Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Colin Lawson

dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 8h

This is a timely, excellent and important report on how "arms length" bodies in UK are vulnerable to political manipulation.

Kudos @chrischirp.bsky.social and @martinmckee.bsky.social for putting this together.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 1d

🧵🚨

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...

1/11

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

7 63 150

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Adrian Littlejohn @yorksfella59.bsky.social · 11h

I only found out about this now. I haven't watched QT in years because of the blatant bias of Fiona "he only hit her once" Bruce.

But this is disgusting. People aren't interested in an elected representative pleading guilty to taking bribes from Russia. Really?🤔
www.thenational.scot/news/2553221...

Fiona Bruce shuts down Zack Polanski grilling of Reform UK's Zia Yusuf

FIONA Bruce shut down Zack Polanski on BBC Question Time as he pressed Zia Yusuf over Reform UK’s links to Russia ...

www.thenational.scot

5 25 55

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 1h

Boris Johnson breached rules designed to stop abuse of contacts made in public office, watchdog finds www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Boris Johnson breached rules designed to stop abuse of contacts made in public office, watchdog finds

Johnson found to have breached rules after refusing to answer specific questions about allegations published by the Guardian

www.theguardian.com

15 23 110

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 1h

>>>> historical power imbalance means that women still have to fight to gain and retain their equal rights.

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 1h

Feminism means different things to different people. I just prefer to remember that we all have the same human rights. Men and women have equal rights e.g. the right to privacy and the right to protection from discrimination based on sex. It's just that >>>

1

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 2h

Well I'm only a bloke so probably out of my depth but for the life of me I can't see why sex based rights should not be a feminist issue.

1

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 2h

Here's the agenda - take a look: www.filia.org.uk/filia2025-ag...

FiLiA2025 Conference Agenda — FiLiA

www.filia.org.uk

1

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 2h

I suspect that whatever the cause, Toby Young’s involvement would always stem from the worst possible motives. I wouldn’t trust my free speech in his hands for a single nanosecond.

9

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 3h

This is written like it was just fortuitous that this particular judge was assigned to the Coskun case co-sponsored by Toby's FSU.... Like the judgment was solely at the judge's discretion.

No, the judgment was rooted in English Law with a heavy nod to the ECHR.

Strange, Toby doesn't mention ECHR

6 25 150

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 3h

So the women inside peacefully discussing how to counter male violence against women are the oppressors and the men outside smashing up the building are the oppressed. Yeah right. Some how I don't think people in the real world would agree with you.

1 1

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 3d

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

37 640 1.9K

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 11h

Trans activists or spoilt entitled men behaving like an aggressive men's rights movement?

1 1 4

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 11h

"The group [trans activists] smashed windows, sprayed pink paint on the building and drew pro-trans slogans" - pretty much backing up the need for the conference #FiLiA2025 which is in large part about how to counter male violence against women?

2 1 10

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 10h

"Stephen Miller is the most dangerous man in the Trump administration. In the White House deputy chief of staff, we see that Maga will not simply end with Trump. We must keep our eyes on Miller."
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Stephen Miller is the most dangerous man in the Trump administration | Judith Levine

In the White House deputy chief of staff, we see that Maga will not simply end with Trump. We must keep our eyes on Miller

www.theguardian.com

1

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 11h

"The group [trans activists] smashed windows, sprayed pink paint on the building and drew pro-trans slogans" - pretty much backing up the need for the conference #FiLiA2025 which is in large part about how to counter male violence against women?

2 1 10

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 12h

It's worth adding that Hamit Coskun is an asylum seeker - what Jenrick would call 'an illegal immigrant' - and one who has self-evidently 'got into trouble with the law in our country'.

But to Jenrick, Coskun is clearly the right sort of 'illegal immigrant' in the right sort of trouble.

7 51 170

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 11h

Trans activists or spoilt entitled men behaving like an aggressive men's rights movement?

1 1 4

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 15h

Private Eye offers up an excellently scornful commentary on the relentless polling. It’s become ridiculous and has oversimplified our politics to dangerous levels of stupid and irresponsible.

SHOCK POLL:
NIGEL FARAGE WILL BE PM TOMORROW
IN an amazing poll conducted
by The Pointless Polling Company, it was revealed that voters' intentions
may well change over the next three and a half years and at present it's 100 percent impossible to guess what the next government might look like.
However, 99 percent of journalists
agree that it would be much more fun if we had an election tomorrow and everybody resigned and everything was chaos and Farage had a go at being PM, just for the hell of it, because it was so much fun when
Brexit happened and then the government kept falling every five minutes and we could write endless pieces about (cont. p94)

100 1.3K 3.5K

Reposted by Colin Lawson

bennydiego @bennydiego.bsky.social · 20h

Dominion Voting Systems, the election vendor that was falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election, is being sold to a Republican and will be rebranded as Liberty Vote effective immediately.

Former GOP election official buys Dominion Voting Systems, says he’ll push for paper ballots | CNN Politics

Dominion Voting Systems, the election vendor that was falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election, is being sold and rebranded as Liberty Vote effective immediately.

www.cnn.com

16 17

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 23h

Just bone chilling. And when the imprisonment of critics is combined with his offer to enrich and immunize his loyalists, this is how democracies die fast.

But it's still our choice. Don't let him silence you.

470 3.4K 11K

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Bold Politics with Zack Polanski @boldpolitics.bsky.social · 1d

Everyone in the country should know this name

5 65 160

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Hendrik Klaassens #FBPE #FBR #NAFO @aurorablogspot.bsky.social · 1d

Why isn't this news getting more attention? An attack was being planned on the Prime Minister of a European country!

A suspected terrorist cell was dismantled by Belgium's federal prosecutor's office on Thursday, believed to have been planning an attack on Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

Suspected terror cell said to be planning attack on Belgian PM broken

Local media reported that investigators discovered a homemade explosive which the suspects were reportedly planning to attach to a drone to carry out the attack.

www.euronews.com

1 47 68

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Stephen 🔶🌹💚 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 @thestephenralph.bsky.social · 1d

They're discussing this situation on MSNBC at the moment. This post from Trump will probably prove very helpful for those Trump cites as being "guilty as hell". It demonstrates malicious intent.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

+

Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, "same old story as last time, all talk, no action.

Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty" Schiff, Leticia??? They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past. A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That's why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so. Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot. We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President

DJT

Donald Trump's private message to Pam Bondi he posted on Truth Social in September.

Truth Social

1 6 18

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Colin Lawson @colindlawson.bsky.social · 1d

They are right though. The TQ+ movement has reshaped Europe’s laws & policies using strategies that bypass democratic scrutiny. This has far-reaching consequences: undermining women’s rights, removing safeguards for children & adolescents & eroding free speech.
athena-forum.eu/publications...

Report: Beneath the surface - Athena Forum

Read how gender identity is reshaping Europe.

athena-forum.eu

1 2 3

Reposted by Colin Lawson

Jonathan Ladd @jonmladd.bsky.social · 1d

Kristi Noem should never have been confirmed after this. It ended up being a perfect representation of what she would do.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · May 20

HASSAN: What is habeas corpus?

NOEM: Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country

HASSAN: That's incorrect

100 790 3.5K