With only one year to go for a UK-EU deal to be reached (when incorporating the time it takes for the deal to be ratified by the EU Parliament and the EU27), it's time the Government got real and made some constructive offers such as to ring-fence citizens' rights. This is their only real chance of breaking the deadlock. We can all hear the clock ticking away...

f you're the Commission you must be laughing. Why not leave the British to squabble amongst themselves, let the March 2019 deadline get closer and closer, and then force through an advantageous deal at the last minute? What possible incentive do the Europeans have to take the negotiations seriously? Why would they treat us with respect? We are proving ourselves to be incompetent and idiotic. We deserve what we will get.

What business does a white family have caring for black children, or a Muslim family caring for a white girl? And maybe you are right. There are many families out there who are better suited than us. Yet when the call came, on a bleak November evening, we were the ones who opened our door to three children who were tired, cold and frightened. We provided warm baths and towels, hot chocolate and cookies, a bedtime story, a warm bed. We dried tears, and held little hands until sleep finally came. And we set three extra places for breakfast, in silence as we tried to understand the scale of the challenge we had just accepted.

I ask myself who am I now? I look in the mirror and see my broken beauty. I see that my flaws are as much a part of me as my grace. I see the sacrifices that I've made to live. I see the ghost of my former self lingering in the background and I know I must let her go. It's time to start thinking about the future.

If you're upset, do something - listen to the voices of people of colour, do your own research, give money, time or resources to spaces and platforms for people of colour. As Siana points out in this episode; if Charlottesville was a surprise to you, you've not been paying attention.

Trans communities, with our allies, need to work together and stay strong. We need to focus on the real and valid conversations about how we improve the law for trans people, and not let them be undermined by those who want to halt progress towards equality.

No more moonlight, please. Give me the dawn. No more digitised lullabies. Give me the chirping chorus of the breaking day. No more glances at the neon clock, dividing the night into too-short chapters: 00:30, 02:00, 04:00, 6:50.

When my son Oscar was about 3 hours old he had started grunting. The Midwifery Care Assistant had come to check on us both to see if he was feeding and I told her he was laughing. She immediately took him from me and pressed the emergency button.

One of the big talking points at Conservative Party Conference every year is what does the future hold? Where do we go from here? How do we maintain our position as an election winning machine and a party of government? All pretty obvious questions you might think. But this year, that question is more relevant than ever, and arguably more pressing.

We used to be the party of democracy. I don't see it now. If we can't even have a debate on the conference floor about the most cataclysmic decision in my lifetime, who are we? Not Labour. I honestly thought by hanging on I could change from within. I can't.

As the Tories begin their party conference in Manchester, it is hard not to delight in their disunity. May is a walking shadow. Her cabinet strutters, fretting their final hours on their political stage. Their Brexiting message this week will be full of sound and fury. But it will signify nothing. This Tory minority Government will soon be snuffed out by the spectre of a Labour Government which haunts every aspect of their conference this week.

The government's most recent proposals for counter-extremism legislation are extremely worrying. Among the suggestions were a set of new civil orders, that would have allowed the police to prevent people from assembling with others or from speaking in public: a serious curb on free speech.

When I calculated last week that my local foodbank has seen an 82% increase in demand since Universal Credit was rolled out in Hastings, I assumed I'd messed up the sums. Trussell Trust's figures from April 2017 state that foodbanks in locations where a full rollout of Universal Credit has taken place see, on average, a 16.85% increase in referrals for emergency food. So surely my 82% must be wrong? Sadly, it wasn't.

No one can deny that the UK government had ample warning that hurricane Irma, a Caribbean storm of unprecedented force, was heading for British territories. Comments by Mrs May and her cabinet, scapegoating rules on aid, are an unedifying attempt to distract from the government's inadequate preparedness.

The political party conference season is getting in full swing. Housing, the NHS, social care as well as Brexit are among issues prominent on the agendas at these annual political melting pots. But there's another one which deserves a higher level of attention and that impacts on hundreds of thousands of lives every day in the UK.

On 12th September 2009, I married my soulmate. Daniel and I had been together since we were 17, a cliché, but we are childhood sweethearts. At the age of 28 we made the formal commitment in front of friends and family to spend the rest of our lives together.

I tried to play it down as my children Ellie and Riley were trying to spoil me as it was Mothers' Day but I just couldn't move from my bed. I went to bed early that night and woke at 5am with the worst pain I have ever felt in my head. I instantly knew something was wrong and my husband Dale called for an ambulance.

There is so much history in the fabric of our building besides the Thames; people talk about the buzz of the restaurant when it is full but I like the early mornings when it is empty and silent, and you can feel all the dramas, the deals, the tantrums and the marriage proposals that have taken place here.

Gabrielle Adjei

I spent a lot of time in the gym when I was teenager. Initially it was more of a social thing, but slowly exercise became a way of life for me. I imagined myself strong and healthy, and assumed I'd always be able to go for runs and lift heavy weights. What I never considered at 16 was that I'd soon be diagnosed with a condition that would force me to rethink exercise entirely.

The idea that we could hold meaningful conversations with computers creates a strong and diverse set of reactions. For some, being able to talk with a chat bot is an exciting idea, opening up a whole range of business and personal opportunities from customer service and tech support to fashion, healthcare and legal advice.