry and financial hardship. We demand that the council stop using such companies who bully, intimidate and harass people and profit on the misfortune of others. Such use of companies is unethical and goes against the principle of local government looking after and supporting those who require it's services the most.

Private collection agencies are ruthless and add more debt to those who can least afford it.

Fair business practice

Bob Bowen and his cycle shop have tirelessly campaigned for the completion of the cycle path since 1998 when they first started hiring cycles at Dawlish Warren. It is no exaggeration to say that without his efforts there would be no cycle path as is the situation in Teignmouth. It has always been the intention to move back to the Warren and do so once the cycle path was completed. We therefore started discussions to this end. When the toilets came up for tender it was a natural extension to bid for this. The council in their wisdom has decided to award another business the cycle hire premises at the closed toilets at Dawlish Warren. As Dawlish is now one of – if not 'the', most depressed coastal towns in Devon we feel that enough is enough. Many of our local businesses and traders have gone. It is not hard to see what can be done with the support of the local authority – one only has to look to Teignmouth to understand this. We feel the award of this contract to another business from outside our town is irresponsible and does not take into consideration the needs and feelings of our local community. I am puzzled as to how a local authority can take an idea and give it to someone else! We therefore urge Teignbridge and it’s officers to rethink this decision and award the tender of cycle hire at Dawlish Warren to Bob Bowen and Braking Wind Cycles.

In this time of austerity, getting a job is tough enough as it is. For a chain like Las Iguanas, forcing their staff to pay to work - and profiting from it - is grossly unfair and entirely unnecessary. We have to stop it. I've eaten at Las Iguanas in Brighton countless times and it's disgusted me to know that money I left to the waiters and waitresses has been taken by the company. Simply put, this ridiculous policy is forcing staff to Pay to Work at Las Iguanas. If enough of us stand up to these disgusting practices, boycott Las Iguanas - and tell our friends to do likewise - they will have to change their ways. We will be handing this petition to Las Iguanas executives along with stories from their staff, so please sign this vital petition today. This is the way it works: Las Iguanas require staff to pay back 3% of their total sales for the night (5.5% in London) - in cash - to the management at the end of each shift. The money is meant to be paid by waiters from their pot of tips but, because it bears no relation to how much a waiter actually takes in tips, it can wipe out his or her entire income from gratuities in a busy night. Here's what one ex-staff member tweeted about the policy yesterday: https://s.bsd.net/38degrees/main/page/-/CBY/iguanas-tweet.jpg If a waiter processes an entirely normal £1,000 in a night then they will be required to pay the managers £30; staff have suggested this occurs even if they received no tips at all. One employee has said: “Over five shifts in a week is a substantial loss of my tips. Sometimes it works out as if I am paying to work, as for a five-hour shift I am paid £32.50 before tax.” The company claim this policy is to fund staff development and reward schemes for all staff, though Las Iguanas can take £34,000 a week from their staff using this little earner. Source: The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/23/restaurant-tipping-policy-forces-waiters-to-pay-to-work, [accessed 24.08.15]

RNIB Scotland members all of whom are blind or partially sighted have had no say in this decision despite RNIB being "of" rather than "for" blind people and this strikes at the heart of our organisational democracy. Action for Blind People have no knowledge whatsoever of Scotland, have no presence in Scotland and we fear their takeover will put at risk the excellent services that RNIB Scotland already provide. We are also deeply concerned as blind and partially sighted people that our ability to influence decisions in Scotland will be diminished as it totally ignores the reality of devolution and the increasing focus on the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament as the place to find advantage for blind and partially sighted people in Scotland. We were not consulted. We were not asked. We say STOP! NOW!