Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 5h

But if it belongs to a family member you still shouldn't fill it.

Reposted by Edward

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 2d

By me this week - the happiest thing I've got to report of late, with a glorious trip over the summer to Montreal

"Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport."

www.economist.com/internationa...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport

Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

www.economist.com

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 6h

Am slightly surprised citybuilders haven't been more influential on the YIMBY scene.

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Techpriest @techpriest.bsky.social · 6h

The moral panic of the 90s/2000s over videogames was obsessed with the idea that Call for Duty & Grand Theft Auto would lead to a generation of violent broken kids

Turns out the real problem was Civilization & Paradox Interactive RTS games leading to a generation of video-game brained policy makers

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 6h

Genuinely think the concept of the tech tree has done a lot of damage.

Tech-Based Teaching @edutecheditor.bsky.social · 8h

“Since 1991, the video game Civilization, now in its seventh installment, has become one of the most successful game franchises ever. That means millions of kids have grown up with Civ as one of their formative ways of thinking about history.” (via @jstor.bsky.social) #AcademicSky

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Reposted by Edward

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 6h

Genuinely think the concept of the tech tree has done a lot of damage.

Tech-Based Teaching @edutecheditor.bsky.social · 8h

“Since 1991, the video game Civilization, now in its seventh installment, has become one of the most successful game franchises ever. That means millions of kids have grown up with Civ as one of their formative ways of thinking about history.” (via @jstor.bsky.social) #AcademicSky

History and Civilization - JSTOR Daily

The Civilization video games may not convey actual history very well, but they’ve encouraged generations of young people to learn more about the past.

buff.ly

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Dave Hutchinson @hutchinsondave.bsky.social · 12h

“the girlfriend of one of the founders of antifa”

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 11h

Cahokia probably also a good candidate, since depending on when it was abandoned you can either pin it on climate change or pandemics.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 11h

Mohenjo-Daro?

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 12h

What with all this the UK should emulate Dubai stuff, following hot on the heels of Singapore model, are there any other niche authoritarian city states we could go for? Brunei? Machiavelli’s Florence? Ancient Sparta?

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 12h

Although Edinburgh's percentage of kids who are privately educated is about 3 to 4 times the national average, so you would expect it to be larger and less socially exclusive there.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 12h

The bar, it is so low that it's in the same strata of the ground as Australopethichus.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 12h

Although it becomes an unreasonable stance when paired with an opposition to expanding defence spending so that such a body could feasibly replace NATO.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

I think after ASSK and especially after Abiy Ahmed they are very nervy about how world leaders behave after they get the prize.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Especially when your existing characterisation in the popular imagination varies between pathetic and shady anyway.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Although some people who idiots wanted to be no-platformed because they were mainstream conservative voices are now loudly trumpeting positions that should get them no-platformed.

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Techpriest @techpriest.bsky.social · 1d

This is why the accepted Tory consensus of "we'll overthrow the Badenoch leadership after the May elections" is *unhinged*

You KNOW you have a manifestly unfit leader and you want to wait until AFTER the far right challenger party has eaten your lunch in two parliaments and hundreds of councils

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Also, if you dump her in March that's a free "We've changed!" signal to help save the furniture even if you really haven't changed at all.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

"Will the Home Secretary commit to deporting British citizens whose parents and grandparents were all born here? No, you weirdo, she is concentrating on making sure the police catch actual criminals" is frankly a much better message to deliver.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

It strikes me that pushing immigration up the agenda isn't just bad for Labour because it's not a winning issue for them, but also because it distracts from the bits of the Home Office where you could actually improve things and get credit for it.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Venezuelan opposition leader for a Nobel Prize, so Trump now has a reason to dislike her and hence common interests with Maduro.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Presumably the chances of a Trump-Maduro reconciliation just went up significantly?

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Congratulations on his acquittal?

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

Similar to taxing the rich/big corporations as a solution to funding shortfalls - it's assumed to be a lever that fixes the problem without anybody else having to be inconvenienced in any way. In its own way, a profoundly antisocial attitude.

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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 1d

My cold is particularly bad today and Bart has sensed weakness.

Bart interrupts his busy schedule of trying to knock the coffee out of my hand to stare soulfully at me.

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Daniel @deargodwhatnow.bsky.social · 2d

Might be an unpopular opinion here but I do believe in parliamentary democracy, and you shouldn't functionally ensure state bodies have no accountability to it

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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Edward @fornbirkibeinn.bsky.social · 2d

Move fast and break things (the social contract and increasingly it seems actual contracts)

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