Current Affairs Round-up: A fresh start

I have been writing the Politics Round-up for BritMums for a few years now, and the time has come to give it a bit of a shake up. The round-up will now be titled ‘Current Affairs’. It will still cover politics, but also be broad enough to take in any topical news stories in all their forms: news events, political debate, stories that have got us all talking at either the water cooler or the school gate, be it pyjamas on the school run, the death of a celebrity or the European referendum. If it is a current talking point we want to hear your views.

So let’s start with one of the most talked about subjects in the media – the EU referendum. It is early days in the long run-up to the big vote in June, and I for one am finding it hard to find the facts among the fighting between the two sides, so I wrote a post on why I am mostly voting on gut instinct. Mama Ain’t Raisin’ No Fools has written a couple of interesting posts on the subject – one on why she won’t be getting her facts from facebook and another on the ‘Dangers of Boris Johnson’ – worrying that the man’s comical facade means that people vote based on his ‘likability’ rather than facts.

The recent review of maternity services included plans to give women a £3000 personal birth budget to spend as they choose – midwife care in the community, a home birth or hospital birth and complementary therapies such as hypnobirthing. Feminist Mum wonders if choice is possible in the current climate where midwives are leaving the profession in large numbers, midwife led units are being shut down and there are times when your local services are closed to you due to being over capacity. Glosswitch shares her thoughts in a New Statesman piece on the same topic – she feels that it is important for women to have choice, and that a woman is best placed to make decisions regarding her own care, but also questions if the resources are there to provide real choice and worries if it could bring us a step closer to a privatised model of healthcare.

Elsewhere:

Happy Handley is discussing home educating, and the fears raised in some quarters of the media that “home educated children are invisible and at risk of all sorts of abuse. We’re not locked in our home never to see another living soul again. We’re in the supermarkets, at the museum and in the park”

Not My Year Off wrote a brilliant response to David Cameron linking the lack of english speaking skills to terrorism and ISIS recruitment. She rightly questions why he thinks this when (in her words) – “From what I’ve seen over the last few years, 100% of those home-made videos from ISIS recruits have all been made by young lads with rude boy accents who “talk like dat, you get me”. Her post both tackles his rather broad assumptions and is a beautiful tribute to her Mum and all the parents in her community.

Me and My Shadow gives us a timely reminder that this years Earth Hour takes place at 8.30pm on the 19th of March. Will you join in by turning your lights off for an hour in support of world solidarity in the fight against climate change? “It’s such a simple action, but you can use your power to make positive change. Last year, as well as individual households, over 10,400 landmarks and 2,000 schools participated and there were 70,500 events registered.“

By the time this post goes live International Women’s Day will have happened, this year the theme is Pledge for Parity – The World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then one year later in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn’t close entirely until 2133. Not good right? Lulastic is hosting a blog link-up on her blog for posts on the subject, head on over to see what everyone has had to say and perhaps to link up a post of your own.

That is it for the inaugural Current Affairs round-up. If you write something topical over the next month please link up below for inclusion next time around, or send me your links – my contact details can be found in the author box at the bottom of this post.

About Sonya Cisco

Sonya Cisco is a 42 year old mum of three from Dorset. She spent 15 years playing in bands at various festivals and insalubrious locations throughout Britain and Europe. These days she is more of a home bod hence the title of her blog 'The Ramblings of a Formerly Rock'n'Roll Mum' , but she can still be persuaded to strap that bass guitar back on for special occasions. Has an opinion on everything, but always open to discussion. Likes biscuits a little bit too much.