Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Frothy and Triumphant! Oh Come Lefties, Come Ye to anti ConDem-nay-tion!

[KateMiddlet0n]

Fed up of the ConDems robbing the poorest and most vulnerable blind? Sympathetic to the squeezed middle? Have you eyes that can see the horrors that await the dismantling of our welfare state and all that is great and good in UK?

Then you're a frother. This is our safe-space to rally, vent and get organised. You are also welcome if you want to be better informed and/or do something.

#Frothers don't join - #frothers ARE. Check out the blog for information and actions you can take, like us on www.facebook.com/frothers Facebook for bite-sized chunks of frothiness you can read, like and share, or get ye to Twitter and tweet your frustrations using the #frothers hashtag or follow us @TMC_frothers.

Our blog toomanycuts.blogspot.com

Facebook www.facebook.com/frothers

Twitter Twitter.com/tmc_frothers

This is our 4th thread now!

Well my rest didn't last too long kind of addictive this frothing business!

www.cpag.org.uk/scotland/welfare_reform_scot.htm - Scotland stuff - nothing that's not going on elsewhere so not much point in a Scottish themed 12 days post that I can see.

Bit of conversation going now on the MSE post :)

Is it wrong to be a bit that I got into the Daily Frother ?

< pins a Blue Peter badge on Ava >

well done, girl !

8 maids a milking?

interesting quote here paper.li/IamalrightJack/1324157598 re effects of cuts on women.. "A growing number of the female guests have fled violence. "We can see that the [Coalition's] cuts are affecting women more, with domestic violence and rape centres closing," says Scott. "We've seen more trafficked women, sex workers and victims of domestic violence." A large number of ex-servicemen also come through their doors. "There is a massive drinking culture in the Army and these people find themselves suddenly unemployed at 35 or 40. Sometimes they also have post-traumatic stress."

Some of the young guests have been thrown out of home - Scott tells me about one young woman who had cared for her sick mother for years but was then kicked out of the house for admitting she was a lesbian. Another guest, a 20-year-old father-of-two with a cheeky smile, ended up sleeping rough when his mother found a new boyfriend with whom he didn't get on.

"I lived with my gran, uncle and friends for a while but ended up on the streets. I want to work and be a good role model to my kids but it is hard to get a job when I don't have enough references and skills."

Lol thanks AF but so did many many others too, I'm just chuffed cause I know I can't do much to help the cause atm but pester people, at least it must be working!

woohoo Ava.

Am working on a While Shepherds Watched poim/carol. Will post it on blog in a moment (in drafts) for your suggestions.

Not happy with the end..

You have a Blue Peter badge too mme

Thanks, Ava.

Ok, last verse is defeating me at present. Will leave it till morning.

Never done this before, so need someone to say if it is crap.

Pm me it if you like? am around for another ten mins or so

Ok, will do.

Blog Posts

Christine - Tax Breaks and Benefit Cuts
Me - almost done - Workfare Carol
Shirley - Dickens
Ava - on pester power
Hully - Christmassy something that I have forgotten

Tues: Me or Christine
Wed: Hunty?
Thurs: Me or Christine
Fri: Hully?

Sat: Xmas Eve - Shirley ?

Sun: Xmas Day - Merry Xmas message with pic or something. No point in doing much cause hardly anyone will read it.

From Monday, 12 Days of Xmas

Please sign up

I'm happy with the Xmas Eve Spot (that gives me a few days to get myself square)

I'm off work for a few days over the christmas period so can probably write something for the 12 days (I've been waiting for the places to be filled )

Been busy so haven't had time to keep up with you all, has anyone mentioned that ATOSsers feature in the current Private Eye?

Have caught up with everything now I think. Sorry I've been useless life has been hectic. For very boring reasons I won't go into I'm going to change my name - it's a shame, I've had this one for a while and feel known in it. I reckon you'll all spot me PDQ. Please don't out me on the boards. Happy to confirm via pm or even just pm and ask outright.

I haven't checked out the other blogging thread (having trouble with phone) for 12 days but if 7 is still free i can write about being a disappointed lib dem voter? There are several lib dem MPs I thought would be so much better (Sarah Tethers, Vince, Nick etc). I think i'm probably fairly typical of the type of person who has historically voted for them: centre left, socialist democrat types who feel Labour is too far one way and the Tories the other. Except actually they're all the same and does it really matter which party you vote for? You get the same old stuff any way. It would be a comment piece and not v meaty but I hope it will resonate with people like me. I think we are many.

I'll do Xmas Day :)

As long as it doesn't require too much thinking - I've learned such a lot of depressing stuff this past fortnight, my brain's rebelled and demands excess vodka.

I agree, Kate, but am mucho impressed by the LibDem Lords.

I'm a bit crap at spotting namechanges.

Just found this on BullyOnline's joke page and thought I'd share:

The Six Phases of a Project

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Praise and honour for the non-participants

So that's the next election sorted for Labour then!

I thought this was appropriate, too

Government of the people, for the people, and by the people

A little boy goes to his Dad and asks, "What is politics?"

Dad says, "Well, son, let me try to explain it this way: I'm the breadwinner of the family, so let's call me Capitalism. Your Mom, she's the administrator of the money, so we'll call her the Government. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the People. The nanny, we'll consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future.Now, think about that and see if that makes sense.

So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has soiled his diaper, so the little boy goes to his parents' room and finds his mother sound asleep.

Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now."

The father says, "Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."

The little boy replies, "Well, while Capitalism is screwing the Working Class, the Government is sound asleep, the People are being ignored, and the Future is in Deep Shit."

... and this finally satisfied my need for anger-related humour
Scott Pakin's Complaint Generator.
Enjoy!

ha. Love the jokes.

Christine - are you ready to go today, or would you prefer Thursday?

Tues: Me or Christine
Wed: Hunty?
Thurs: Me or Christine
Fri: Hully?

Sat: Xmas Eve - Shirley

Sun: Xmas Day - Garlic

Boxing Day: A Partridge in a Pear Tree - ??

27th: 2 Turtle Doves - ??

28th: 3 French Hens - ??

29th: 4 Colly Birds - SEO

30th: 5 Gold Rings - Mme

31st: 6 Geese a-laying - ??

1st Jan: 7 Swans a-swimming - Isa

2nd: 8 Maids a-milking - Clare from FYP Blog

3rd: 9 Ladies Dancing - SGM perhaps? Will ask

4th: 10 Lords a-leaping - Ava

6th: 11 Pipers Piping - ??

7th: 12 Drummers Drumming - ??

12 Drummers Drumming - ?? Cuts to music?

11 Pipers Piping Scotland What about Scotland?

10 Lords-a-Leaping House of Lords and the impact they can have on the Welfare Reform Bill and Health & Social care Bill and what we can do? ie which Lords might be receptive to influence?? ?Combined with How to Protest? Ava

9 Ladies Dancing How the cuts disproportionately affect women?? Maybe one of the feminist board? Will ask them

8 Maids-a-Milking Support cuts for midwives/BFing counselling? NHS reforms with a focus on how services are allocated on political lines not clinical need Clare from FYP blog

7 Swans-a-Swimming 7 water companies AS this comes the day after another utility perhaps feature 7 Lib Dem election promises that have gone by the wayside or 7 Lib Dem politicians who are coasting along nicely in their ministerial jobs who need reminding of their pre-election promises and where their conscience resides Isa

6 Geese-a-Laying - Six fuel companies laying....a land of fuel poverty

5 Gold Rings Olympics - costs, school sport, etc MmeLindor

4 Colly Birds 4 bailed out banks ?? DLA cuts? 4 corners? SEO

3 French Hens 3 Henchmen (Callmedave, Boy Gideon, Pinickio Clegg)?? How about 3 fat cats/organisations who are enabled by the government either via Workfare, PFI or selling off assets (like the solvent bit of Northern Rock) for buttons??

2 Turtle Doves 2 milibands How about something a bit less obvious, taking the imagery of the turtle dove and what it represents (love and loss) and twist it a bit to a comment on the coalition? A comment on the "romance" and make the point that without the coalition none of the cuts could be pushed through so quickly and so aggressively?

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree. and a useless Labour parteeeeeeeeeeeeeee That is genius idea. It's a shame it comes first because it would go so well last as a summary

Haven't started writing yet! I will get on with it tout de suite though and will send it to you in the next few hours if that's okay?

That is fine, Christine. No hurry. We normally don't post till afternoon anyway.

There's a response to the summary of the GN webchat saying that Scotland is not allowed to borrow and therefore all it's 'unsustainable' stuff eg, education HAS to fit in the budget or they wouldn't be able to do it.

If we can find out more about that it would be a great topic.

Morning everyone - have been reading and tweeting about homelessness this morning. Lots of appalling statistics - Crisis found an average homeless person has a life expectancy of 47, but if you look particularly at women it comes down to 43. And homelessness is on the rise - over the last 12 months there has been a 13% increase. Bloody hell.

I was going to offer to write a blog piece for the twelve days of Christmas about Surestart/Early intervention which I thought was on the list as Day 12? I'm not feeling very confident about this but I want to contribute. Could Surestart be Day 12 - drummers drumming?

Yes to drummers drumming/Sure Start piece.

Saw that tweeting action and RT a few of them. Good work.

Could we shoehorn homeless onto the blog? Might actually be a good Xmas topic. With link to Shelter.