This is quite possibly the greatest misunderstanding of how MPs are paid I’ve ever seen in my life:
by Mr Robert PhilpMP’s to have a wage just like everyone else. No second home and all expenses to be audited by independent auditors and a committee made up of members of the public
by Jim CooteMr Brown and all other government deparments/quangos – please stop wasting taxpayers cash on pointless TV and radio adverting.
Yeah! Stop using a medium almost everybody has immediate access to as a method of telling us things!
by Robin CarvellThis petition is an effort to block the nationwide implementation of full body scanners that represent a total violation of privacy, a health risk, and tyranny. Forcing people to pose for naked photos is a crime. If the government does this it will be a criminal government. If the body scanners are allowed to be implemented travelers will be forced to do worse things under the threat of being treated as a terrorist if they refuse the violation of their dignity and freedom. Professors of Molecular and Cell Biology maintain that there is no safe dose of ionizing radiation. In addition to these issues, full body scanners would not even have stopped the Christmas Day bomber from boarding Flight 253, according to a British MP who helped design the machines. “I must advise the Prime Minister – and the British public – that the scanners are not a “silver bullet,” said Ben Wallace, who worked on the scanners at defense research organization QinetiQ. “You would be mistaken to think that they would counter the new threat.”
There are a number of good reasons to be against the Body Scanners being installed at airports – and one or two of them even make it into this petition – but it amuses me that Robin seems to believe that airport passengers will have to “pose for naked photos”, as though this were a nude photo shoot of some sort.
by Mr Keith Norton (rejected)With the repair of the Hadron Collider C.E.R.N, scientists are about to try to recreate the circumstances of the Big Bang. This may leap foreward our knowledge of the universe and create benefits for mankind or, as some scientists believe, end in catastrophe for life. Such Risks should not be left to the scientists’ thirst for knowledge. Scientists make mistakes in their methodology and criteria. There should be much wider debate that the citizen is aware of the risks and be able to effect whether they should be taken. This is not the equivalent of the Luddite destruction of the Spinning Jenny. Scientists such as those at C.E.R.N. are searching for knowledge that they do not have. What if the results are not as they expect?
Good idea! Let’s have a public debate about quantum mechanics. That will be productive.
Oh dear, we have another “scrap the TV license” moron in our midsts. And this one is armed with misinformation! Let’s get this over with…
by Mr Richard MooreWhy should the BBC be given free money, whilst other TV channels gain no funding from the BBC TV License?
Why also is it satisfactory for the BBC to outsourse it’s published programs to e.g. BBC Americas for viewing abroad.
Why also is it satisfactory for the BBC to use UK License holders money to spurn products for their own profit from the UK public, i.e. childrens toy product etc…?
With the current economic state the country has been placed into, would it not enable families with a lower income to utilise the monies used for a TV License on more benificial items, i.e. feeding their family?
Is it not fair to the other broadcast network’s such as ITV, Channel 4 etc… to not recieve monies from the TV License.
Support the scrappage of the BBC TV License, sign the petition!
Okay, let’s dissect this one, shall we?
Why should the BBC be given free money, whilst other TV channels gain no funding from the BBC TV License?
Because the BBC is a public broadcasting service, and ITV, Channel 4, Channel Five, Sky etc. are businesses supported by advertising.
Why also is it satisfactory for the BBC to outsourse it’s published programs to e.g. BBC Americas for viewing abroad.
Actually, haha, they don’t. What happens is this: BBC Worldwide, the business arm of the BBC, is given the rights to distribute the shows to other territories. What happens then is that BBC America has to bid for those rights, and if they succeed then they get the show. You probably don’t know this but until recently BBC America didn’t have the first-to-air rights to Doctor Who – the American SciFi Channel (now called SyFy) outbid them for the rights to series one through four, and they let those rights lapse this year for the one-off specials.
Additionally, BBC America (which, I need to reiterate, is a business much like ITV and British Sky Broadcasting) actually co-funds some BBC productions such as Robin Hood.
So, y’know. Research.
Why also is it satisfactory for the BBC to use UK License holders money to spurn products for their own profit from the UK public, i.e. childrens toy product etc…?
Again, this is stuff that is all handled by the BBC’s business arms and is not funded by the money they get from the TV license, you frog’s gusset.
With the current economic state the country has been placed into, would it not enable families with a lower income to utilise the monies used for a TV License on more benificial items, i.e. feeding their family?
Considering that television is a luxury item and not a utility, they could always put the TV in the loft if they can’t afford their license.
Is it not fair to the other broadcast network’s such as ITV, Channel 4 etc… to not recieve monies from the TV License.
There is some debate about this, but once again it’s worth noting that ITV, Channel 4 etc. are supported by advertising. The BBC is not.
Thanks for playing.
by Colin MossThe UK is in dire financial straights & the Prime Minister has the audacity to pledge 1.5 Billion pounds of the UK’s tax payer money to fund poorer countries climate change policies. The population of the UK is suffering enough & will continue to suffer for many years to come because of the bankrupt state that the government has got this country into, & the UK cannot afford to donate any more funds to countries outside the UK. The priority of this government should be to get the UK economy back on track before pledging funds that we do not have. Any rational & sensible government would control this irresponsible expenditure & ensure that UK takes priority. You cannot spend your way out of debt in this manner otherwise we will be in the mire even further than we are now. You, Your children, Your Grand Children & probably Great Grand Children will be paying the countries debt off due to the insane decisions like this donation made in your name by this government. Stop them now. Oh & just by coincidence the government has stripped 1.5 Billion Pounds from the defence budget !!!!!
Yeah! Fuck the climate! What did it ever do for us?
There’s a lot of stupid in this petition, but rather than make a snarky comment about it I’ll just let it speak for itself.
by Derek Green of Common senseI understand from the TPA that the government is now responsible for 50% of radio advertising revenue and, as a regular listener, I find most of this is pointless and futile. For instance, the current one about “benefit thieves” (doesn’t seem to be one for parliamentary expenses thieves, but there you go). Most people on benefits are honest people who find themselves having to claim them after years of paying into the system. When they then find themselves asked to survive on a measly £60 a week, who could blame them for doing a bit of work on the side? Those who are the scroungers and know how to work the system are running rings round the establishment and do you honestly think a radio ad is going to prick their conscience? All it is, is another empty gesture to give the impression that the government is doing something about the problem. It’s time to stop this waste of money, especially when they’ve just refused funding for another drug that would give cancer sufferers longer with their loved ones. They need to wake up and realise which areas they do need to cut back on expense. Please sign this and stop this waste of money on what is more or less propaganda.
I spoke to my mum tonight (well, it was tonight in England – it was gone midday here in Los Angeles) who tells me that there probably isn’t a Nigel Paddon in our family. That’s good. I also got the opportunity to ask if there was a Michael Paddon, because today Andrew found this under Rejected Petitions.
by Michael Paddon (rejected)With the recent news that the UK is to give Zimbabwe $100 million in aid, I believe the time is right to stop all foreign aid, a fraction of which actually gets to the people because of corruption at high levels. Why should the UK suffer cutbacks across the board while we are sending millions if not billions of pounds of OUR money abroad?
Frankly, I’ve never been happier to learn I’m not related to someone. I’m not related to most people, as it goes, but thankfully I’m also not related to this dolphin’s testicle.
by Iain ButcherI am fed up with going to a petrol station that advertizes price per litre as 110.9 p; X-Box advertizes at £159.99; Used cars go for £8599; why not just have honest, open amounts ?
Mr Butcher clearly doesn’t understand how a) the oil market works, and b) how currency exchange works.
by Kevin Watterson of A TAX PAYERPlease STOP paying extra cash to people who are on benefits, as people like myself who go out to full time work DONT get a rise when we decide to extend our familys… So why on earth do these Bennefit Spongers get a rise every time they knock out yet another child??? Maybe you should think about a change the law to say that they must go back to work for say at least 6 months before they are elegible to get this extra paid cash before they go back onto (our tax paid) social bennefit handouts.
Apparently unplanned pregnancies do not happen in Kevin Watterson’s world.
by Cary ThorntonI have paid taxes for 42 years and have never been to the South Pacific. I find it incredible that I can sit in North Yorkshire and see the effects of so called “global warming” without going to the far side of the planet.
My petition is to STOP so called “explanatory visits” to anywhere outside the U.K. by members of both houses in relation to this wicked and unproven diagnosis – the prognosis of which is entirely unfounded and unproven.
But if you offer to take Cary with you next time, he wouldn’t mind.
Seems the governments new ‘taxes’ are centred around ‘climate change’. This subject is a farce and does not exist. We petition the government to dismiss all climate change groups and dismantle all departments that have anything to do with climate change. We also ask that the government stop wasting public money on this subject. In fact STOP wasting any money on it.
Oh, well that’s that then. C’mon lads, let’s dismantle all of those climate research groups. Some guy on the internet says it’s a load of nonsense!
These people are criminals in the country in which they committed the crime and were not put off because they know there are arrangements for them to be put up in our luxurious hotels (known as HMPs) funded by the taxpayer. This is an immoral drain on the taxpayers in this country and should be stopped. We, the people who fund it, should be given an opportunity to indicate whether or not we are prepared to pay for the upkeep of criminals (and their children) convicted in foreign courts.
Keith seems to think that if a Foreigner comes to the UK and breaks the law that said Foreigner is doing so specifically to get thrown into a British prison. Which is, y’know, bollocks.
I’ve reached a point now where I am convinced that Keith is a brilliantly constructed practical joke. Maybe Ann Widdecombe or someone is sat up on the internet late at night, writing ridiculous petitions just to annoy Gordon.
This is to include pamphlets, books and signage. This will aid integration and allow the savings to be spent in other areas.
How will preventing immigrants from having any idea what’s going on in the country they live in “aid integration” exactly?
The proposed analog radio switch off disadvantages everyone. It forces you to scrap all your existing radios – and buy DAB sets instead. Car radios, kitchen radios, bedside radios, stereo tuners, all become scrap. And the liberated bandwidth is used for extra services no-one wants – witness the DAB station failures – polluted with advertising, and never again the chance to hear a foreign station by accident. This is not a future I want.
That last line sounds like a lyric from a Talking Heads song.
The government has announced it wishes to bring Broadband to every household in the UK. It wishes to help subsidise this by introducing a 50p per month tax on every landline in the UK. Why should I, as a broadband customer already paying £25 per month pay even more to provide low speed broadband to areas where people may not even want it. Why should OAP’s who need their landlines as an essential safety measure pay to subsidise broadband. Let the companies who stand to make the profits from this scheme pay for it.
It’s 50p a month, you dick! Even OAPs can afford that!
“Superfast broadband” should only be allowed to describe super fast broadband. i.e. Sweden’s 1gbit lines are “superfast”. Their 100mbit download and upload lines for about £15 are “fast” BT’s plan of 60 down / 5? up isn’t superfast. It’s not even really that fast. “Semidecent broadband” would be a much more honest term to use.
This is a very serious issue.
As part of the National Curriculum, Key Stage 2 pupils (7-11 year olds) are expected to swim 25 metres unaided along with other things. This is unfair to those pupils that can’t swim due to developmental disorders such as dyspraxia and those with severe asthma.
The time and money spent on swimming lessons could be better spent on school equipment such as books and computers
So those kids get notes from their parents or doctors excusing them from participating in swimming lessons. Easy peasy. Why penalise every child in the school system?
The goverment is there to govern.a democracy relies on the goverment to govern fairly.It is unfair that possibly 5 million people smoke cannabis regularly and their views are not heard.smaller minorities havedone better.its time for the country to vote.As a democracy.long live the queen.
“Possibly” five million people? Where’s he pulling this figure from? Because I imagine it’s somewhere very dark and, occasionally, sticky. Bonus categorisation of “We’re British, Dammit!” for the rather gratuitous inclusion of “love live the queen” at the end of the petition, as if mentioning her will somehow sway the Government into agreeing with this petition.
Stop giving overseas aid and stop paying into the EU, whilst there is an emergency on. The EU only takes never gives back and we cannot afford to give to third world countries. I was giving to Africa when I was in school over 50 years ago they should be able to help themselves now
Yeah! Fuck you, Africa! You’re just being lazy!
Great Britain is in a unique position to stimulate the economy of our country at the stroke of a pen. As we are not into the euro,we can quite easily restore the true value of the good old British Pound to 240 old pence.This would be a step forward rather than back and would help every body,especially those in dire financial straits.We should cap all prices at their present level and impose strict price control.It would encourage a lot more companies to become more competitive.Those who can remember the switch over from 240 old pence to 100 new pence will have bitter memories how we were tricked into a devaluation of a massive 140% overnight and the unscrupulous traders who went laughing all the way to their banks.Thank you.
I don’t quite think DJ Reynolds is very good at Economics or laying down phat beats.
In this nation the Police are supposed to uphold the Law of the Land and stand as an example to all it’s citizens. The recent release of information showing that at least 1000 officers currently serving in police forces throughout England, Scotland and Wales have criminal records for, amongst others, Fraud, Perverting the Course of Justice, Drink Driving, Kerb Crawling and Assault, makes it clear that the officers we trust to police our streets are morally unfit for this duty.
How can a Police Officer, guilty of a dishonesty offence, be trusted to behave in a lawful and just manner? Any conviction on the record of Police Officer should result in immediate dismissal. After all if the Police can’t be trusted to abide by the law, why should we?
A criminal conviction can be anything, from public drunkenness to running a red light. You’re just being stupid.
In all seriousness: I remember having to debate in High School GCSE English. We had that annoying hypothetical scenario – a ship is sinking, there’s one lifeboat and it can only support six people, but you have to pick them from a list of twelve. One of the characters was an ex-convict who’d served time in prison and gone straight. Everybody else in my group was convinced that he should stay on the ship and die because he had a criminal past. I was the only person who suggested that he should be allowed a second chance, that he’d gone straight. It really pissed me off that everybody took one look at at his past and judged his entire character from there. Granted the guy wasn’t real, but all the same it’s an incredibly narrow-minded way of looking at the world.
This is new to me: people using the petition site to spam:
ART THERAPY equals SELF ESTEEM.
Presently I am seeking funding to be able to offer my art classes to people with learning difficulties. I would like to be able to pay for a venue, support workers, user transport, and my time to be able to offer free classes to centres for people with special needs. I have a venue that I could use, but need some funding to set it up.Presently I am working at Centre 404 in Camden Road in Holloway with several groups; children, teens and adults with learning difficulties,I would like to able to expand my operation. I have worked previously at the Camden Society and the City Lit. The value of art and music therapy is of tremendous use to individuals in assisting them with communication skills, the expression of emotions and as a way of developing teamwork, motor skills, eye hand co-ordination and ultimately self-esteem. I have designed a series of fun, easy participation art classes. I am open to any suggestion that you may be able to offer to raise funding for this very worthwhile venture.Yours sincerely GERRY LAFFY 07986-376844
gtheartist84@hotmail.com
I mean, really I ought to obscure his email address so that spam crawler bots can’t find it. But instead of that I think I’m going to repeat it in the form of a link in case they don’t spot it. Fair, after all, is fair. To that end, I WOULD LOVE TO PURCHASE A GENUINE DIPLOMA AND SOME PILLS THAT WILL EXPAND MY PENIS. Oh, this makes me angry. It just makes me want to kill Greeks.
the greeks have been totally pining for a war with the UK- behaving arrogantly, being disruptive in the EU… the list goes on. I suggest that Gordon Brown declares war on Greece to show them the consequences of messing with the UK.
But wars are expensive. If we want to raise the capital to raze a capital, we’d better reject this petition:
Government tax us too much, they take advantage of the fact they have all this money and so as a way of paying back all taxes to be reduce to 1% or less. We deserve to treated fairly.
So essentially, ‘ban public services’.
Unwanted faxes offering goods and services that continually come through on fax machines waste time and paper when industry is trying to cut costs. Unnecessary wastage of paper and fax machine use in environmentally unfriendly, wasting resources and adding to glabal warming.
Maybe you shouldn’t own a machine that’s the same as email except that you can’t copy-paste it, it takes longer, it requires it’s own unit and phone line, and it prints automatically because it has no screen. Ban marketing faxes? Ban faxes outright would be more sensible.
I’m not against the idea here, but personally, I’d have picked a deadline in April some time.
We believe that no two murders are the same, and cannot be classed under one offence. We believe in degrees of murder reflecting the severity of the offence. We also believe that the death penalty must be reintroduced ASAP for first-degree murder, as it is a complete nonsense to keep people in jail for "life" for such heinous crimes.
This is pretty vague, but really I share it for the Epic URL Fail.
This is the peoples petition, since people are the true directors of the NHS, and change can only come through them. By exposing our stories and concerns we can hope for true reformation of this system once and for all. Please sign this petition to let The Goverment know that the people want to run their own healthcare service, and care deeply for it.
Thank you.
Official Government Response (really):
Please rewrite your petition specifying in what way you would like the NHS to be changed.
Haha. There’s sometimes no response but patronising, is there?
To base national policy on politicised opinions from the IPCC is folly.
CO2 is an essential trace gas for human existence , not a pollutant.
As is being proved by the continual increase in CO2 levels, whilst temerature levels decrease, there is no relation between the two.
Couple this with the discredited "Hockey stick" in all its incarnations , the truth about the true aim of so called environmental policies is being exposed as taxation , nothing else.
Oh, fuck right off. Just because something is essential doesn’t mean it can’t also be a pollutant. You’d die if you ate no calories. Oxygen is toxic. It’s just a good job nobody does anything about these petitions.
Thousands of e-petitons are signed on this database. Do you think the government takes notice of them? Probably not. Legitimate and successful e-petitions should be voted on prior to the budget and then brought in as a government action and made law.
Like I say, it’s a good job nobody does anything about these petitions.
There have been some 80-odd petitions popping up during the course of the day, and I’ve hand-picked five of them I thought were particularly stupid. Let’s explore them together!
Intelligent Design should be given equal or more time over Un-intelligent Design in the class room. Perhaps we are able to acknowledge, finally, the swing away from ‘religion’ over the past few hundred years, not due to reason but in reaction to church abuses.
“Intelligent Design” is already taught in class rooms – as part of Religious Education. Where it belongs. Bonus points for referring to Evolution as “Un-intelligent Design”, though. Bet it took you ages to come up with that one.
It is apparent that the Goverment while in power has fail to properly an prudently manage the economy. This has severly effected UK citzens savings and pensions values for our future retirement. I believe it is only RIGHT & PROPER that ministers should forgo any Minsterial Pension rights they have been entitled to during their period of goverment failure.
Right. Because the current worldwide economic crisis is entirely down to this one man who has only been in power of one small damp island for a year and a half, as opposed to, say, a number of global factors which have been slowly developing over several years.
I was walking just outside Clapham Junction station on Saturday night, when I saw a young lady sobbing on the floor. It was clear to me that she was homeless and seeing so many happy people walking past her (including myself) hammered home just how dreadful she must have been feeling. Admittedly, I’m a “walk past and don’t make eye contact” person and performed the same tired old routine on Saturday night.
According to Crisis, there are approximately 700 people sleeping rough every night. That’s 700 people who, on Christmas day, will realise just how homeless they are when the Christmas Crackers start to crack above and around them.
There’s not much that one person can do to relieve the suffering of our “rough sleeping” homeless but I hope that those who can do something will do anything they can.
I can picture the scene now – ol’ Bob sees this huddled, crying homeless woman on the way home. He avoids making eye contact, but he cannot escape the haunting image of the woman, laying on the ground, lamenting. He racks his brain – how can he, One Man, make a difference? Then it hits him. He’ll ask the Prime Minister to help! Brilliant! I bet no-one’s thought of this before, he thinks as he excitedly types his petition out. And, when he’s done, he’s so satisfied that he’s made a positive contribution to society – maybe the single greatest contribution he will ever make – that he has a good, long wank to celebrate. And that’s the story of how Bobby Reid saved Christmas for the homeless people of N/A.
As a country we have already done our fair share for the environment. we need to stop pandering to the wimes of the tree hugging types these green taxes are just a rip-off the people of this country cannot afford!! we need all the help we can get to pull though this down turn/recession not more of these unfair taxes!!! vote now to put a stop to this E U based maddness
I can see tomorrow’s headlines now – “DEN BALDWIN DECLARES ENVIRONMENT FIXED!” You can stop recycling now, everybody.
Millions of pounds a year are being spent on MPs expenses and this is not right. The money could be better spent on improving the NHS or the public schools.
Yes, as long as the NHS and public schools can run on autopilot while all the MPs are hunkering down in their constituencies carefully avoiding spending any money. Seriously, you think people will willingly become MPs if you expect them to commute to London every week and don’t give them an expense account?
The URL is a classic as well.
If members of the Cabinet were forced to meet the coffins of our brave men and women, alongside their loved ones, they may take more time to think about the consequences of their decisions.
It should take place on a rota basis so that every minister does their bit.
Surely this is just going to increase their expenses?
Democracy in the UK
I would like to see far more Referendums on topics that effect
us all.
I would like to see Governments forced to do what the people
want.
I would like to see Ministers prosecuted when they break
promises they have made.
I would like to see Ministers prosecuted for telling lies to
each other, and to members of the public, even in Parliament.
I would like the public to be able to sack any minister, at any
time they feel that they are not doing what the people want
done. A voting system could be set up to do this. Despite
what the Government says, it is possible!
I want to see Government Ministers held accountable for not
consulting with their Constituents before any vote, and for not
putting their Constituents views before Party Politics.
I want to see all Whips sacked! I want every vote in
Parliament to be a Free Vote, so that they views of
Constituents will be delivered!
It is about time Governments worked for the people!
We need to be able to hold Government Ministers, and Local
Government Ministers, to account.
If you want to, just copy this and send it to your MP. You are
free to do so if you want.
Hey, you’ve sneakily redefined ‘democracy’ there, so that it means ‘what you want’, haven’t you? Well I have redefined communist, so that now it means ‘J Lex’.
English People are not being given the chance to decide upon their future! Plans are being drawn up to fragment their country into smaller regions! Is this grossly unfair! Therefore, I would rather be part of the United States rather than being under the tumb of the Europeans! Give us a referendum on the EU, or allow us the choice. This is not meant as a joke.
We’re being broken into smaller states! Also, we’re being consumed into the EU and losing out identity! The only solution to these two mutually exclusive problems is to join an even larger country that nobody likes and end up as a solid Democrat state that doesn’t get a say. I really have no idea what