Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Lauren M

Tennant Reed @tennantreed.bsky.social · 4m

OUT NOW: Australia’s first national climate risk assessment got a trifle overshadowed by the 2035 target. It deserves a second look! But it’s 284 pages of yikes. LMSU has read it so you can skip to the bits you need most.

Pod: www.letmesumup.net/the-ghost-of...

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Solomon @solomonmissouri.bsky.social · 1h

And on the fourth day God said if you cut the penis your sons will know so many facts about whales

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Michael McDonald @electproject.bsky.social · 4h

Trump says a major US city is a war zone that is burning to the ground and our incurious media are not providing live coverage of this unfolding catastrophe

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Lauren M @elenem.bsky.social · 19m

“They fear the future, they dream of a world that never was and never could be, they’re exclusionary, they’re humourless – they’re this coalition.” Finlayson everybody. This fucking government #nzpol

deb te kawa nō aotearoa @debtekawa-ao.bsky.social · 23m

There are exceptions, of course ... not quite Māori politics ... but still a great read and insight. newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/10/h...

Hell hath no fury like an attorney-general scorned

Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Chris Finlayson offer praise for the Waitangi Tribunal – and damning criticism of the coalition Government. Sam Sachdeva reports.

newsroom.co.nz

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Lauren M @elenem.bsky.social · 23m

Endlessly frustrating that bike lanes get built and there's an expectation that they'll be jammed within 5 minutes, as if if doesn't take some time for people to decide to become bike commuters, try it out a few times first etc

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Stephanie... In New Zealand @bootstheory.bsky.social · 2h

Utterly smashing piece

The Spinoff @thespinoff.bsky.social · 2h

Nation upset at the inevitable result of its own actions

Step one: push people out of work and onto the streets. Step two: get mad at people being out of work or on the streets...

thespinoff.co.nz

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deb te kawa nō aotearoa @debtekawa-ao.bsky.social · 2h

Mainstream journalism’s ability to get Māori politics wrong is remarkably consistent. Your Friday reminder: if you want actual insight and balance rather than distortion, seek out Māori journalists and commentators.

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alex williams @atwilliams.bsky.social · 6h

when people are in cars they arent in society

Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 1d

Watching antisocial driver behavior in the school drop-off line makes it really clear that the pandemic destroyed whatever few shreds remained of the social compact, just pathological selfishness on display every day

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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 5h

The book argues that "in many situations, government should simply get out of the way. Meanwhile, the warping, smothering influence of corporate money and power lurks on every page unacknowledged, like a monster Klein and Thompson refuse to see." Read UCS's David Watkins' take on #Abundance.

An Abundant Blindspot

The warping, smothering influence of corporate money and power lurks on every page unacknowledged, a monster Klein and Thompson refuse to see.

blog.ucs.org

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Jack McGovan @jackmcgovan.bsky.social · 5h

With Jane Goodall's death last week and the Nobel Prize announcements this week, I wrote about why it's a big problem that we lionise individuals for achievements that resulted from the work of collective groups of people.

We spend too much time lionising people like Jane Goodall

Idolising people only entrenches the idea that it is spectacular individuals, not collectives, who change the world.

www.sower.world

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Frances "Are You Scared Yet" Meh @francesmeh.reviews · 18h

rereading a novel from the 50s set in the 30s and i know this passage did not hit as hard when i first read it in the 90s as it does now

Photo of a passage from "The Watch That Ends the Night"

Jerome stopped and stared at me with incandescent eyes.

"Try and understand this-the fascists have brought back tor-ture, and torture calls for martyrs. And what else is fascism but the logical product of the capitalist system?"

"What do you mean—torture calls for martyrs?"

"Simply this. Unless a man is able to stand up and look the torturer in the eye and say, 'I'm not afraid,' torture becomes the way of the world. It's as simple as that."

"Is it really as simple as that?"

"No." He shook his head impatiently. "No, because underneath it all is the plain economic exploitation of a rotten world.
The communists are the only people who understand that. How can you pretend they're not one hundred percent right when they say that at a time like this the life of a single individual isn't worth a snap of the fingers? Wasn't Debs right when he said that so long as there was a soul in prison he wasn't free?

What does a single marriage count in a balance like that? It isn't easy being me. I know what all this means. [Highlighted sentence:] This evil inside the human animal-the fascists are charming it out like a cobra out of its hole and the capitalists let them do it because they think it's good for business. You think I'm abandoning Sally by leaving for Spain. I tell you, if I don't leave for Spain then I really do abandon her to a future of fascism and concentration camps."

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Robert McSweeney @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org · 1d

Last week, @ceciliakeating.carbonbrief.org and I attended the first-ever conference on climate "overshoot" in Vienna.

Here's our summary of the wide-ranging discussions. (Bearing in mind we were two journalists covering 8 conference themes...!)

Carbon Brief @carbonbrief.org · 1d

NEW – Overshoot: Exploring the implications of meeting 1.5C climate goal ‘from above’ | @ceciliakeating.carbonbrief.org and @rtmcswee.carbonbrief.org

Read here: buff.ly/HWteg9K

Overshoot: Exploring the implications of meeting 1.5C climate goal ‘from above’ - Carbon Brief

The first-ever international conference on the contentious topic of “overshoot” was held last week in...

buff.ly

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Lauren M @elenem.bsky.social · 11h

It's like they asked AI to generate some 'Tory youth' and it just weirdly de-aged some older people. Absolute caricatures

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Eddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social · 12h

I'm a fan of kurzgesagt, & this is a pretty damning both on the utility AI right now & the death spiral of the Internet in the near term.

"A very complex hammer that doesn't understand what nails are & we're letting it install shelves"

AI Slop Is Destroying The Internet

YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell

youtu.be

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Lauren M @elenem.bsky.social · 11h

SIGH

a man is taking a picture of a woman with the words collect the whole set behind him .

Alt: Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura says 'collect the whole set'

media.tenor.com

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James Dyke @jamesgdyke.info · 1d

What are 'derailment risks' and how are they rapidly increasing? Join me for an in-person & online panel discussion at Chatham House, London: 28 OCTOBER 2025 — 5:00PM TO 6:00PM
www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/r...

How should the world confront climate derailment risks?

In this event, expert panellists discuss climate derailment risks, and how these risks can be tackled.

www.chathamhouse.org

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The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · 1d

"The shadow justice secretary has railed against the lack of integration in parts of Britain. But it’s the ‘flag-bothering patriots’ who don’t want to mix", writes @sarfrazmanzoor.bsky.social.

Read their full piece now: https://bit.ly/4mWSYtp

Yes, Robert Jenrick, we have an integration problem: raci...

The shadow justice secretary has railed against the lack of integration in parts of Britain. But it’s the ‘flag-bothering patriots’ who don’t want to mix

bit.ly

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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 11h

The most important piece of information you need to know about Celebrity Traitors is that Nick Mohammed was doing a PhD at the University of Cambridge on "The Effects of Glacier-Induced Isostatic Readjustment on Current Climate Change Models" before he abandoned it to switch to a career in comedy

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NZ Council for Civil Liberties @nzccl.org.nz · 12h

Launch: Protect Protest Aotearoa.

We're joined up with other groups to resist attacks on the right to protest. protectprotest.nz

Join the launch event with a screening of Operation 8 at 4:30pm October 15th in Wellington. More details: nzccl.org.nz/launch-prote...

Protect Protest Aotearoa – Defend the right to political protest in Aotearoa!

protectprotest.nz

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Lauren M @elenem.bsky.social · 12h

Really enjoyed this, thank you! Pure science is great, deep pondering is great but sometimes some simple nuts and bolts analysis of a very common real-world situation is really good too

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Colm Duffy @colmduff.bsky.social · 13h

🌍Worried about you climate impact?

💰Are those annual NCT repairs hitting your wallet?

⚡Thinking about EVs?

⚖️I compared my old Corolla to a new EV.

medium.com/sustainable-...

Life After Diesel: Going Electric in Ireland?

A €1,200 repair bill on my 13-year-old Toyota Corolla made me ask the obvious question: is it time to ditch my diesel?

medium.com

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 1d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Biodiversity Council @biodivcouncil.bsky.social · 6d

🌸 Spring has arrived in Australia, meaning native bees are buzzing around searching for food, mates and suitable nesting sites.

Now is the perfect time to provide habitat for our pollinating friends by building a bee hotel 🐝🧪

biodiversitycouncil.org.au/resources/bu...

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Lauren M @elenem.bsky.social · 13h

This is why the constant exhortations for the left to just be a bit nicer to the poor right wingers rings so hollow. Tory Whanau rightfully calls out some bullshit, Mike Hosking says she's being bitchy. These people are only happy when people are completely cowed

Tory Whanau @misswhanau.bsky.social · 17h

This is what happens when you don’t lead on ZB’s terms. Amazing how fragile some talkback hosts get when a woman does well. So emotional!

Nick Mills: Tory Whanau - What a ride; What a disappointment
ON AIR
WELLINGTON
Thu, 9 Oct 2025, 1:52pm
Well, one more day as Mayor for Tory Whanau - the
"accidental mayor," as many have called her - and just like that, her chapter in Wellington politics closes.
What a ride, and what a mess. And, let's be honest, what a disappointment.
From the very beginning, Tory framed her leadership through a lens of identity - "poor me, give me a break, I'm a woman, and I'm new.

Mike's Minute: Tory Whanau is the poster child for ineptitude
ON AIR MIKE HOSKING BREAKFAST OPINION
Mike Hosking, Thu, 9 Oct 2025, 10:33am
The Wellington mayor went out, not really in a blaze of glory yesterday, but more a fireball of misery and bitchiness.
Tory Whanau is probably the local body poster child for ineptitude. She's given her bye-bye speech.
She was a shambles. She may still be back, as she is standing in the Mãori ward.

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Tze Ming Mok 莫志明 @tzemingdynasty.bsky.social · 14h

no-one, certainly no-one in the public sector, could have predicted that the population would continue aging

Malcolm RF 💚🇳🇿 @p-no-nwa.bsky.social · 14h

"The government is spending an extra $1.6 billion on superannuation, because of an ageing population."

This is exactly the sort of thing it is impossible to budget for, poor Nicola. Snakes and snails! #nzpol

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