Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Involve @involveuk.bsky.social · 1d

Did you see that applications are open for our next cohort?

🎓 The School for Everyday Democracy is a UK-wide programme that empowers people with the skills, connections and opportunities they need to bring about positive change – locally and beyond.

Find out more👇
everydaydemocracy.org.uk

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Laurie @ljmu.bsky.social · 1d

Essential reading/consideration for outsiders, all of who are active or passive creators of the stories we tell ourselves, which has real/huge consequence.

www.simonandschuster.ca/books/The-Wa...

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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...

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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

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Defend Our Juries @defendourjuries.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING

Former British diplomat challenges Palestine Action ban in Scotland

@craigmurrayorg.bsky.social argues proscription order contravenes rights to freedom of speech under European convention of human rights.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Former British diplomat challenges Palestine Action ban in Scotland

Craig Murray argues proscription order contravenes rights to freedom of speech under European convention of human rights

www.theguardian.com

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Compass @compassoffice.bsky.social · 8d

Should your boss be paid 431 times more than you?

There is a simple, evidence-based step to tackle extreme inequality and promote a fairer economy: a 10:1 pay ratio.

Add your voice to the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/it...

@equalitytrust.bsky.social @highpaycentre.bsky.social

It's time for a maximum wage

New data from the High Pay Centre shows that the median FTSE 100 CEO now earns £4.58 million a year – 122 times more than the typical UK worker, with some, like Tesco’s CEO, paid 431 times more than t...

you.38degrees.org.uk

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Kent and Surrey Bylines @kentandsurreybylines.co.uk · 8d

Baha has previously shared his story of survival in Gaza with us. Now his wife, Samaa, recounts her experience of having a baby in a genocide. | Jennie Kermode

Nowhere to run to: Gaza woman flees for life just days after giving birth

Baha has previously shared his story of survival in Gaza with us. Now his wife, Samaa, recounts her experience of having a baby in a genocide.

kentandsurreybylines.co.uk

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rowingrabbit.bsky.social @rowingrabbit.bsky.social · 8d

🇬🇧👏🇬🇧🫶🇬🇧👏🇬🇧

Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 8d

From our Managing Director, Ben Dickenson

Newcastle says no – a city united in kindness and against fascism

Thousands came together to show the City’s true character: united, diverse, welcoming of refugees, rejecting hate
@benjitoon.bsky.social @northeastbylines.co.uk

Newcastle says no – a city united in kindness and against fascism

Thousands came together to show the City’s true character: united, diverse, welcoming of refugees, rejecting hate

northeastbylines.co.uk

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Protect the Wild @protectthewild.bsky.social · 12d

The government wants to strip away your right to challenge destructive projects like Heathrow’s third runway. They’re even considering pulling the UK out of the Aarhus Convention — an international treaty that guarantees ordinary people the power to hold corporations and politicians to account.

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Red Hot World @redhotworld.bsky.social · 12d

Uruguay proves renewable energy isn’t a dream — it’s a choice.

And it’s entirely doable — if politicians have the guts.

A humble professor called Ramón Méndez Galain showed the so-called leaders of Europe and the US how it can be done. 🧵

Ramón Méndez Galain, the humble professor who turned little Uruguay into a renewable energy giant

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National Emergency Briefing @nebriefing.bsky.social · 16d

Has your MP confirmed their attendance yet at the National Emergency Briefing on the #climate & #nature crisis?

Please use our postcode checker:
www.nebriefing.org

If not, could you send them a quick email? Takes just a few minutes👇

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MP Watch @mpwatch.bsky.social · 16d

We re super lucky that @sioldridge.bsky.social - one of the best science communicators we know - will be debunking some myths about CCS for MP Watch & the Scrap Carbon Capture campaign at the Labour Party Conference next week.

Ask your MP to attend. Details ⬇️

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Laurie @ljmu.bsky.social · 16d

UK does it slightly differently - arrests almost 1,000 people , largely elderly, doctors etc for silently holding up signs Saying “ against genocide” “support Palestine Action” ( Palestine action is not Hamas).

Yorkshire Bylines @yorkshirebylines.co.uk · 16d

Praise me or shut up! – Trump’s threats to silence opponents break US first amendment

A press free to criticise its government and leaders is essential to any democracy – in America it is crumbling before our eyes

By Granville Williams

Praise me or shut up! – Trump’s threats to silence opponents break US first amendment

A press free to criticise its government and leaders is essential to any democracy – in America it is crumbling before our eyes

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

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Yorkshire Bylines @yorkshirebylines.co.uk · 16d

Praise me or shut up! – Trump’s threats to silence opponents break US first amendment

A press free to criticise its government and leaders is essential to any democracy – in America it is crumbling before our eyes

By Granville Williams

Praise me or shut up! – Trump’s threats to silence opponents break US first amendment

A press free to criticise its government and leaders is essential to any democracy – in America it is crumbling before our eyes

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

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The BMJ @bmj.com · 17d

"Do health professionals have a special duty to speak up against the genocide? I think we do."

Fiona Godlee explains why she protested against events in Gaza and the government's proscription of Palestine Action
www.bmj.com/content/390/...

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Laurie @ljmu.bsky.social · 18d

How do we expect opinions to be worth anything, if we see no value in reality reporting. Instead, we have become lazy unthinking sheep, allowing unaccountable, power/£$ hoarding minority to create their desired world.

James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 18d

Wow.

Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 18d

Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds

open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...

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Yorkshire Bylines @yorkshirebylines.co.uk · 19d

✍️ Why we must give up being human

Violence won’t be healed by clinging to ‘being human’. Perhaps survival means surrendering certainty and embracing humility and wonder

By Mike Chitty
@mikechitty.bsky.social

Why we must give up being human

Violence won’t be healed by clinging to ‘being human’. Perhaps survival means surrendering certainty and embracing humility and wonder

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

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Stefan Roch @stefan2710.bsky.social · 19d

Brilliant podcast by David Runciman and @cchwalisz.bsky.social asking all the right questions on deliberation, random selection and citizen assemblies. Best enjoyed in combination with @oliverescobar.bsky.social insightful paper: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Past Present Future Podcast @ppfideas.bsky.social · 20d

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW!

David talks to @cchwalisz.bsky.social, founder & CEO of Democracy Next, about how citizens’ assemblies could help fix what’s wrong with democracy. Where does the idea of a jury of citizens chosen at random to answer political questions come from?

Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

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HpR @kairos.social · 19d

Creating a new “left party” in the 21st ct is an anachronism. “Left” and “right” have always been simplistic stereotypes that NEVER reflected the complex reality of society as a whole. Only #sortition does.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-... by @rogerhallam.com

My advice to Jeremy Corbyn

The new left party must be built on empowerment – and on love.

www.newstatesman.com

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National Emergency Briefing @nebriefing.bsky.social · 20d

Is your MP attending the National Emergency Briefing on the #climate and #nature crisis?

We can rise to the challenge, but only if properly informed on the latest threats and solutions.

Please help by contacting your MP.
It only takes a few minutes👇
nebriefing.org #NEB #TimeToStepUp

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Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 19d

The River Cam should flow with pure chalk spring water. Instead, it runs on sewage outflows laced with phosphorus, and it's killing life in the river. Read the full story for this week's #BigRiverWatch ⤵️

@eastangliabylines.co.uk

Dry summers, dirty water: the river Cam’s slow collapse

The river Cam faces crisis from sewage pollution, over-abstraction, and inaction – locals fight to save its wildlife and natural flow

eastangliabylines.co.uk

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Laurie @ljmu.bsky.social · 19d

By continuing this “left” vs”right” war we help power hungry to form respective armies for civil war. Allowing communities, citizens and not party “leaders” and their “cohort/advisors”to come and work together to find a collective pathway forward. Our government should be calling on us to help lead.

Bylines Network @bylinesnetwork.co.uk · 19d

10,000 people hoped “Our Party” might offer a new left home. Mr Pecksniff was right: it imploded due to leadership flaws and factionalism. But the desire for a credible left alternative hasn’t gone away.

David Jobbins letter to the editor. ⤵️

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @davidj2024.bsky.social

Letter to the editor: Mr Pecksniff and the left

Letter to the editor

eastangliabylines.co.uk

Laurie @ljmu.bsky.social · 19d

Can we please stop allowing, and encouraging , our politicians to use migration, and their simplified , lies/spun half truth narratives for their agenda party campaigning!!

www.penguin.co.uk/books/455478...

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Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 20d

Across England, young people are being denied the play opportunities they need for healthy physical growth, mental wellbeing, and social development...

From closed pools to lost parks: the urgent case for a national play strategy in England

Across England, young people are being denied the play opportunities they need for healthy physical growth, mental wellbeing, and social development

yorkshirebylines.co.uk

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Tax Justice UK @taxjusticeuk.bsky.social · 20d

💯

Make Them Pay @makethempay.bsky.social · 20d

The NHS is crumbling, schools are underfunded, energy bills keep rising – & billionaires keep getting richer

It’s time to put an end to this catastrophic inequality

It’s time to tax the super-rich & use the money to fund the services we all depend on. It's time to #MakeThemPay

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Health for XR @healthxr.bsky.social · 20d

Health professionals join thousands in the march to Downing Street today, calling on the government to make polluters pay

@makepolluterspay.bsky.social

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