Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jack Kessler

@jackkessler.bsky.social

8.3K followers 1.9K following 2.3K posts

I write the newsletter, Lines To Take, bringing you one big story of the day, every day. Sign up for free: https://www.linestotake.com/ I like human rights and French cuisine.

www.linestotake.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · Mar 14

What it's like to go horribly, horribly viral.

That time I incurred the wrath of a continent (and the Daily Mail).

My new newsletter, Lines To Take, out now.

What it's like to go horribly, horribly viral

I incurred the wrath of a continent (and the Daily Mail)

www.linestotake.com

3 7 31

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 22h

The Trappings of Opposition.

Kemi Badenoch likes the freedom of opposition (tax cuts! easy answers!) — but is less keen on doing the heavy analytical lifting.

✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/kemi-baden...

My newsletter, out now.

For many years, the conventional wisdom in Westminster dictated that veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman was a “humourless feminist”. There was more than a whiff of misogyny about this. Not least when Harman — no doubt with the help of her adviser and sometime stand-up comedian Ayesha (now Baroness) Hazarika — was more than capable of landing a decent punchline.

My favourite came during the 2010 Queen’s Speech when, as acting deputy leader, Harman took aim squarely at the Liberal Democrats. The party, thrust into government for the first time in decades and led by future Mark Zuckerberg bag-carrier Nick Clegg, had requested that it hold on to “Short money”. That is, funding to support opposition parties in carrying out their parliamentary duties. Harman remarked:

Some say that the Liberal Democrats like to be all things to all people. But even they can’t be both in government and in opposition. They can’t fudge this one. They are in government — they can’t claim Short money. We’re all familiar with the notion of clinging on to the trappings of power. But the Liberal Democrats are surely the first party to attempt to cling onto the trappings of opposition.

1 5 11

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 16h

Isn't it also as basic as something like the odds for England winning a world cup are shorter in England than other markets because people bet patriotically. What use is that as a signal of probabilities?

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 23h

One reason Tories lost in 2024 was the awful state of the NHS. They badly need to fess up & say how they plan not to f*ck it up next time.

All we got yesterday:

"In the NHS, industrial action has kept waiting lists high for far too long. Enough is enough. We will ban doctors from going on strike."

18 16 75

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 16h

The time-lapse watercolour of Walden is a bit BBC Saturday morning TV kids show but the music is so rich.

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 16h

Kinnock def Thatcher, 1985

The Taylor vs Davis Black Ball Final! | World Championship 1985

YouTube video by WST

www.youtube.com

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 16h

The Dennis Taylor-esque glasses don't help anyone but it is striking how much older Thatcher looks only a year later.

Margaret Thatcher: “No, No, No!” Speech (1990)

YouTube video by Omer Gendler

www.youtube.com

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 17h

First time I've sat down and watched this from start to finish and I wish my main reflection wasn't that the word "unassailable" no longer confers any meaning.

Margaret Thatcher - The Walden Interview 29/10/1989

YouTube video by Thomas Gatehouse

youtu.be

2 1

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Jane Lytvynenko @janelytv.bsky.social · 23h

“There will be no more mercy.”

“No one deserves pity. Spare me your whining.”

Those are captions to videos of Russian drone operators attacking civilians in Kherson city and region.

Living in Kherson means risking execution from the sky.

www.wsj.com/world/russia... (read free)

Russian Drones Turn the Streets of Kherson Into a Civilian Kill Zone

The attacks on Kherson are part of Russia’s growing strategy to terrorize civilians in an effort to sap Ukrainians’ strength to resist in the fourth year of war.

www.wsj.com

2 64 120

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 18h

Law is politics by other means. Wrote about Leigh Day, the law firm that love suing the government www.economist.com/britain/2025...

3 4 27

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Nick Miller @nickmiller79.bsky.social · 20h

England & Wales will be led out tonight not by the usual kids as mascots, but by 22 people living with dementia & Alzheimer's.

This is the story of three of them. They talked about what it means to them & the brilliant work the @alzheimerssoc.bsky.social do.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/669...

'We need to do something' – Why England vs Wales will feature 22 adult mascots living with dementia

www.nytimes.com

7 17

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 20h

How much of the latter is a purely James Ball effect?

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 20h

My dog is similarly adamant we never give her treats.

1 3 140

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Rachel Cunliffe @rmcunliffe.bsky.social · 20h

Hollow laughter

60 110 710

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 20h

You're saying we should aim to get drunk in fewer hours?

1 2

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 21h

UK food industry blames govt for rising grocery bills - on.ft.com/43df9V1

Fascinating all round. Factors include:

Bad Brexit effects
NICs rise pass through
Higher NMW
Skills shortage exacerbated by post Brexit effects
Weather
Producer responsibility regs
Subsidies don't incentivize growing 1/

UK food industry blames government for rising grocery bills

Living wage increases, new regulations and backed-up planning system driving price rises, say producers

on.ft.com

3 7 10

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Ben Zaranko @benzaranko.bsky.social · 1d

I've written about the UK's productivity problem for @theobserveruk.bsky.social. Come for the comparison of the UK economy to a hedgehog, stay for the comparison of Rachel Reeves to a Dickens character.

observer.co.uk/news/busines...

In Britain’s ‘hedgehog economy’, growth is wild, spiky – ...

The spines on the OBR’s charts are a signal to the chancellor to pull all the levers to improve our growth prospects

observer.co.uk

3 4 9

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 21h

It reminds me of a terrific scene in The Sopranos, where Tony and Carmella are trying to work out how to punish their daughter:

Carmela: There has to be consequences

Tony: And there will be, I hear you ok? Let’s just not “overplay” our “hand” because if she finds out we’re powerless, we’re fucked

The Sopranos (1999–2007) Toodle-Fucking-Oo: Tony and Carmela talk about Meadow's punishment

YouTube video by Alfred C. Chu

www.youtube.com

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 21h

In opposition, saying is all you can do. But you shouldn't telegraph to people that you're not doing the thinking!

1 3

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 22h

Obviously, being in opposition means you get to do things like spend a bankers' bonuses tax 15 different ways or not take a position on nuclear power.

Tony Blair DESTROYS the Tories on Nuclear Power

YouTube video by New Labour

www.youtube.com

1 1

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 22h

What will you replace it with? A particularly strange omission when Badenoch is trying to reposition the Conservatives as the party of fiscal responsibility.

1 1

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 22h

“The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home” is not a complete sentence. It’s like someone saying “My boss, in a chicken costume” before drifting off. Or overhearing half a phone call and only catching “… because I thought it was cheese.”

1 1

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 22h

The main benefit of being in opposition is time. But there's no guarantee that will be spent well.

Labour lost in 2015 and promptly made Jeremy Corbyn its leader. In 2001, the Tories endured a second successive landslide defeat and opted for Iain Duncan Smith over Ken Clarke.

1 3

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 22h

1 5 11

Reposted by Jack Kessler

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 1d

There will be midterm elections in America. The Democrats might even win them. But it may not matter under competitive authoritarianism.

✍️ www.linestotake.com/p/donald-tru...

My newsletter, Lines To Take, out now.

Observing from afar the relentless attacks on the US constitution and actual Americans by the Trump administration, it’s tempting to declare something grand and final, like “there won’t be midterm elections next year” or “this is a fascist state”. Not because we know those things to be true, but because the alternative — waiting and wondering — feels worse.

The United States under Trump — and practically any Republican president at this point — is what academics call a “hybrid regime” or “competitive authoritarianism”. This ought not take too much imagination because these systems exist all over the world, including Turkey, Mexico and Tunisia. Even in autocracies such as Russia and Iran, there are elections. It’s just that they are neither free nor fair.

The 2026 midterms will not only go ahead, the Democrats could win them. Trump and the GOP are unpopular. The economy is slowing. Tariffs are hurting. Many (though not all) voters liked the idea of Trump 2.0 more than the reality. But the point about hybrid regimes is that, even if the opposition manages to scrape over the line in legislative elections, it may not matter all that much. A determined and unshackled executive could simply ignore or overrule the other branches of government.

1 4 7

Jack Kessler @jackkessler.bsky.social · 1d

"You can’t just point at things and abolish the tax on them without an economically efficient replacement!"