WTF are Frothers? Not a quiche, but a protest group. Fighting for the "basic line of British decency" against fiscal brutality.

[garlicfrother]

What are Frothers?

The term "Frothers" came about one dank and dismal November day in 2011. A frustrated user of the parenting forum Mumsnet started a thread about her dismay at the cuts that the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government was inflicting on the British public.

She stated that she was not "quite a frothing berserker but I am getting rather cross with our government messing with the good stuff".

The good stuff - policies, benefits, institutions that had taken years to achieve were being cut for no good reason, often leaving gaping holes in the fabric of British society.

The NHS, with which we Brits have a love-hate relationship, but like a favourite sibling, we wish to protect from harm.

Sure Start, a successful scheme that supported parents who were struggling and offered children from deprived backgrounds a better start in life.

Universal Child Benefit was cut for those families who had one earner bringing in more than £44k a year. If both parents each earn less than £44k, they keep their UCB payments. This obviously hit single parents and families with a single earner hardest.

Disability Living Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance - which enabled those with disabilities to live a decent life, without feeling that they were begging for assistance or were a burden to the taxpayer.

Student Fees, the introduction of which, contrary to Lib Dem pre-election promises, means that a whole generation of young people will have to think carefully before applying to higher education.

These and many other cuts are being made in the name of austerity. We are "all in this together", but some of us are deeper in this than others.

We all understand that there are sacrifices to be made but why should these sacrifices be borne by those who already have so little?

The general public seems oblivious of the dangers being faced, they are unaware of the injustices being wrought on the already disadvantaged.

The government is winning the war of the headlines. They have blasted the recipients of DLA and ESA as scrounger and cheats so often that the general public believe it. They misinterpret data to "prove" their points. Teachers are painted as being irresponsible and greedy, while the bankers rake in the money.

The poster on Mumsnet was not alone for long. Within a few days, a group of over 30 posters had formed. They asked themselves, "What can we do?".

The idea of a blog was born. Three days later the blog had over thirty authors signed up, a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

The Aims:

• to open the general publics' eyes to the injustices being created by the governement

• to inform those who are facing cuts about their rights

• to link with other activists and charities, in order to put pressure on the government

Are you a Frother?

Come and join us.

BLOG

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

. That's it. That's my future. A never-ending Wokfare placement. . I am not even worth being paid Minimum wage now.

Surely that Guardian article must start the backlash, not just on Twitter but in the general population.

I am on MN. I should be packing. I am procrastinating. But I am about to get orf my arse and get on with it. I just don't know where to start...

Oh, yes - if you missed the threads, I have been offered a new-build 4 bed in the area I have to stay in due to PSO, I can move in on the 19th March!!

Rent is £780pcm though - that's going to BITE when I have to go back to work.

Oh so glad to hear this. But does it come with carpets?

I will put your moving date in my excel calendar, what colour would you like? it's 3 days before our First Court Appointment for divorce settlement - but pray god we get things sorted before then...

That's brilliant, Hunty! :)

Saw this on another thread and thought you lot might appreciate it...

f Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as prime minister on Thursday, I warn you.

I warn you that you will have pain?when healing and relief depend upon payment.

I warn you that you will have ignorance?when talents are untended and wits are wasted, when learning is a privilege and not a right.

I warn you that you will have poverty?when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a government that won?t pay in an economy that can?t pay.

I warn you that you will be cold?when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don?t notice and the poor can?t afford.

I warn you that you must not expect work?when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don?t earn, they don?t spend. When they don?t spend, work dies.

I warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light.

I warn you that you will be quiet?when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient.

I warn you that you will have defence of a sort?with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding.

I warn you that you will be home-bound?when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up.

I warn you that you will borrow less?when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.

If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday?

• I warn you not to be ordinary

• I warn you not to be young

• I warn you not to fall ill

• I warn you not to get old.

Neil Kinnock, 1983

I remember posting that just before the election. It's so true

bookmarking as a refuge from the universal credit thread, which I think is going ok but I'm not going back to it.

I shall do a couple of letters this evening. [not going down without a fight]

Im pleased you got the house Hunty. Thats good news.

Where can I find the quote about working hours going up for UC? I can't find it

It's going up for WTC THIS April, Tewi. No more getting TC's if you are working 16 hrs. You MUST work 24 hrs/wk. Otherwise it will be having to claim Income Suppport/ Jobseekers Allowance, and declaring your earnings to the DWP.

You are 'allocated' your £67.50 IS/JSA, then you are allowed to keep £20 of your earnings each week. Every penny you earn OVER that is taken out of your IS/JSA.

So if you earn £97.28/wk, they will not actually PAY you any IS/JSA - but you will get your NI credits.

BUT you won't get ANY help with childcare...

Which basically means that if you can't get an extra 8 hours a week from your current employer, or find a NEW job doing 24hrs+ a week - you will have to give up work.

Which means that you are unemployed. And can be sent on Workfare...

Won't know about the carpets until tomorrow. I AM panicking about that, as the place I'm in came without carpets, and the cheapest crappiest carpets from Carpetright, without underlay, cost me £700 over 7 YEARS ago...

I reckon it will cost nigh on £1000 to carpet a 4-bed house.

Actually - have the Social Fund Loans gone yet? Or is there a slim chance that I could apply there to try and get SOMETHING towards the carpets?

I don't think it will have gone until April at least Hunty, since the new financial year doesn't start until then, and they voted on it after the start of the tax year in January... but maybe that's too logical of me.

Get in there asap!

Very slim chance I'm afraid Hunty, another MNer who fled to a refuge was refused a loan and had to wait till benefits came through. And when is loan fund year end? - aiui when it's gone it's gone.

I have printed out Kinnock's Warning, and stuck it on my door - (like a fb wall but for our v small household). And saved it for futher use.

In the old days if I saw you at the CAB as a client I would be advising applying for charitable grants, perhaps from people who had something to do with epilepsy, or with your previous work... But I suspect even that is a non-starter these days.

Freecycle for a sofa bed? With your condition, are you better on a squashy one you simply unfurl, or would one with a metal frame and mattress be better? Or even blow up mattress on the floor?

The carpets are a HUGE issue though - bare concrete with a crawling baby? And with an asthmatic? Concrete floors are VERy dusty, and will make DS2's asthma worse.

I know that the 'loan' year ends in April, I think at the very leats I can TRY, I'll go and grab the forms on Monday. The worst I can get told is no, and that wouldn't leave me in any WORSE a position than I am in already WRT to carpets!

It's not so much furniture, I can take mine with me, it's the carpet issue that will do for me!

I'm already struggling to scrape together the money for a removal van!

Also wondering if the Family Fund would help? I know they have paid for washing machines for people before? And holidays? I aven't ever been so lacking in funds that I have personally had to go to them - but maybe THAT would be worth a try? If I can't get a Social Fund Loan?

we could all get some rug wool and start knitting squares?

.I'd be USELESS at that. I can't knit for toffee. I can cross stitch, but knitting and crochet I just can't DO. And I have been shown time and time again, both as a child AND as an adult.

I'd have more hope of cross-stitching a floor covering...might take some time though...

Hunty have you seen it? My new build in your county had blue (nice!) tiles downstairs in the hall, LR, kitchen and bathrooms. The stairs were boards, but new and smooth. A bit slippy and needing sweeping every day but not bad. Upstairs in the bedrooms is was a sort of fuzzy board stuff which was also okay but you do have to watch out for staples coming up. We used to take a hammer to them every so often. Didn't have carpet for a year and it was fine.

I really hope yours is similar - it came with a load of little extras, towel-rail, loo-roll holder, shower curtain even. Amazing compared to the voided council flat I had been in. That did have a concrete floor IIRC.

Oh - and a shed and rotary washing line. I thought I had won the lottery when I went to view it. If we hadn't have needed more space I'd have lived there forever that was Swan Housing if it helps. Fingers crossed

The one I am in now was a new-build 7 years ago, and when I moved in, downstairs was bare concrete, and upstairs was those boards you were on about. I didn't have carpet to start with - but after DS2 was hospitalised with the most severe asthma attack he has ever had, I paid for carpets on my credit card, as the Consultant put it directly down to the fact that bare flooring in new builds harbours dust from the building process. Apparently it can take over a year for even heavy cleaning to get rid of it, unless you slap carpet down.

I had a credit card back then, both Ex-P AND I were working FT. .

My place will be Colne. This one is Family Mosaic bunch of useless idiots.

I now have to press my current LL to do the list of repairs that have been repeatedly reported.

1. The boiler switches fall off when you switch them on, gas checker every year says they need fixing, have reported it 29 times in the last 3 years. .

2. I have a leak in my downstairs loo, thankfully a small one, has been reported 8 times in 8 weeks. Again, .

3. My fencing in the garden needs replacing, it lays flat on the ground when it's windy. Caused by my next door neighbour - the LL has surveryed it, agrees it's the next door neighbour's 'fault' (She has nailed 3 layers of bamboo cane stuff to her side of it, and it falls down to HER side, but is MY boudary fence), was told it will be replaced. Before Christmas. I report the repair EVERY WEEK. This has been ongoing for 11 months now. YET AGAIN. .

I'll be SO glad to get a LL who might actually do the reported repairs. Especially when their Tenancy Agreement states that it is things that THEY are responsible for...

Please excuse the crap typing - I think I need to clean out decrumb my keyboard!!

Is the new one brand new? They were still building behind and in front of my house when I moved in and the air must have been thick with crap - was constantly sweeping sand out of the hallway! You would have to carpet upstairs immediately due DS, I agree.

If the stairs are mdf board they get very dusty too. I would have put some cheap mats down but DC / slipping - too dangerous so I damp dusted every day. When I saw how much accumulated I vowed to hoover the stairs daily when the carpet went down but that soon fell by the wayside

HA was pretty good at getting people out for repairs - it's a shame yours sounds so rubbish, last thing you need is to be chasing when you have a million things to do.

Yep, it will be brand new not finished yet. AND there is still MASSES of building going on round there - for the first 6 months or so, it will be like living in the middle of a building site!