Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 1h

If I see you posting AI slop, it's an instant block. Even if you think it's cute or says a lot about society. If you are purporting that some AI slop is real news, I will report you for misinformation, and then block you. Sloppers should be marginalised.

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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 6h

“Here Farage is, in Gill’s office, with Voloshyn’s wife Nadia, on the day Gill makes an intervention on behalf of Medvedchuk’s channels, with an employee of one of those channels, whose husband started bribing Gill to make these statements 6 days earlier”

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/11/s...

'Stunned?' Farage's Admission He Knew Nathan Gill but Not His Kremlin Associates Does Not Stand Up to Scrutiny

Insiders have told Byline Times, it is 'inconceivable' the Reform Leader did not know about his close aide's pro Russian statements

bylinetimes.com

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 10h

At least one senior Labour official seems to finally remember they aren't in Reform.
The changes won't just harm economy and country, they'll destroy families and force more people into becoming undocumented, leading to more deportations. They need scrapping not pausing.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Sir Sadiq Khan calls for pause on new immigration rules

The mayor of London said the changes had "moved the goalposts".

www.bbc.com

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 17h

So impressive

The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 19h

“Britain is a nation of neighbours, not strangers — and it’s time we built a politics of hope that reflects that.”

Zack Polanski with a message of unity and hope having been out door knocking Handsworth today.

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Asylum Matters @asylummatters.bsky.social · 1d

28 days.
That's how long many newly-recognised refugees now have to find a home, get a job, open a bank account - to build a whole new life.
That means homelessness is inevitable for many people.
Read about the slashing of the move on period here 👇
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Grey text reads "could you build a whole new life in 28 days?"

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Women for Refugee Women @4refugeewomen.bsky.social · 1d

🏠Everyone needs somewhere safe to call home.

But in the UK, many refugee women are pushed into homelessness by hostile asylum policies.

Homelessness places women at risk of harm, abuse, and violence.

#WorldHomelessDay 👇

1/🧵

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

Dominic Casciani is generally much better than most of his colleagues, but even he can’t avoid this BBC habit of seeing every complex issue mainly through the lens of what it means for UK party politics

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

This isn’t as bad as its headline, but it’d have benefited from reminding readers what the ECHR mainly prevents governments from doing in the immigration field, ie expelling people to face torture or similarly inhuman treatment, and tearing apart families with non-British members for no good reason

Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption

www.bbc.co.uk

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Young Roots @weareyoungroots.bsky.social · 1d

Today is #WorldHomelessDay.

Young refugees in the UK are facing a growing risk of homelessness. A sudden policy change has cut their move-on period from 56 days to just 28 — slashing the time they have to find housing, apply for Universal Credit, open a bank account, and access support.

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 1d

What happened to anyone who seriously threatened to reverse any part of the Thatcherite revolution? Who was it that enforced those penalties. There’s your answer, and there’s who is to blame.

The Guardian Y @theguardian.com
Follow
Thatcher was born 100 years ago and her reign feels a lifetime away. Why is her effect on the country still so huge? |
Martin Kettle

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 1d

None of us are safe in a world where basic norms in respect of the sanctity of human life are blithely disregarded. Those norms must be enforced, and enforced visibly. There must be political and legal consequences for every politician who made the genocide possible. The alternative is unthinkable.

Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 1d

The foreign secretary says the UK has been contributing to the peace process.

No. What the UK govt has been contributing to is the extermination of the Palestinian people.

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

They counted them all in, and they counted them all out

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 1d

Out of curiosity, are BBC going to be acting as the government's stenographer like this for the whole year the utterly pointless PR stunt "one in one out" policy is running, or could they try actually ensuring context and balance in all stories about migration?
www.bbc.com/news/article...

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 2d

Palestinians will feel understandable relief. The West should feel nothing but shame. Gaza has been obliterated. The territory rendered uninhabitable. Tens of thousands murdered in cold blood. The entire population subjected to starvation tactics. And now, colonial subjugation under Trump and Blair

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CarolineJMolloy @carolinejmolloy.bsky.social · 1d

Amazing how a #bbcqt audience that presumably has been warmed up a bit by Zack amongst others, is sounding so basically decent on the whole, almost like beyond the Westminster village idiots & media tarts all thrilling to crypto fascism, there’s a world of sensible people

join.greenparty.org.uk

Join the Green Party

Join the Green Party from just £6 a year. Become a member today - join the only party standing up for people and planet.

join.greenparty.org.uk

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

This isn’t as bad as its headline, but it’d have benefited from reminding readers what the ECHR mainly prevents governments from doing in the immigration field, ie expelling people to face torture or similarly inhuman treatment, and tearing apart families with non-British members for no good reason

Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 2d

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · 1d

Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

Nigel Farage says UK teachers are ‘poisoning our kids’ and predicts strikes as PM

Exclusive: Reform UK leader, speaking at event for private US college, also claimed the ‘Marxist left’ controls education Nigel Farage has predicted teachers would go on strike within weeks of a Reform UK government, and accused them of “poisoning our kids” by telling them that black children are victims and white children oppressors. The Reform UK leader set out his view on British schools in an event for a private US Christian college in Michigan, claiming the “Marxist left” was “now in control of our education system”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Islington Green Party @islingtongreens.bsky.social · 2d

More than 750 members in ISLINGTON ALONE

We are only getting started 👉🏻 join.greenparty.org.uk

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

Dominic Casciani is generally much better than most of his colleagues, but even he can’t avoid this BBC habit of seeing every complex issue mainly through the lens of what it means for UK party politics

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

This isn’t as bad as its headline, but it’d have benefited from reminding readers what the ECHR mainly prevents governments from doing in the immigration field, ie expelling people to face torture or similarly inhuman treatment, and tearing apart families with non-British members for no good reason

Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption

www.bbc.co.uk

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

This isn’t as bad as its headline, but it’d have benefited from reminding readers what the ECHR mainly prevents governments from doing in the immigration field, ie expelling people to face torture or similarly inhuman treatment, and tearing apart families with non-British members for no good reason

Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 2d

Latest poll puts Greens just two points behind Labour. When I said we weren't here to be disappointed in Labour but to replace them, I meant it.

Join us and let's make hope normal again.

join.greenparty.org.uk

Poll from find out now showing greens on 15 and labour and Tories on 17. Reform on 32.

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

Also, I’m fairly unconvinced by “No *obviously* I wouldn’t work for the murderous ghouls in Tehran, but these murderous ghouls in Riyadh have told me they’re changing!”

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 3d

There’s a step change from a party which achieves its malign ends within the traditional conception of our constitution & one which is prepared to lay waste to it, and the Tories have rapidly moved from one to the other. But you’d understand none of that from reading the BBC’s political editor.

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 3d

As you’d expect, Chris is absolutely “fascinated” by the goings-on at the Tory Party conference and what they say about its polling. So much so that he forgot the bits he was going to put in about all the Blackshirt posturing or the party’s trashing of the rule of law

Kemi Badenoch hopes to grab attention with policy blitz

The Tory leader's conference speech included a new pledge to scrap stamp duty on the purchase of main homes.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

This is an awful lot of words to avoid saying “I took wheelbarrows full of cash to whitewash a monarchy which imprisons women’s rights activists and executes its critics”

I have been criticised for being part of the Riyadh comedy festival. This is why I did it | Omid Djalili

The headlines focus on money, but the gigs were great and I think there are different ways to achieve progress. Art, especially comedy, can be part of that, says stand-up comedian, Omid Djalili.

www.theguardian.com

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

Tory centrists, giving migrants a kicking, but with “a humanitarian mindset“

Has Kemi Badenoch sounded the death knell for one nation Conservatism?

The Tory leader’s shift to the right has left its centrist wing wondering if its tradition still has a future

www.theguardian.com

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