Never mind that just now, Vanessa: Why aren't you cheering Wales! Us Celts should stick together!!!!!! Jim. -----Original Message----- From: vanessa - Email Address: qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx Sent On: 16/03/2013 19:28 Sent To: GUIDE CHAT - Email Address: guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [guide.chat] thousands of protesters march through towns Bedroom tax: Thousands join protest marches held up and down the country against benefit cuts 16 Mar 2013 13:28 Thousands of campaigners join peaceful marches in towns and cities across the UK to protest against controversial new scheme Benefit cuts: Thousands have pledged to join protests against the 'bedroom tax' today Protests are taking place up and down the country today against government plans for a new 'bedroom tax'. Thousands of campaigners have joined peaceful marches in more than 50 towns and cities across the UK to tell David Cameron that his controversial new scheme is not acceptable. The tax is expected to affect 660,000 people when it comes into effect next month and will hit the poor, vulnerable and disabled the hardest. Under the Government''s welfare reforms, those deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home will have their housing benefit claims reduced by £40 to £80. More than 17,000 people signed up to join the rallies, which kick-started at around 1pm. The protest's national organiser, Dr Eoin Clarke, said: "This is a cruel policy that primarily hits single parents, and the adult disabled. "Even children deemed disabled but not 'severely' so, are affected. Carers, the terminally ill, battered wives and husbands are all affected. "Soldiers living in single accommodation or indeed foster parents with more than one foster child are hit, despite the Government's talk of a U-turn. "There are times in history when people must stand together in defence of common decency - that time has come." According to the National Housing Federation, those affected also include separated parents who share care of their children and couples who use a spare bedroom when recovering from an illness or operation. FROM AROUND THE WEB: Watch Mountain Bikers hit up a Bobsleigh Run (Red Bull) Guide to Teeth Whitening Kits (Zesty Blog) Thinking of Buying a Honda Jazz Si? Read This First (AOL) Ten reasons we love the new SimCity (MSN) MORE FROM THE MIRROR: Domestic violence: Boyfriend Toby Hayden who punched. Arrest after six schoolgirls had semen smeared on their. Mum-to-be stunned as face appears in her baby bump Freezing girl of three is saved by a dog which cuddled up. Recommended by 18 COMMENTS To leave a comment, you need to login via Facebook by clicking the button below Sort: NewestOldestMost PopularMost Active Report Abuse 3 Simone Eggar 6:30 PM on 16/3/2013 If I was a Conservative MP or Councillor at this point in time I would be ashamed to be associated with my Conservative Government. I would recognise it has pointedly created a law that is not only discriminative against a vulnerable section of the country's population but one that this section of society have absolutely no way it which to comply. All options of compliance are beyond a reasonable expectation for those it is leveled towards. Many others sectors of society, not at this point in time included in this Bedroom Tax Law, would also find it impossible to comply with. It is a law that states, Pay, Move or Take a Lodger. Move! Where to? Pay! Out of £71.70 per week to live on and pay all other household bills? Take a lodger! How, realistically without detriment to benefits and risk becoming worse off? If I were a Conservative MP or Councillor I would seriously question my Government's intelligence and common sense because any Government that can knowingly make a law impossible to meet by those it's aimed towards, should not be in power. Or wonder to myself if I belong to something more sinister looking a little like a form of ethnic cleansing. Report Abuse -1 Kenny Blong 6:16 PM on 16/3/2013 @chrisdsteward a Tory York councilor, argues with me, saying only a couple of hundred people in a handful of towns are protesting, until i show him this page, then he suddenly goes quiet. send him a little message, and voice your opinions about the bedroom tax and how it will impact on those most vulnerable in society Report Abuse 2 Nicole Haydock 6:05 PM on 16/3/2013 Over 1000 protesters in the centre of Manchester. Report Abuse 7 Cathy Bradberry 5:39 PM on 16/3/2013 i,m disabled get £222 every 2 weeks on ESA and been hit by that council tax scheme my bill is £132 a month leaving me and my partner to live on £268 a month of which £100 of that i have to put on the electric as i have storage heaters. Its disgusting what the government are doing to us Report Abuse 0 Paul McCartan 5:37 PM on 16/3/2013 People power in action - anyone in North Lincs that wants to get involved then get in touch - paulmccartan@xxxxxxxxx Report Abuse 3 Polly Birmingham 5:33 PM on 16/3/2013 search antibedroomtax or Bedroom Tax...think its unfair...join the fight here on FB for details of more protests Report Abuse 20 Gemma Ingram 5:09 PM on 16/3/2013 Not a word on the news, wish i had known as i am desperate to stand up to these knobs running our country! I have never been so mad, i just hope this is a lesson to us all, PLEASE START VOTING PEOPLE!!! for anyone, vote roland rat for all i care, just dont let Dave back in!! Bloody chinless wonder! Report Abuse 21 Lee McGrail 5:08 PM on 16/3/2013 Huge protests all over the country and nothing on TV about it ...Just shows how corrupt this government and the BBC is and how much in pocket Cameron is with murdoch. welcome to Camerons dictatorship Report Abuse 33 Richard Dumnonia Tucker-O'Meat 4:10 PM on 16/3/2013 It's funny how this government has a lot to say about countries known for human rights abuses, yet are breaking Article 8 of The Human Rights Act. Report Abuse 29 Valerie Rettie 4:08 PM on 16/3/2013 and not a mention of it on TV news!!! from Vanessa The Google Girl. my skype name is rainbowstar123