Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 13h

Sainte Chapelle is my favourite thing in Paris. Those windows are just incredible.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 14h

"we're speaking to procurement"

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 17h

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 · 17h

"The chancellor approved it"

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 15h

"You've got backups, right?"

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 15h

"While we liked the"

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 17h

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

rm -rf ~/

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 1d

Ah, those poster children for AI and data Netflix...

A screen shot of Netflix where "24 Hours in Aldi" is classified as "Horror"

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 1d

I mean technically 'Will random for feedback'...

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 1d

@sonofsuntzu.bsky.social and I are at the stage where we are looking for beta testers for randomthebook.com

Sign up here and you'll get to peruse 5 stories from the book about serendipity, chance, fate and other random things.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Random the Book

Matt Ballantine and Nick Drage's experiment in serendipity and chance.

randomthebook.com

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 2d

#weeknotes time... mmitii.mattballantine.com/2025/10/10/w...

@weeknotes-bot.bsky.social

Weeknote 751: Italia

This week I have learned: Venice really is bloody remarkable, isn’t it? My third visit and as spellbinding as ever. Sometimes, being involved in new business development work is like Whack-a-…

mmitii.mattballantine.com

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 2d

If only Farage understood that the metaphor of the bad apple is that it ruins the whole barrel...

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 2d

I called this out on #BBCQT last night and I'm calling it out again now.

He is gaslighting a nation.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

Farage insists ex-Reform UK Wales leader convicted of bribery is ‘bad apple’

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 5d

The world's shittest ventriloquism act.

Robert Jenrick presumably stirring up hate again at a conference lecturn pointing aggressively with his left hand whilst inexplicably balancing a judge's wig on his right.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 5d

I think the general rule is "if it's good we'll take credit, if it's not we'll blame someone else".

CEOs also follow this rule.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 6d

When Labour negotiates, Britain loses Kemi Badenoch?

What will they get in exchange for her?

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 6d

One of the scariest places I've ever been is the pain clinic waiting room at the local hospital. So many people. So on the edge.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 8d

A classic example of the anchoring effect...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchori...

Any pint of beer more than £1.20 is pricey to my "expectations set in 1989" brain.

Anchoring effect - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 9d

Feature parity with Word achieved at last.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 9d

750 weeks with #weeknotes attached. That's a distressingly large number of weeks.

mmitii.mattballantine.com/2025/10/03/w...

@weeknotes-bot.bsky.social

Weeknote 750: which feels like a big number

This week I have learned: the reason we fly flags at half mast when mourning. Apparently, it comes from the naval tradition of when one country defeated another, the victor’s flag would be fl…

mmitii.mattballantine.com

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 10d

To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: You are not alone.

We will not let hate or those who spread it win.

We stand with you.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 10d

Urban areas?

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 10d

Which, thinking about it, is the same strategy my teenagers use.

Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 10d

This is the populist play book. Make shit up. Assume you won't be challenged.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 10d

This is the populist play book. Make shit up. Assume you won't be challenged.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 14d

You have to have a certain je ne said quoi to pull it off.

Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 14d

I reckon we both are getting by on our hairdos.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 14d

Oh, that's what you call it?

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 14d

There are a lot of people I think that about...

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 15d

I mean he's utterly uninspirational, but he's hardly that dreadful narcissist Johnson or the car crash that was Truss.

But brought to you by the people who gave you Boaty McBoatface I suppose...

flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 15d

No mean feat

Joe Guinan @joecguinan •1h
He's done it!
New from @Ipsos_in_the_UK Keir Starmer is the most unpopular PM in the history of Ipsos polling.
Net satisfaction with PM -66
Meanwhile Reform lead at 12.
Reform 34
Labour 22
Conservatives 14 (record low)
Lib Dems 12
Greens 12
Leader Satisfaction:
Worst rating for each Prime Minister
Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way ... is doing his/her job as Prime Minister?
% Don't know
Starmer (Sep-25%
Sunak (Apr-24)
Net
% Dissatisfied satisfied
-66
-59
72%
87%
-51
Joe Guinan @joecguinan • 07/11/2023
My prediction is that, if he does become prime minister, within two years Starmer will have become the most unpopular prime minister in modern British history.

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Matt Ballantine @ballantine70.bsky.social · 15d

A splendid book. One of those reads where you miss the characters when it's over.

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