Politics Round-up: Flag waving & form filling

So the Jubilee, eh? What was that all about?

There were mixed views on it out there in the old parent blogosphere. If you have a wee peek at the BritMums Jubilee linky then you’ll see a lot of celebratory posts, with lovely photos of kids in crowns and mums drinking Pimms. But all that flag waving also prompted some more serious thought about the Monarchy and national identity. Kylie over at Not Even A Bag of Sugar gives a Republican’s view here, while Chloe at Cookie Jar Life questions what it means to be British, and Jane at In A Different Voice asks some important questions about our priorities and values.

I also saw a lot of divided opinions on Twitter about the actions of UK Uncut, who held a Jubilee Party protest outside Nick Clegg’s house. Many people felt that holding such a demonstration was inappropriate and crossed a boundary, but this post on the Guardian’s Comment is Free gives an alternative view.

If you’re interested in questions of national identity and you live in Scotland, you might be interested in the guest post I had on my own blog from a campaigner with the Electoral Reform Society. ERS Scotland are offering members of the public a chance to engage in discussion about Scotland’s future – everything from democracy, to devolution to pandas…

Moving on, there were some great posts over at Mother Wife Me, Kiddy Charts and Typecast about the government’s announcement on parenting classes, but my absolute favourite post on the topic was this one from BabberBlog – read it and chuckle. If you’ve got an opinion on parenting classes, or anything else in the news this month, feel free to add it to the linky below.

I’m afraid I might annoy Tim from Bringing Up Charlie by including his post in this month’s round up because, in his own words, ‘This post isn’t intended to be in any way political.’ But when he offers his opinion on everything from the BBC to local democracy to immigration… well what am I supposed to do?

Jax over at Live Otherwise has done not just one but two posts this month about the power of social media – one focusing on the relationship between social media and charities, and the other questioning whether we can harness that power to make a difference politically too. Both are worth a read, and I’m sure she’d appreciate your thoughts.

As ever, I have one standout post to finish with which you must read. It’s not overtly political, but if you want to know how it feels to be a single parent living in the UK right now, wading your way through the forms you need to fill in to get some extra support, then read this post called Panic. And then give that lovely Motherventing a ridiculously big hug, because she could use it.

About Ruth Dawkins

Ruth Dawkins is a 28-year-old mother and writer who has recently moved from Edinburgh to Hertfordshire. She blogs as DorkyMum on everything from parenting and poetry to politics and photography. Before becoming DorkyMum her jobs included: environmental campaigner, Green Party parliamentary candidate, newspaper intern, and student union president. However, her favourite job was being a climate change ambassador for Ben and Jerry's; a role that involved camping in the Arctic and eating a lot of free ice cream (although not at the same time). When she's not engaging in armchair activism or entertaining her toddler, you can find Ruth wasting her time on Twitter and Facebook.