Politics Round-up: Hilarious rants, passionate raves and strops!

Until about ten years ago I would have sworn blind that I hated politics. “Urgh,” I’d say. “Boring talking programmes on the radio and sleazy MPs kissing babies, that’s all that politics is.”

However… within months of starting university I’d realised that there’s far more to it than that. Politics is hard to define, but it affects us all. We may not think of the things happening in our world as ‘political’ because they don’t always involve traditional politicians but the decisions that are being taken every day – in our workplaces, our neighbourhoods and our children’s schools – are every bit as political as the decisions taking place in governments at local, national and international level.

The parenting blogosphere is a hotbed of political activity – there are hilarious rants, passionate raves, and entirely justified strops going on out there (along with the occasional campaign) – and I’m absolutely delighted that I’ve been asked by BritMums to bring you a monthly roundup of the best of them. You’ll find me here on the second Thursday of every month from now on.

High on the agenda this month has been The Spartacus Report – the response from a group of disabled activists to the Welfare Reform Bill, and the Government’s plans to cut the budget for the Disability Living Allowance. There is an overwhelming amount of information available on this, but one of the most well-informed and accessible pieces I’ve seen was from Jax over at Making It Up.

Two other bloggers who are hugely clued-up and have done posts on the Spartacus Report and the proposed reforms are Scottish Mum and Crystal Jigsaw, and I’m sure they would appreciate your thoughts and comments – either here or on their own blogs – about how to bring this issue into the mainstream and get a major campaign going with widespread support. As Jax says, “the thing to remember about disability is that it can happen to any of us, at any time. So while you could be sat there thinking that none of this applies to you, tomorrow, it could.”

If Parliamentary Bills are your thing, you might want to check out Political Mummy’s post about the NHS Reforms – something else that undoubtedly will affect us all – and you shouldn’t miss this post about striking from Anna at Dummy Mummy.  It is now a month or two since she wrote it, but it’s still a very powerful personal viewpoint from an NHS worker, and remains very relevant.

Ellen from In A Bun Dance is one of my favourite bloggers – who combines interesting pieces about politics with brilliant pieces about parenting – and she posted a very thought provoking piece a few weeks ago about Scottish Independence. (Her post on that subject was much less ranty than mine…!)

Ellen also posted a great piece about Margaret Thatcher, and whether or not she can be seen as an inspiration to women. She had been was inspired by From Fun to Mum’s earlier post, which asked whether The Iron Lady was a good mother.

To finish – and to continue the Maggie theme – I give you a post from one of the BritMums Live speakers. Kerstin Rogers, also known as Ms Marmite Lover,  shows you how to make and bake your very own Thatcher Tea. Hilarious and delicious – who says that politics is boring?!

I know that there are many, many more political blog posts out there that I’ve missed, so please do link yours up below. And if you post anything over the next month that you think would be suitable for the March roundup, drop me a wee note on Twitter (@dorkymum) or email me on dorkymum@yahoo.co.uk

Photo credit: spacelion

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.

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