I’m a 27 year old model, a clothes size 8. The girl in the picture is me. When I walked into one of the UK’s biggest model agencies last year they told me I ticked all the boxes except one -- I needed to lose weight. So I did. Four months later I lost nearly a stone, 2 inches off my hips. When I returned to the same agency they told me to lose more weight, they wanted me "down to the bone".When I look in the mirror I see someone that is healthy and comfortable in their skin. That’s because I had the guts to carve out my own path and refuse to let people pressure me into losing more and more weight. But with London Fashion Week the reminders are everywhere that we need a law to protect young girls, and boys, who are put under pressure to be dangerously thin.Modelling can be a very lonely place, especially for girls working internationally who are away from the usual support network of friends and family. When models travel overseas they are often put into shared accommodation with other models, and being surrounded by girls who are all striving to stay thin can perpetuate bad eating habits and encourage eating disorders. I’ve been on shoots for up to 10 hours where no food is provided -- the underlying message is always that you shouldn’t eat. The agencies managing and recruiting models have a responsibility to the wellbeing of girls on the catwalk at fashion week, and in the industry as a whole.France became the latest country to vote to criminalise the use of models who are dangerously thin. Those breaking the law face fines and up to six months in jail. And there is growing momentum for change in the UK - but we are still far from achieving a healthy standard for all models. The time is now for us all to come together. Please sign my petition to create a law to protect vulnerable young girls and boys in the industry.*Note: the fur in the image is fake fur! 

Plastic pollution is a growing problem in the world. By 2050 it is estimated that, by weight, there is going to be more plastic than fish in the world. And, in recent years it has also started to make its way into the food-chain. Whales are known to have eaten plastic bags, so too have Sea Turtles. Whilst, fish have succumbed to eating polyethyelene microplastics. However, in recent years a new problem has come to the attention of the public: Plastic Straws. They are known to have caused the drowning of turtles  as they get stuck in their nostrils. This is needless and inhumane. Especially when an easy alternative is already readily available worldwide. Paper straws do exactly the same, except when they have been used they biodegrade. McDonalds, one of the largest Transnational Corporations in every country is one of the front-runners in their production of plastic straws, if they can stop, why can't many others follow their lead?! When we, as a nation, signed up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals we pledged to help life under water- this could be one of the biggest steps in helping us achieve this. Please sign...#PlasticStrawsSuck 

The government has just announced plans to revise the Politics A-Level Curriculum. Feminism has been removed entirely, apart from a mention of the Suffragettes and Suffragists and the proposed curriculum only contains one female political thinker out of seven: Mary Wollstonecraft. The problem with erasing and writing women out of history is that we only get half the story.  When women are underrepresented in society, the government should be working to address this problem. As a young woman and student, it is imperative that girls and boys get the full picture at school, or we are doing them a disservice. It has been said that you cannot be what you cannot see. Female role models are important. Women like Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the theory of intersectionality, Catherine MacKinnon, an American feminist lawyer, Emma Goldman, anarchist and political activist, Audre Lorde, black feminist writer, Ayn Rand, novelist and philosopher and Simone de Beauvoir, French writer, political activist and social theorist. We must show women to be inspired by and be taught that the ideas of feminism and gender equality are important.  Earlier this year, Jesse McCabe used a petition to put women on the music curriculum. Together we can use public pressure to make sure that the same happens with the Politics curriculum. There is no excuse for this. There is no reason why the Department of Education and Ofqual shouldn’t get this right. Join me in asking that they change this, so that the curriculum reflects the work, thought and achievements of women. On social media, use #femalethinkers and let us know who your favourite female political thinkers are.

Please help to stop the closure of St. Christopher’s School in Bristol. Since 1945, St. Christopher’s School in Bristol has been providing outstanding education and care for children with severe and complex learning difficulties and physical disabilities. These children are very difficult to look after, as many are non-verbal and each child can display extremely challenging behaviours. Consequently, they always require high levels of support – frequently two adults to each child – plus the routine, care and continuity that can only be provided in a safe, calm and supportive residential setting. These children cannot be included in mainstream education. St Christopher’s provides care, education, 24 hour nursing, an on-site medical centre and a variety of therapies for some of the most vulnerable children in our society.  Staff always meet the needs of each child and establish loving, caring and stable relationships with them. This enables the children in their care to make amazing progress in their development and abilities. The school is facing closure in March 2016. There is no other educational provision of this quality within the region. If the school closes, the children will be relocated considerable distances, which will have a devastating impact on them and their families. These children have great difficulty coping with changes to their routine and they are settled and happy at St. Christopher’s. The wonderful, caring and supportive education at St. Christopher’s, as well as 70 years of expertise, will be lost forever if it closes. We must fight this at all costs. Please sign this petition to help save St. Christopher’s, for both its current pupils and those to come in the future.

As of 2018, the Persian GCSE and A-level qualifications are to be discontinued by Examinations Body, OCR. Yet "It's only been a few days since UN sanctions against Iran were lifted but some firms have already announced plans to invest in the Iranian market. Some companies have spent months plotting their return to a country rich in natural resources, with a large educated population and spectacular scenery."  - Ben Morris, Business Reporter, BBC News January 2016 We believe that this is hugely short sighted and it cannot be allowed to happen. Disbanding of formal examinations would be a devastating mistake for our young people, our culture and our language.  There are upwards of 400,000 Iranians currently living in the UK. We ask each and everyone of you to sign this petition, then share it with Iranian friends as well as future minded non-Iranians so we can encourage another examination body to take on Persian. We need 10,000 signatures to get Parliament's attention and 100,000 to really make an impact. More so than ever, literacy in Persian, a live, modern and increasingly relevant language, offers a plethora of opportunity for the Iranian Community and the UK as a whole, let’s not let it slip through our fingers!

Mi nombre es Miguel Ángel Rivera.     Mi deseo más grande en la vida es volver a caminar, para demostrarle a mi hijo que en el mundo en que vivimos, aún  hay gente que desea y anhela ayudar a su prójimo, que cree qué aún hay un mundo mejor cuando te preocupas por las necesidades de aquel que pide ayuda!!    Soy una de las tantas víctimas que ha sufrido violencia en la Ciudad de México; un asalto a mano armada, disparándome en el hombro izquierdo, lamentablemente la bala entró a mi cuerpo, quemando mi médula espinal; dándome así la imposibilidad de caminar.    Hay un hospital en Bangkok Tailandia, Unique Access Medical, donde me he puesto en contacto con un representante y ellos podrían brindarme ayuda sometiéndome a un procedimiento quirúrgico para un dispositivo que me dé estimulación epidural y reconecte mi sistema nervioso!   Te estaré muy agradecido si pudieras tomarte el tiempo para que juntos, logremos cada uno poner ese granito de arena, que salga de tu corazón para que pueda volver a estar de pie, primeramente agradeciendo a Dios y Ti, esta oportunidad. __________________________________________ Gracias por tu donativo !!!  Queridos amigos:      Los saludo nuevamente, es increíble el número de firmas que se han logrado y el gran ánimo que recibo de su parte, pero ante todo, gracias por cada una de sus oraciones que elevan con fé y amor, verdaderamente siento el apoyo que hace que uno no se rinda ante las circunstancias! ....Seguro estoy que Dios derramará grandes bendiciones sobre cada uno de ustedes y les recompensará todo su esfuerzo.     Muchos de ustedes me  han sugerido que proporcione un número de cuenta a donde pudieran hacer algún donativo para lo que se ofreciese en lo que es mi cuidado y recuperación, como lo son medicamentos, terapias, bolsas de colostomia, ipafix, etc.     Les proporcionó este número de cuenta que está a mi nombre ;y de antemano reiteró de nuevo mi más sincero agradecimiento!     Banamex      No de tarjeta : 5204 1673 1346 3697      Miguel A. Rivera Durán  Bendiciones !!!   

With our superb sister petition 'Daniels Law' which has done most of the 'heavy lift' in securing signatures, we are today 2/12/15 presenting the two under the single banner Mandate Now. We have over 200,000 signatures. Firstly the petition is being presented at No10 at 14.30 - then later in the afternoon the Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP. for Chesham and Amersham who is so supportive of Mandate Now, will be presenting it on the floor of the House of Commons. Here is a link to our Press Release. In future please follow us on twitter @mandatenow and our website: Mandate Now Our petition will shortly disappear having done an excellent job.  ________________________  If you work with children, and see one of your charges being abused or even raped, you might think you and your employer had a legal obligation to report it to the authorities. Not so. There is no legal requirement on anyone working with minors in England (Wales or Scotland) to report such incidents or concerns to the Local Authority Designated Officer  (LADO), children's services or in the event of a 'known' crime, the police.  We are seeking the introduction of law which requires staff in fall such settings which are defined as ‘Regulated Activities,’ [Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006] who know, suspect, or have reasonable grounds for knowing or suspecting child abuse, to inform the LADO (or in appropriate circumstances children's services) so that experienced and independent assessment is introduced immediately to ensure perpetrators are stopped as soon as possible. Here is our 5 Minute guide to Mandatory Reporting . Mandatory Reporting operates in the significant majority of countries on all four continents - it is England, Wales and Scotland that are out of step.    • A criminal sanction for failure to report removes any perceived need to weigh up whether the concerns reported are serious enough, or who to believe before having to decide what to do: the person reporting is freed from having to make complex judgements about who is telling the truth and they will know they are following and protected by the law when they report as opposed to whistleblowing - please listen to this chilling 2 minute audio file from BBC5 Live 'call in' about mandatory reporting.   The MandateNow website  provides our proposals in detail and brings you up to date on the significant political progress the campaign has made since it began. See - news Mandate Now is the political and legislative arm of Paula Barrow’s highly successful 'Daniel's Law' petition which shares our objectives for the introduction of Mandatory Reporting in all Regulated Activities. Please visit the Daniel's Law website here.   

Mental health services is something that needs to be available for anyone who needs it.� We need it in schools, workplace, any where there's people, because if the services are there with you it would make it easier for people who need help to get that help.� When i was in school it wasn't available , so all my problems built up inside untill they all came out at once.The  constant bullying, the fear of failing exams, feeling insicure about how i looked & what other people thought. Thats when I  started to selfharm alot, i even tried to end my life more than once, i was in deep depression nearly all the time.          I don't want anyone else in a similar situation to go through this alone because; YOU ARE NOT ALONE � We need a mental health worker in every school & workplace, to help them find the good in life and get the support they need.❤

On 30 September 2019, the BBC removed its internet radio streams from the TuneIn platform in the UK because it's unable to gather listener data. This has broken many basic BBC radio features on a wide range of internet radio devices – alarms, multi-room playback, stereo listening, and so on. See this BBC blog post for more information. The BBC's suggested replacements – the Amazon Echo BBC skill or the BBC Sounds app – do not support these lost features on affected devices. Worse still, these changes only affect listeners in the UK. Listeners abroad, who do not pay the BBC licence fee, can continue to enjoy the full set of BBC radio streams on TuneIn on their internet devices. The changes mean that A great many new internet devices are now effectively obsolete for people who used them mainly to listen to BBC radio Many people with disabilities who relied upon this service for a rich listening experience (stereo playback, synchronised playback in multiple rooms and so on) now cannot do so Radio alarms set for BBC radio stations on a wide range of internet radio devices and all smartphones no longer work. The changes also do not abide by the quoted BBC remit of "making sure you can watch and listen to our programmes in ways that are both easy and convenient for you." To date, there have been more than 2,500 negative responses across three BBC blogs about this change, but there has been no adequate BBC response about the main complaints. The BBC also declined to respond to the many complaints from its listeners on the 18 October edition of the Feedback programme on Radio 4. The BBC should restore its TuneIn streams immediately and maintain them at least until fully functional replacement services for affected devices are available. 

Problem(PLEASE MAKE AN EFFORT TO READ EVERYTHING IT WILL TAKE A MAXIMUM OF 6 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME.) China is putting muslims into internment (concentration) camps and no one is doin anything about it. They have detained over a million Uyghurs and other turkic muslims they are forced to denounce islam and pledge allegiance to the chinese state. Methods of torture are being used against them in exchange for any attempt of resistance (teeth pulled out, nails pulled out, snakes being used for "interrogation", beaten till dead, sterilisation, clamped down on a chair hours on end in solitary confinement). Muslims are being sent there for random reasons, any signs that they practice any aspect of islam or have any foreign relations. People are watched so closely that there are Han government caterers that are living in the Uyghur homes. Children are sent to boarding schools where they are taught to hate their own identity, their own religion and are subject to abuse. Parents dont know where their kids are. So why is China doing this to Uyghur and Turkic muslims specifically? East Turkestan is really rich in minerals and resources; by putting people into camps and basically carrying out an ethnic cleansing, china is attempting to maintain tight control over the mineral-rich land. Why has the world been so quiet about this situation? China has tightly controlled it's media so a lot of whats happening can not really be seen by the rest of the world (One of the main reasons why muslims with foreign contact are being detained is so there is no one to contact foreigners). Even when people/government know about it they are forced to keep silent due to chinese pressure and their economic and strategic ties to the country.Solution1. Raise awareness that this is happening because right now most of the world has no idea about this. 2. Pressure your government leaders to acknowledge chinese occupation of east Turkestan and its systematic campaign to wipe out the Uyughurs and other people of East Turkestan.3. Support your local Uyghur communities, they're in dire need of international support.4. Come out to their protests, organise protests in front of Chinese embassies and bodies that can acctually take action to challenge China's ethnic cleansing of the Uyghurs. Personal storyIts the humane thing to do.