#frothers Unite!! Time for change.

I forgto to say, I started a thread on Gransnet earlierl.

Hedley I might hit you up for some beta/proofing if that's okay? Will get your email off lubey.

i haven't a gransnet login.

i wonder why gmail is picking on me then? though kate also had to give a phone number she said so not just me. odd.

gransnet is a great idea. also maybe someone at mind? does anyone have links to mind or other mental health groups? would be fantastic to get some service providers take on things - the cutbacks in mental health services are leaving people very vulnerable and in danger - sometimes losing all of their support which makes care in the community into you're on your own mate.

done

So have any of us got a Gransnet login?

ok, NW, will add your comment

Agree re: gransnet too Shirley

I could add the comment for you, nativity if it still won't let you

Ok, thanks AF. I am flummoxed by bloggy/tweety type things! My user name is fine.

I've been thinking - can we link up to Gransnet to get someone over there to write about how the cuts are affecting the elder members of our society?

Haven't been able to write anything or do any research today thanks to the broadband being utterly pants at work today. Sorry all - but as I said it has made me think that the most powerful posts are coming from those who ae experiencing the cuts in their every day life - DYKWIM?

Got to tell you this though. I'm reading Dickens' Christmas Carol at the moment - and have been highlighting madly in preparation for a post about how things are rewinding 150 years. It's quite astounding how some of the passages completely reflect how we frothers are feeling and the inequity of it all. Seriously mad.

I would have had surname Fucker, but that was taken

my gmail is... surname: Mumsnet, christian name; AF

I only got a gmail address a few days ago - it didn't ask me for a phone number. Or I wouldn't have done it, as the gmail is in the name Hunty Cat. .

That is odd, Santa. I have a few google email addresses and it has always worded.

This is interesting, Ed Balls just tweeted these two articles:

Guardian

Ed's blog

santa...I never had any sort of "verification code" by phone

just the usual confirmation email

and I only got a gmail address a couple of weeks ago

I don't know what you mean, it sounds nothing like what I did

not on this one - they will send me a verification code via phone and you can't continue the process without providing one.

dodgy, dodgy, dodgy.

but this is exactly what has been leaked by their own big bosses anyway - that their main aim is to get everyone's real life id's and be like a big database and the latest googleplus is just another way to lure people in.

i realise i sound like a paranoid conspiracy freak but this was leaked by their own people and i can well believe it.

Rather
That is really sad. Sorry about your friend.

You can normally skip the phone number question.

Or put in a fake one.

I don't remember giving a phone number, tbh

Could you use a fake one ?

although it looks like you have to give a phone number, you don't really (can't remember how you get round it but is quite straightforward, iirc)

soz. That's not vair useful, is it?

google is creepy

i can't get a gmail account because i refuse to give them a phone number - all of the news about google being determined to lead the way on identity verification of all internet users and offering social networking carrots to get hold of personal information is very believable to me. i have never been asked for a phone number to set up an email account before. majorly dodgy.

NW, you need a gmail address and someone to add you to the blog as a contributor, I think

kate or garlic (and others ?) can do that

I will cut and paste and add it with your MN name (or anonymously) if you wish me to, also...let me know

I'm happy to proofread and do spell/grammar checks if anybody wants me too. Disclaimer: I am not a sub-editor, merely a pedant.

I'm away all day tomorrow till about 7pm with work.

If anyone is interested Lubey has my e-mail addy.

I read the blog about LHA caps and wanted to point out that if you have had to move before it is due to come in (as I have) the reduction begins immediately.
My HB has gone down by £50 a month, that is at the same time that my childcare element of Tax Credits has gone down.

Also, I don't think that landlords ever raised rents to meet the LHA's. It was more a case of property prices going sky high.

Most HB claimants are in work, and because of the massive rents anyone earning under around 18 k a year needs a HB top up.
So obvs, the reduction hits us single parents hardest, as we only have one income.

In London it is actually a bit better for private tenants, as the LHA is more realistic, but where I live in Yorkshire, there is less rented accommodation, and with the new LHA rates you can really only afford to live somewhere pretty rough.
What this means is that all the poor people end up sending their kids to the same schools,in rough areas, and the schools in posher areas are exclusively white, middle class and wealthy, so there is no social mix at all.

Sorry, I would have commented on the blog, but I couldn't figure out how to do that!!