The two letters shown below are templates that you may wish to use. They explain what is happening, raise concerns too & allow you to request being kept in the loop re future changes/plans.

You can get involved even if you do not live in Barnet. The campaign needs those who agree to submit both letters. One will go to Harrow and the other to Barnet.

The aim is to get as many objections as possible to the planning applications.

The relevant website is – better transport

I attended a few meetings at the Harrow Civic Centre and was shocked about the number of disposable cups, spoons etc. that were thrown away, as well as, the number of water dispensers in the building. So I wrote a letter. No point in feeling something and not acting on it, right? Can you do something similar? Do you want to?

To whom it may concern

I am writing to you because I have been to a few meetings at the civic centre and have been presented with plastic and thermal cups each time.

Is there any way Harrow could buy extra thick hard plastic cups which can be washed and re-used? Thus Harrow will work on their ‘green target’ and the environment and those who will inherit the Earth will be grateful.

I watched Panorama today and the report was about bottled water making a huge carbon footprint. Is there any way Harrow could use tap water OR replace the water machines with water sourced by companies with more ethical values/policies?

The companies mentioned in Panorama do not import out of the UK, they use plastic that decomposes, they use less plastic in their bottle make up and they invest all their profits into projects to do with getting water to those who don’t have free, clean tap water.

Does Harrow have a view on this?

Thanks

Heena

I found out about this information today. It spells out how you can opt out, why it may or may not be a good idea and the possible results that your actions may have. I used the opt out form provided on the website to inform my GP that I want to opt out. If you want to more background information about this government backed scheme click here.

It’s excellent and easy! You add your name and address & your GP’s name and address and it provides you with a letter that states you want to opt out from having your GP data uploaded to the spine. It took me less than 5 minutes!

Advice to patients

There are at least three things you should be able to opt out from.

First, you can opt out of having your GP data uploaded to the spine – or so ministers have promised in the past. To do this, write to your GP [link to 'opt out' letter].

Consequences of Opting Out

The Department of Health (DoH) have tried using the argument that by having your details uploaded to the spine, they will be available in an emergency. You may indeed wish to consider this if you have a long-standing medical condition. However A&E Departments do work to established clinical protocols for patients for whom they no medical history, and logging in to a centralised database to reference what they hope are your medical records does not happen at present – and seems unlikely to happen in the near future. If you do have a condition, e.g. diabetes, or penicillin allergy, it would be far better to wear a medical alert bracelet.

Aside from this there should be no impact on your medical care, unless DoH changes the rules to make it so. Your GP will still have access to your records, held locally on the practice’s systems, and can treat you as usual.

Second, you can opt out of having your address and contact details on the Population Demographics Service (PDS) – the NHS ‘address book’. This is prudent if you’re on a witness protection program, or fleeing an abusive relationship. If you don’t, then hundreds of thousands of NHS staff will have access to your real name, address and phone number. If you’re the sort of person who goes ex-directory and ticks the privacy box on the electoral register, then this is for you. [Link coming soon]

Third, you can opt out of the Secondary Uses Service (SUS) which stores records of all hospital treatments in the UK. This includes particularly sensitive stuff like abortions and A&E treatment for drug overdoses. To do this you must invoke section 10 of the Data Protection Act and state that the availability of your hospital records to large numbers of civil servants, etc. causes you distress. [Link coming soon]

Both the second and the third of these opt-outs are likely to be resisted by the Department of Health. We believe however that it is your legal right to opt out, and that when thousands of people do so the Government will have no choice but to accept this.

Do you get frustrated with certain types of emails? Do you dislike chain mail? Do you dislike free marketing emails? Do you dislike the ‘send this back to me so I know you care’ emails? Well here’s the way forward, without getting or giving agro. Simple! Send the text that I’ve pasted below

Hi. The person who sent you this link is a friend who likes you a lot but who wants you to respect their email address, their privacy, and their time.

Chances are, this person asked you to visit this page because you did one of these things:
Forwarded a funny story, a virus warning, or a photo that you enjoyed
Sent email to lots of people using the “To:” line (instead of the “BCC:” line), thereby exposing your friend’s email address to strangers
CC’d your friend unnecessarily on something you had sent primarily to someone else

In any case, you might want to go back and have another look at the email they’re replying to. They asked you to visit here because, while they love getting one-on-one, personal messages from you, they really don’t want to receive more messages like the one you just sent. Cool?

You’re not a bad person, and no one hates you, but it would be valuable to learn the very personal preferences of your friends, family members, and co-workers before including them in unrequested email or choosing to expose their private address to people they don’t know.

Thanks for understanding, and if this same thing ever happens to you, feel free to reply to an email you don’t want by pasting this in:

Hi there, beloved friend of this email recipient: Please visit http://thanksno.com/
Because this person likes getting personal messages from you, but doesn’t want any more email like this, please.
Love,
ThanksNo.com
http://www.thanksno.com/

I received this message from the Mutual Self Help Network.

Hi all,

As you must be aware, British government is considering several changes to some of the rules that govern visa conditions for visitors (tourists as well as family members). One of the key objective behind this motion is to stem flow of illegal immigrants and also to prevent visitor visa holders to illegally work in UK.

The Indian community is likely to be most severely affected due to these changes. These changes do not apply to EU citizens or to citizens of some of the other western countries.

Home office has released a consultation paper for people in UK, asking for their opinion on the proposed changes. The paper is provided at http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/consultations/visitorsconsultationpaper/. It is essential that we send them our views on the proposed changes and suggest any corrections, if we feel necessary. The deadline for submission of this paper is 10th March. If you have not submitted your views already, please do so soon. Also, I request that you forward this information to your friends and family members so that they can also submit their opinion.

To make the process easier, we’ve prepared a specimen form and associated questionnaire with the information completed. Please contact us if you could like to have a look at it.
You can email completed forms with your views to visitorconsultation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Best regards,
Mutual Self Help Network