Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

@goakl.bsky.social

2.3K followers 3.2K following 10K posts

Published on 19th Century Vendéen memorials. Former PwC partner. Trustee at Institute of Historical Research. Trustee at NHS Retirement. Active travel in Bishop’s Stortford. Keyboard warrior. Bearsted CC. Cricket, cycling, rugby à XV. France and England.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 3h

Dinner tonight is autumnal nursery food.

Smoked haddock. Carrot and potato mash, sprouting.

Reposted by Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 5h

This is good news.

A few vehicles with Intelligent Speed Assist can have an outsized impact on safety bc they’ll also prevent vehicles behind them from speeding.

www.nyc.gov/site/dcas/ne...

3 10 91

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 6h

Not yet. But Aldi was eerily quiet. Felt I had to buy something from their Christmas shelf.

1 1

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 7h

Is it Christmas yet?

3 5

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 8h

BlueSky knowledge sharing at its very best. Now where did that half-empty bottle of dubonnet go..?

Reposted by Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

JuneSim63 💚 @junesim63.bsky.social · 1d

And here's another way to reduce Farage's support:

www.desmog.com/2025/07/15/e...

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Reform UK’s oil industry interests are a major turn-off for voters, new research reveals. The think tank Persuasion UK tested five anti-Reform messages on 6,000 adults. According to the research, “by ...

www.desmog.com

28 67

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 11h

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

I have two “professions”.

Memoricide de la Vendée

Accounting for hyper inflation

Reposted by Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · 11h

Please use in-text referencing

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 15h

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 15h

"The chancellor approved it"

2 8 29

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 12h

Didn’t the old Queen Mum, gawd bless her, (I think that the correct usage) drink a bottle of gin a day? Nor sure she had much truck with water, tonic or otherwise.

1 1

Reposted by Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

Shivaji Shiva @shivajishivalaw.bsky.social · 23h

"“Too many people are locked out of opportunity because the transport system simply doesn’t work for them."

"Many families can't afford a car or would spend a huge proportion of their weekly budget running one."

#TransportJustice

@betterstreetsforbirmingham.org

www.ippr.org/media-office...

Revealed: Car ownership eats up a quarter of poorest households’ incomes | IPPR

Poorest households spend a quarter (25 per cent) of their income on their carTransport costs take up twice the share of income for the least well-offIPPR r

www.ippr.org

5 16 43

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

Pretty sure Keith Richards smoked his way through every concert ever! And he must be at least 120.

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

*for eight!!

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

Would eat.

Would drink.

Would never cook for right these days. Courage!

Looks wonderful.

Reposted by Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 27d

'What we have lost, and what we desperately need to reclaim, is a different mode of cognition, a historical sensibility....t is a temperament that is comfortable with uncertainty, sensitive to context and aware of the powerful, often unpredictable rhythms of the past.'

The Lost Art Of Thinking Historically | NOEMA

To understand the world today, we must see it as actors of the past did: through a foggy windshield, not a rearview mirror, facing a future of radical uncertainty.

www.noemamag.com

1 8 39

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

Not sure how Exeter lost that game. Camped out on the line for much of the second half. They’ll learn to use their amazing backs during the season I guess. Frustrating.

#rugby

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

See, I’m a Aldi ersatz mars bar addict…

1 1

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

It is. The Aldi (a mile away) was empty apparently. People are strange.

1 1

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

We have a new Lidl in Stortford. We walked the 2.5 miles to have a look, maybe buy a bottle of wine. The car park (full of shiny Range Rovers of course) was beyond full. The queues to pay, 20 deep. There are another 5 supermarkets within a 4 mile radius. We walked on.

2 7

Reposted by Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉

Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 1d

stop thinking right now

26 420 1K

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

Talking with Davy who’s still in the navy.

1 5

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

Damn. It was just there staring at me wasn’t it? I suppose we must acknowledge that the other chap was actually O’Rourkpierre.

All the best Gareth O’Akland.

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

That Marat bloke was a wrong’un. She had him bang to rights.

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

And for Token 2 this is definitely set in a cocktail bar. Although who calls it a “tonic and gin” ffs?

Billy Joel. Piano Man.

Billy Joel - Piano Man (Official HD Video)

YouTube video by billyjoelVEVO

m.youtube.com

3 1 15

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

Hello M and K.

Happy jukebox day.

I think this may already be loaded on the playlist but Frank and Carlos are definitely at home in the cocktail lounge.

Token 1. Sinatra and Jobim. Girl from Ipanema.

Frank Sinatra - The Girl From Ipanema ft. Antonio Carlos Jobim | A Man And His Music (1967)

YouTube video by Frank Sinatra

m.youtube.com

4 1 24

Gareth Oakland 🇫🇷🏏🏉 @goakl.bsky.social · 1d

I know very little about birding. So I was convinced this is either a) a bit of Irish politics that has passed me by or b) (more likely) a coded Antifa message calling for a general uprising.

Michael Huggins @miceal.bsky.social · 1d

#donegalbirding
Grey-cheeked thrush still present on Tory this morning. Harlequin moving west towards Bloody Foreland.

1 1 3