Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Charles Stewart

@charlescharles.bsky.social

100 followers 380 following 55 posts

Former research engineer, former corporate treasurer, recent MA Classics and Ancient History. I block for rudeness, idiocy and whataboutery, even if it's not directed at me. South Oxfordshire, UK

Videos

Engineering 37%

Materials science 18%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 8h

Ah yes, Goldman Sachs. Some of us are old enough to remember this fabulously reassuring report telling everyone to calm down

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 7d

Yarvin was extraordinary. And not in a good way. I had, (fortunately) never heard of him before. As one of the panel (McEvoy?) observed, his ideas were essentially a 'gameified discourse'. Not worthy of serious consideration in my view. And delivered in an irritatingly patronising way.

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 19d

That's bin night for me too. It's a bit annoying not to know the exact time the rapture gig is supposed to get going. I might leave it until say 10pm to put them out. Pretty much a win-win bet unless it turns out to be a late kick-off.

Reposted by Albert Weale, Charles W. Stewart

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 21d

Please consult your outrage calendars for the correct type of fury to display, everyone.

I want you all to be limbering up for poppy outrage, just a few weeks away now.

4 21 58

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 24d

Reminds me of Lenny Henry's line: "Enoch Powell says he wants to give me £1,000 to go back to where I came from. Which is great, because it’s only 20 pence on the bus from here to Dudley."

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 25d

Truth is irrelevant to those Down The Rabbithole. The only thing that matters is whether it supports the desired narrative. See also: posting/failing to delete posts shown irrefutably to be AI generated/images from a completely different time or place or conflict than the one claimed, etc

2 6

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 26d

Yep, Valencia is another amazing Spanish city!

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 26d

Contested, I'm sure, and complicated, but with a good deal of underlying truth, I think. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convive...

Convivencia - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convivencia#:~:text=Jerrilynn%20Dodds%20references%20this%20concept,or%20“attacked%20each%20other.”

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 26d

True. There were large Jewish quarters in many Spanish cities including Cordoba and Seville until Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 by Catholic co-rulers Ferdinand and Isabella

1 2

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 26d

Cordoba. Seville is amazing, Cordoba is even better, in my view,

1 7

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · 29d

And it still provides funding to support young people wanting to do a mini Grand Tour ... ics.sas.ac.uk/awards/award...

Society of Dilettanti (2025)

ics.sas.ac.uk

2 1

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Sep 7

Whether or not you agree with the suggested action (I'm inclined to) this is an excellent exposition of just how bad things have got www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Opinion | Stop Acting Like This Is Normal

www.nytimes.com

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Aug 30

Curious lack of Random Capitalisations too.

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Aug 30

Far be it from me to be a Conspiracy Theorist, but WHERE ARE the Random Capitalisations???

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · Aug 30

Trump goes on rant about how the limestone he selected for the White House was damaged and how he looked up video surveillance footage to blame a contractor. Trump says he will now charge the contractor for the damage.

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · Aug 30

240 91 390

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Aug 22

"quietly" released! Perhaps they should have a quarterly fanfare of buglers outside the Home Office to mark the occasion.

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Aug 18

I know it's a critical meeting but ... the bling. Sums up the man and his attitude to the office.

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Aug 4

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · Aug 4

Our life is like a play. In our 20s and 30s we’re hoping to make a grand entrance. In our 40s and 50s trying to stay on stage. And in our 60s and 70s hoping to make a graceful exit

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Peter Jukes @peterjukes.bsky.social · Aug 4

Our life is like a play. In our 20s and 30s we’re hoping to make a grand entrance. In our 40s and 50s trying to stay on stage. And in our 60s and 70s hoping to make a graceful exit

18 10 79

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Steve Rosenberg @bbcstever.bsky.social · Nov 26

I miss Valentina & her kiosk. I miss her positivity & warm-heartedness. Valentina has been undergoing cancer treatment. To cheer her up I turned the Valentina’s Kiosk theme into a song & the legendary BBC Singers
have recorded it for her. Here is Valentina’s Song. Conducted by David Hill.

Valentina's Song (Tomorrow Will Be Better Than Today).

YouTube video by Steve Rosenberg

youtu.be

140 250 1.2K

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · Dec 3

ME: (fumbling through order) Hola! Un…cafe latte…sin…azúcar, por favor?
BARISTA: Uh-huh. And what size?
ME: (internally) I put up with that goddamn green owl for weeks…

170 240 6.3K

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Charles Stewart @charlescharles.bsky.social · Nov 16

My hot take is that if Bluesky continues to expand at this rate, it will soon have the same problem with bots and general unpleasantness as Twitter does now. I can't see that its systems are sufficient to prevent that.

2 1

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · Dec 8

One of my favourite passages in literature. From Halldor Laxness, Independent People. A child in Iceland unimpressed with the story of Noah’s Ark.

But less intelligible still was the flood which was caused by forty days’ rain; and forty nights.’ For here on the moors there were some years when it rained for two hundred days and two hundred nights, almost without fairing; but there was never any Flood.

6 5 51

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Dr Kate Maltby @katemaltby.bsky.social · Dec 8

Ozymandias

6 8 59

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · Feb 3

i keep thinking about how much of western diplomacy/defence policy rests on assuming that America will kind of graciously not use the ability it has to win every argument, or if it does will do so ..nicely. & how there isn't a strategy for if they just steamroll everything because they can

2 4 37

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · Feb 16

Reform UK’s Richard Tice says it’s ‘absolute garbage’ to say human activities are the main cause of climate change

Heaven help us

350 340 1.6K

Reposted by Charles W. Stewart

Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · Feb 21

Interesting to see that US safety standards focus on what happens to people inside the car on collision, whereas in the UK there’s a much greater focus on pedestrian safety and that of people in the cars you collide with.

Abby D. @abbykbhomesleak.bsky.social · Feb 21

Cyber truck seized in UK. It doesn't meet standards for driving in the country & is not permitted on the streets.
www.forbes.com/sites/peterl...

Tesla Cybertruck Banned And Seized By Police In The U.K.

The Cybertruck has a cult following in the U.S., but safety issues such as excessive size and acceleration and sharp edges make the Tesla illegal on U.K. roads.

www.forbes.com

20 47 230