Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 1d

Glad this mentions her self deprecation. She did it before Hugh Grant and at least as charmingly. When I interviewed her, it seemed to be how she was off screen too www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc... #dianekeaton

Diane Keaton, Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall and The Godfather, dies aged 79

The legendary actor best known for her many collaborations with Woody Allen, as well as films including Reds, The First Wives Club and Book Club, has died

www.theguardian.com

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 3d

Meanwhile, all but two of my published books have been used without my permission to train AI. So no, this isn’t the future I wanted or imagined, but the only thing to do is to keep trying to create it #interwoven

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 3d

… it isn’t. I do still believe in the power of storytelling to make the world better place, but we’re also seeing the inverse, the power of the simple lie to divide and rule.

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 3d

Learned last night that I’d made it to the shortlist for the Interwoven poetry prize just as I arrived to talk to a book group that had selected my novel TIME/LIFE for discussion. This morning I aim to finish the last chapter of my next book. This is the life I dreamed of from childhood. Except…

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 4d

"Squads of volunteers... were preparing the street for Hate Week, stitching banners, painting posters, erecting flagstaffs on the roofs, and perilously slinging wires across the street for the reception of streamers."

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 4d

Useful thread in many ways, the smallest of which is that it has forced me to dis-integrate Stephen Daisley and Bruce Daisley. I somehow conflated the two and thought Bruce had taken a funny turn

Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 4d

And in more news about news... Google ignoring Manchester-based reporting of the synagogue attack in favour of distant brands pressgazette.co.uk/news/google-...

Google appears to prioritise global newsbrands over local ones for breaking news events

Global newsbrands were being surfaced more highly in Google than the biggest local news operation in Manchester for synagogue attack story.

pressgazette.co.uk

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 4d

In news about news www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

CBS News staffers react to Bari Weiss being named editor-in-chief: ‘It’s utterly depressing’

Six network employees expressed a mix of emotions over the appointment in conversations with the Guardian

www.theguardian.com

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 6d

“I’m not a rapist, that’s too heavy for me to bear,” he said. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...
FYI the Nobel Peace Prize is due to be announced on Friday.

Gisèle Pelicot returns to court to face one of men convicted of raping her

The 72-year-old arrives for trial in Nîmes as Husamettin Dogan becomes only man out of 51 to appeal against conviction

www.theguardian.com

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 6d

In the words of Queen Camilla "may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs" #JillyCooper

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6d

Jilly Cooper, author of Rivals and Riders, dies aged 88

The author of 18 ‘bonkbuster’ novels including Riders, Rivals and Bella has died following a fall Jilly Cooper has died at the age of 88, her agent has confirmed. The author, whose 18 novels include Riders and Rivals, “defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago,” said her agent Felicity Blunt. “You wouldn’t expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things - class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.” Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 9d

When I was travelling with David Cameron to profile him for TIME magazine, he showed me his iPod in order to prove he had that track on it 🫠

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 9d

That's my husband with his band Gang of Four at 25 mins. I Love a Man in a Uniform was their 2nd single to be banned. At a time when some of the best cultural output is being consigned to flames, this would be a good day to watch or just crank up Gang of Four LOUD www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

More Dangerous Songs: And the Banned Played On

Compilation of songs previously banned by the BBC, including Lola by The Kinks, Jackie by Scott Walker and We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thang by Heaven 17.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 11d

The BBC manages to make a truly important programme and then crashes?

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 11d

In 2022 WE put up fake police incident boards highlighting institutional misogyny and racism in the Met police. Tonight’s BBC Panorama hows how bad it is. To quote one of our boards, the police cannot stop violence and discrimination if they do not recognise it in their own ranks.

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Reposted by Catherine Mayer

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 11d

The Royal Society has met to discuss Elon Musk – and they’re NOT removing his fellowship. They are criticising him publicly, but stopping short of actual removal.

This feels like the kind of compromise that will please *absolutely nobody*.

“I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish. Today at a meeting of the Royal Society’s Council, I led a discussion regarding some of those threats.

“Science thrives when individuals and institutions have the freedom to carry out research without fear of discrimination, censorship, or other restrictions that would hinder their work. In support of that, Council believes that it is not the role of the Royal Society to police the personal political opinions of individual Fellows and disciplinary procedures should not be initiated because of a Fellow’s social and political views.

“However, the Society can and will criticise Fellows who act in a way that runs counter to the values of tolerance, courtesy and respect for others that allow science to flourish. Elon Musk’s contribution to the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally is an example of a growing tendency towards the use of the language of violence, and narratives of division and polarisation. This language and these narratives threaten the values that enable science to thrive and the Royal Society rejects them, from wherever they originate.”

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 11d

Signed
chng.it/V6vwGHMhGF

We Can Make an Impact.

Strip Michelle Mone of her peerage

chng.it

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 12d

I forgot to say that I will be on stage with her in Bromley. Do come

Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 12d

Who’s that grooving to the beat?
Yep. That’s Sandi Toksvig dancing to the Belle Stars on No 73.
She’s currently touring her one-woman show Friends of Dorothy around England. And who knows. She might be persuaded to get out her dancing shoes.
www.sanditoksvig.com
#friendsofdorothy #comedy #standup

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 12d

Who’s that grooving to the beat?
Yep. That’s Sandi Toksvig dancing to the Belle Stars on No 73.
She’s currently touring her one-woman show Friends of Dorothy around England. And who knows. She might be persuaded to get out her dancing shoes.
www.sanditoksvig.com
#friendsofdorothy #comedy #standup

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 12d

Another factor contributing to woeful coverage of the far right... elites trying to compensate by pandering to what they imagine non-elites are thinking

pressgazette.co.uk/news/little-...

Newspaper columnists and BBC execs becoming more elitist, research finds

There has been a drop in privately-schooled leaders in UK media but the journalism industry remains "highly unrepresentative" of the public.

pressgazette.co.uk

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 15d

And the band played on… with Nero on violin

www.thetimes.com/article/edc6...

British Museum to host ball to rival the glamour of the Met Gala

The museum hopes to emulate the star-studded New York event, which raised more than $30m this year

www.thetimes.com

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 16d

👀 www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Musk, Bannon and Thiel named in new Epstein estate documents

The House Oversight Committee is continuing to release redacted materials in its ongoing Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

www.politico.com

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Reposted by Catherine Mayer

Disrupted Blue Indie Press Publicity @disruptedblue.bsky.social · 19d

That’s a wrap! @mayeroflondon.bsky.social’s Scottish Time/Life @renardpress.com mini-tour is complete! Book signing @ Waterstones Glasgow & Uni of Glasgow’s Creative Conversations in convo w/Nicky Melville. Edinburgh leg: @typewronger.bsky.social chatting & time-travelling w/wonderful Joanna Baker…

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 20d

Good morning Glasgow

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 22d

This isn’t protection. It is subjugation, instrumentalisation, exploitation.

“The notion that male politicians need to protect women and children comes packed together with a shift towards a new strand of patriarchy”

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘Go-to trope’: how the far right is exploiting violence against women and girls

From Tommy Robinson to Reform UK, nationalist figures are weaponising women’s safety to push anti-migrant fears

www.theguardian.com

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 23d

“The literature prize went posthumously to the late Dr William Bean of the University of Iowa. In a succession of papers, he documented the growth rate of his fingernails and toenails over 35 years”

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Teflon diet, garlic milk and zebra cows triumph at 2025 Ig Nobel prizes

Researchers into idea to blend powdered PTFE into food as a zero-calorie filler to curb hunger win chemistry prize

www.theguardian.com

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