State of mind

If you think you are beaten, you are If you think you dare not, you don't, If you like to win, but you think you can't It is almost certain you won't. If you think you'll lose, you've lost For out of the world we find, Success starts with a fellow's will It's all in the state of mind. If you think you are outclassed, you are You've got to think high to rise, You've got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize. Life's battles don't always go To the stronger or faster man, But sooner or later the man who wins Is the man who thinks he can!

National issues

A particular issue which has come up is the funding/influencing of political changes.

This is a petition but I have included it not so much for us to consider signing but to highlight the role organisations play in seeking to influence policy and law, in this example from an organisation based in the US:

http://citizengo.org/en/23113-atlantic-philanthropies-stop-meddling-irish-politics?sid=Mzc4NTc4NjM4NTMwMjQz

Update 2015 - 9th issue

Hello and welcome to this week's update from Sue May.

My name is Arnie Fabius and you can connect with me via my profile. In brief, I was briefly homeless in 2011 and in a quieter moment I will ask Sue if I can speak at onw of the Hot Potato events.

I have been a resident, tax and rate payer until Nov 2008.

National News - Issue 44

Firstly some great news on the Welfare Assistance fund, you may recall there was a petition about this just before Christmas as there had been plans to completely scrap the fund.  See below info from 38 Degrees advising that following the petition, the Government has reinstated the fund and will be giving £74m.  This is reduced from the previous amount but the money will still go some way to helping people in crisis.

Also on the national news front, the HSBC Tax avoidance scandal is making waves in national media.  I've seen one petition noting that the rate of prosecutions for tax avoidance is very low, it will be interesting to see if the loopholes and sanctions against tax avoidance can be made tighter so that more much needed tax revenue can be available to the government. 

General Election 2015 - issue 44

Just to let you know on this front that there are continued efforts being made to arrange local hustings for the elections.  As you can appreciate it is quite a tricky business to line up suitable dates with all of the invited candidates and the venues as well!  Please pray that we will be able to line up the right events at the right time, to give both Christians and the wider public some great opportunities to question the candidates and make informed decisions about our MPs.  There has also been discussion of including events which cover international issues and also an event for young people so please pray there might be opportunities for these as well.

Local news - issue 44

Quite a lot of things on the local front as well at the moment. Development is again very promient with discussion of a possible extension of the A3 underpass at Tolworth and the development of the Post Office quarter in Kingston.  There seems to be all party support for the underpass proposal however a warning about the huge costs of such projects.  There is also significant concern about the height of buildings in central Kingston and the effect it will have, both visually for a market town which has traditionally lower buildings and also the effect on health services, schools and traffic.

There is also an interesting discussion in the Kingston Guardian on bus route access to hospitals, and how needing to take two busses can cause problems for the elderley for outpatient appointments, particularly those in outlying areas of the borough.

Finally a number of schools have decided not to visit the Kingston Synagogue due to security concerns following the attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris.  There is a good discussion of the views of the Rabbi and discussion on the level of risk to children.

International News - Issue 44

I thought it would be good to introduce this heading as well to our briefing, as the actions of our governments have great influence on the welfare of people across the world, particularly in the areas of trade, aid and climate change. So please let me know if there are any areas we can support or be informed of in this area where we can influence for good through our political work.