https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions

This website, continually updated, gives petitions submitted to the UK Government and the number of signatures each petition has attracted.

The Good - the top petition remains one in support of refugees worldwide.

The Bad - the second one, and one that, sadly, is rising up the ranks fast, wants to exclude refugees 'until ISIS is defeated'. There are even more racist ones further down the rankings, but fortunately these have failed to make much headway in terms of numbers signing (I have been tracking numbers of signatories since September).

The Ugly (but interesting to geographers) - each petition is accompanied by a map showing the geographical distribution of signatories. What seems to be the theme here is that people are signing, not on national grounds but on local interests, e.g. a petition to 'save Scunthorpe steelworks; has support only around Scunthorpe, the farners support one attracts support mainly in rural areas etc etc. So, 'Ugly', people are still very parochial, not nationally minded at all, despite globalisation, a national media, a 'United' Kingdom a s so on. Also appears to be some class diviisions here, if you know the UK and the geography of  its affluent and deprived areas.

Could be an interesting  site to watch, as it is continually evolving.

Dr Hillary J. Shaw
Director and Senior Research Consultant
Shaw Food Solutions
Newport
Shropshire
TF10 8NB
www.fooddeserts.org