I haven't written a blog in a while - if i'm being honest i have been trying to "withdraw" from the GA community slightly more over the last few months for various reasons. However, I though this was important enough to break my silence, and so I want to take the time up front to thank anyone who takes the time to read the below.

A few weeks ago, the united kingdom government launched an "e-petition" site, where basically you can submit a title of a petition, and once it receives over 100,000 signatures, that petition gets referred to parliament for debate (with an additional committee stage first to ensure that parliament doesn't spend huge amounts of time on petitions to lower tax to 0% etc, which of course millions of people will sign).

The first e-petition to go over 100,000 was to remove the social security benefits of anyone convicted of crimes related to the London/UK riots of the last weeks. Obviously this is a populist cause that probably wont get anywhere because of legal challenges and our commitments in the Human Rights Act etc.

However, i still genuinely think that this site has the potential as a force for good. Here is an example. There is a current petition to legalise Gay Marriage (as opposed to a civil union/partnership). i think pushing a debate in parliament - even if it doesn't get a vote - would allow us to see which politicians are just paying lip service to equality, and which of them are really committed to us as their constituents.

Moreover, i think this issue is big enough to ensure that this government follows through on its commitment to parliamentary debate. It will also keep Gay issues on the national agenda - because it does seem to me that ever since civil partnerships were introduced, everyone considers the "gay issue" solved.

Now, its only open to UK voters - but I would like to strongly encourage all voters from the UK to go and place their name on this petition...

e-Petitions

Those who are of the same mind, I would like to encourage (ONLY IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE) for you to spread the word about this petition to your friends and associates using facebook, twitter, google+ etc. Spread the word. As your friends to spread the word too.

Thank-you for your time