Writers who are not white men have contributed hugely to our understanding and appreciation of poetry, and it is unforgivable and unrepresentative to exclude them from a national celebration of poetry. Women and people of colour have been consistently ignored, sidelined and poorly treated in academic and arts circles, often not being taken as seriously as white men doing the same things as us to a similar or even lower standard. As TV licence fee payers, we have a right to be fairly represented and to see ourselves - and a true reflection of the arts world - in the programming we pay for.

The wealthiest Englishman in this country, the Duke of Westminster, whose property company, the Grosvenor Estate, made half a billion pounds gross profit in their last financial year, want to redevelop six small independent galleries on the Pimlico Road, London, two of which have been trading from the same galleries for 50 years between them. The proposed redevelopment will oust many from their homes, demolishing their small 19th century galleries, retaining the facades, to create three vast showrooms by incorporating a 175 year old timber yard, the last remaining timber yard from the early Victorian period still in use today for its intended purpose. -- Please see attached articles: www.thepimlicoroad.com/newsons-yard NEW ARTICLE: http://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2016/jan/27/pimlico-dealers-protest-against-redevelopment/ https://londonhistorians.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/sigh-more-luxury-flats-pimlico-this-time/ http://homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/news/duke-westminster-gives-pimlico-small-shopkeepers-boot-make-way-large-stores-and-luxury-flats http://www.thepimlicoroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Pimlico-Development-A-Traders-Point-of-view_edited-2.jpeg World Of Interiors article on the Timber Yard by Phillip Davies 'Logging the Past' October 2015 RELATED CONTENT: http://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/02/02/the-creeping-plague-of-ghastly-facadism/

Hounslow Council has invited a small number of residents from Church Street, North Street, Park Road and the roads accessed by those streets to have their say on the planned closure of Church Street to vehicles. This is your opportunity to provide your view. The Twickenham Road is heavily congested with 18,000 vehicles and cyclists using it every day and is already full to capacity according to Hounslow Council’s own traffic report. The proposal to close Church Street will push up to 2,015 more vehicles onto the Twickenham Road and South Street during rush hour times, gridlocking the road and reducing pedestrian and cyclist visibility. It will also increase pollution in the area. There is already significant local concern about traffic management on the Twickenham Road, including the use of roundabouts, the no-right turn from Spur Road onto the London Road, the Twickenham Road junction with Park Road and the junction at the bottom of Worton Road. Church Street is only one of the many roads affected by these issues. Five schools (Smallberry Green, Isleworth Town, Gumley House, St Mary’s and the Blue School) and West Middlesex Hospital are located on this stretch of road. The roads immediately adjoining the Twickenham Road (St John’s, Linkfield, Amhurst, the Teesdales, Worple, Algar, Byfield) are already subject to considerable rat running. With delays on the Twickeham Road and South Street expected to increase by 142% upon closure, even more frustrated drivers are likely to make their way onto our residential streets. Whilst the emergency services make their way through most things, the gridlock will likely affect response times. Hounslow Council has said that the proposal to close Church Street on 7 December is a “temporary trial” of 18 Months to see if road users change their “travelling habits”. But how can the parents and children of the five schools on these roads together with hospital staff and patients “change their traveling habits”? Local residents will still need to get about and people will still want to visit and use the amenities of Syon Park. Hounslow Council has said that it will not stop the “trial” once they have started it but confirm that the closure will cause significant disruption. Our argument is that Hounslow Council has to look at the area as a whole and take all of the above factors into consideration. Please show your support and sign this petition to make sure that your voice is heard.

1,000 horses are slaughtered each year and more than 370 are raced to death in the UK alone. The Government is encouraging people to bet on horse races and then take tax away from all winnings. Horse racing isn't needed to sustain the betting industry anymore. It kills innocent animals, fuels the rich and takes money from the people betting. The whole system is immoral - for the horses and the people.

The HIGH GROVE is the epitome of your friendly local pub and has been serving the Gatley estate for over 50 years. Our local pub is at the heart of the community. The pub is also the social hub of the area, providing local entertainment including regular quiz nights, evening events to raise money for local charities and hosting live televised sporting events. The pub is expected to close at the end of 2015 and we desperately need your help to save it. An application to register the High Grove as an Asset of Community Value has now been submitted to Stockport Council and will be heard at the Area Committee meeting on Sept 29th. The potential closure of the High Grove public house demonstrates how vulnerable communities are to speculative and aggressive development tactics, we need you to help us urge the Council to accept the application to list the pub immediately. This will ensure planning permission has to be sought and approved by the council for the pub to be demolished or converted to any other use. The listing also gives the community an opportunity to potentially come together to form a co-operative group to buy and run our local pub. Please sign the campaign and ask your neighbours to do also. Anyone you know who frequents the High Grove or lives in the Gatley and Cheadle area should also be asked to sign it. Protect our pubs from developers.

We the undersigned wish to express our concern that UNISON has not been given an opportunity to have a seat on the BBC 1 Question Time Panel over the last 5 years. Other Trade Union leaders have been given a seat on the Question Time Panel. Considering UNISON is the largest public sector union with 1.3 million members, this refusal to allow UNISON a chance to sit on this panel is unacceptable for a publicly funded broadcasting organisation. We are asking for a statement that the BBC rectify this omission and publicly announce that UNISON will be on future Question Time programmes.

We do not want to lose a great public service broadcaster whom not only provides excellent quality broadcasting but helps develop the industry and is independent.

The Academies Enterprise Trust, the Department of Education along with various Isle of Wight councillors have an intended decision to close Weston Primary Academy. The Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan has " in principal " agreed to this decision. This agreeance is based solely on the AeT and DfE paperwork, that seems to be based on a projected "forecast" that has yet to be released to the public. Not foregoing that all of the teaching staff, work staff and the parents of the 56 children who attend were informed by an email, followed promptly by a letter, inevitable job losses will occur - zero consultation with those that matter has taken place behind closed doors. We now find ourselves in a public consultation period **edit : there is NO public consultation, only a time to air views and opinions** that has a limited time-scale to air any counter arguments or views. The purpose of this petition is to clearly show that our beloved school has supporters. Weston Primary is the only non-denominational school locally, and whilst its numbers are relatively small, it does not suffer from large over capacity as some others locally do, consequently the children and parents have an amazing " Team Weston"-spirit, everyone really matters here. With a lot of recent housing developments in the West Wight region, and acute awareness that schools are becoming overcrowded, it makes no sense to close this school based on a forecast, when the school is getting on its feet and showing marked improvement. The AeT has over the summer period spent an undisclosed sum of money bringing much needed modernisation to the school. If the school is shut down, it would be a huge waste of resources. The adjoining nursery has also seen investment and is already showing that it is feeding more and more directly into the school itself. As people move into the local area, I suspect that Weston will see a marked increase in admissions. We at Team Weston are appealing directly to you, the reader, to show your support for this school. You may be an old pupil or parent of an old pupil, you may have had an association with the school in the past or present. maybe you understand that good schools should be kept open, especially considering this school is well over 100 years old. Please, please take a few moments to sign to show your support for us in our battle. It might just be the linchpin that sways the final decision in our favour. Kindest regards - George Metcalf

UK military intervention will cause nothing other than further misery for the people of Syria who already face terror and chaos in their lives. The UK should aim to cease the arms deals in the Middle East to achieve a peace, not contribute further to the bloodshed. After a majority of Labour MPs voted in favour in an illegal war based on lies, that was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, Labour MPs should stand firm in a rejection of further military actions in the Middle East. Only this action can show the public that history has not repeated itself and that their position as public servants is one they hold with honour. Let the Labour Party stand for negotiations for peace, not votes for death and destruction. Peace for people, not war for mongers.

Imagine you have a collection of CDs that you can't play except on your computer.  You want to play the music on those CDs on your IPod at the gym, driving to work, or just relaxing. However, now that this new law is in place, you can't without risking prosecution.  The only way you can play the music you have is to buy it off ITunes or Amazon, and would you really want to have to pay for something you already own simply because you want to play it on another device?  After all, putting music on your IPod from a CD isn't hurting anyone.  You're not selling it, you're not requesting or obtaining any commercial gain from it, the artist still gets their royalties from the purchase of the CD.  You may think the record company, maybe even the artist is just trying to extort money out of you, and that's before even considering the future, when you would not be allowed to even move music from one device to another through ITunes.  Every device you own has to have its own copy of the songs you want to play. Now imagine you are wanting to convert an audio performance that is now out of print, and can only be obtained on CD.  If you feel it should be preserved, you are not allowed to do this, since you cannot rip CDs any more.  Therefore, that performance, which you think is fabulous and has been praised by critics, will be lost. If this ruling is not amended, then we will be moving towards a slippery slope where no one can have audio that is not bought for a specific device.  This may also lead to software developers not giving users replacement activation keys if they change computers, as they will have to buy another copy of the software simply to use it on a replacement computer.  Even more concerningly, it could lead to people with print disabilities no longer being able to scan physical books and other printed materials for personal use, and CD ripping is much the same as scanning a book to read it in an alternative format.  This is worrying, since publishers only permitted the scanning of books by print disabled people only about 13 years ago, and that was only after a long battle with them. It would be a terable misfortune if those people could not scan books anymore, particularly since that is the only way for some people to be able to read books , and specialist library services, such as the RNIB library, are very limited in what books they can offer. This law is impracticable, unrealistic, and completely unenforceable.  Moreover, it is almost certain to backfire, as people will just continue to rip their CDs, simply because they know they can get  away with it.

This campaign is now calling for the present owner of Castle Toward, Argyll & Bute Council, to protect this treasured Scottish icon from development. We want and seek to work together to restore the Castle, to be the flourishing hub for youth arts and sport that it once was. This campaign will demonstrate that within the ethos of Culture for Life, this project can attract funding from Scotland, the UK and further afield. From renowned conductor Sir Simon Rattle to Andy Scott, sculptor of the world famous Kelpies, our campaign has united more than 100 artists, musicians, and actors to tell personal stories of how their time at Castle Toward proved career defining. This new and independent campaign is not aligned with any political interest or previous activity. Its aims are simply to bring prosperity, increased visitor footfall, credit and artistic prominence to Argyll and Bute. Please visit our website for further information: www.iheartcastletoward.com

Because it will be abused by people intent on bullying and victimisation.especially among younger users.