Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brendan McNally @brendanmcn.bsky.social · 5d

Uh huh.

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 9d

The Report of the Independent Review of Children's Social Care Services in Northern Ireland said this:

“There should be an explicit commitment
that private for-profit companies will not be allowed to provide foster and residential care for children within Northern Ireland”

#socialwork

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 9d

The article below says this company is “set to open a children’s residential home on the Derry/Donegal border by the end of 2025”.

I wonder which side of the border?

www.irishnews.com/news/busines...

🧵1/2

Ann’s Care Group to create 100 jobs following £5m investment in north west

Family-run healthcare provider is expanding its care home and children's care portfolio

www.irishnews.com

1

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 10d

I listen to
A bin that needs securing
An old sash window rattle
A radiator splutter
Dot dot dash
The merciless morse code
Of things getting ready
to play possom

Like a tulip bulb
Like a park cafe
Like an old tortoise
Defiance disguised as submission

Winter will come
And go again
Doesn't it always

5 4 100

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 17d

“We are removing children from their families. The least we owe them, after doing that, is to care for them well and to set them up for adulthood”.

Make care experience a protected characteristic.

www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

#careexperience #socialwork #northernireland #homelessness

‘They’re paying the price for a system in crisis’ – Concerns for Northern Ireland’s young people in care and ‘overuse’ of hotels and B&Bs

Alicia Toal from charity Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC) has called for urgent action to address the ‘crisis’ within the north’s care system

www.irishnews.com

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 18d

You’re a legend Barry!

2

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 19d

All about stem cell & bone marrow donation. You can join the register here: www.anthonynolan.org

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 22d

👏👏👏

2

TheBlindboyPodcast @blindboyboatclub.bsky.social · 23d

New podcast: how the American Christian Right has invoked morality to drive neoliberal policies that built today’s unequal and unstable society—and how they continue to do this with the culture wars open.spotify.com/episode/2ApA...

Big Manky American Christian Fascists

open.spotify.com

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 23d

I hope your birthday is unexpectedly wonderful.

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 25d

“The north’s children in care spent at least 63,000 nights in hotels, B&Bs or other rental properties over the past five years - with some placed in the Republic and others even staying as far as England, Scotland and Wales.”

www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

Northern Ireland’s children in care placed in hotels and B&Bs as far away as England, Scotland and Wales

It comes as the number of ‘looked after children’ continues to rise

www.irishnews.com

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 25d

Why is is so hard for people to say these words?:

Lough Neagh, the UK's biggest lake, is being killed by *livestock farms*.

36 290 1.1K

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 28d

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

#profiteeering #socialcare #careexperience

Cost of place in children’s care homes in England hits almost £320,000 a year

Private firms’ profits soar, watchdog says, as prices nearly double in five years

www.theguardian.com

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · 29d

www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

#drugpolicy #inequality #poverty #northernireland

Drug deaths ‘six times more likely’ in Northern Ireland’s most deprived areas

Annual figures on health inequalities also showed how deprivation still reduces healthy life expectancy by 14 years.

www.irishnews.com

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 8

I hope he hasn’t forgot what he said needed to be done.

Make care experience a protected characteristic.

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 8

It recommended that care experience should be made a protected characteristic and was chaired by Josh MacAlister MP who wasn’t an MP at the time, but as of yesterday has been made the Minister in the Department for Education.

1

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 8

“The disadvantage faced by the care experienced community should be the civil rights issue of our time.”

That’s from the 2022 Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England.

🧵

#equality #socialpolicy #socialwork #socialcare #changeiscoming #careexperience #fostering

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 7

Frankenstein’s Apple Tree

On chosen family and hope.

open.substack.com/pub/rosiemee...

Frankenstein's Apple Tree

Chosen family and hope.

open.substack.com

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 5

😱

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 3

😅

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Sep 3

7. Hope lies in the recognition that the left can also change the system. That the left too can mount a radical challenge to business as usual. It lies in twigging that elections here haven’t been won from the centre in years, and that this, if we can grasp the potential, can be used to good effect.

9 89 520

HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · Sep 2

You did it. The neo-Nazi gig planned for Great Yarmouth has been CANCELLED. ❗

Over 34,000 of you emailed the Home Office and spread the word. Local press, councils and police took notice, and under pressure, we have just received the news that the venue has pulled the plug.

32 240 800

Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 2

Took a day off my actual job to attend the Rising Together Against Poverty conference organised by the Anti-Poverty Strategy Group.

Poverty is a political choice - a particular cruelty to force people to lead small lives when none of us get long on this planet.

#poverty #socialpolicy #inequality

Slide from seminar on the role of councils in tackling poverty:

Role of Councils in Tackling Poverty -
• Position and Influence
• Community Planning Structure/Partners
• Links with Community and Voluntary Sector - regional/grass roots
• Long standing & deep rooted
• Links with sporting/faith-based organisations
• Links with private sector
• Proximity to residents with lived experience
• Local knowledge
• Unique insight to drivers and impacts of poverty locally - hence solutions/ delivery
• Role in lobbying for change eg two-child limit
• Local data

Picture of conference delegates at tables and speaker at the front on the stage

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Sep 1

On losing my faith and coming home to myself.

#deconstruction #faith #identity

open.substack.com/pub/rosiemee...

Saltier

An introduction of sorts

open.substack.com

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John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · Aug 30

Great Yarmouth is set to host the biggest neo-nazi music festival in over a decade. The Home Office has the power to block entry of overseas bands, which will scupper the promoters plans. But they won’t act unless we demand it. Email the Home Office now: hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/28/g...

Great Yarmouth to Host Britain’s Biggest White Power Concert in Years – HOPE not hate

Great Yarmouth is set to host the largest white power music gig held in the UK for at least 10 years, HOPE not hate can...

hopenothate.org.uk

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Aug 29

😓

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Green Party Northern Ireland @greenpartyni.org · Aug 28

Drug testing at festivals and large scale events is a no brainer: www.greenpartyni.org/_drug_testin...

"Drug testing at festivals and large scale events is a no brainer" - Cllr Smyth

"Drug testing at festival and large scale events is a no brainer" - Cllr Smyth

www.greenpartyni.org

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Rosie Meek @rosiemeek1.bsky.social · Aug 26

👏👏👏

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