Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Peter Mandler

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 5h

Jenrick is absurdly incoherent on principles of free expression because he wants immediate arrests for "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) while turning up to court to defend shouting "Fuck Islam" while burning a Quran

www.theguardian.com/politics/art...

Robert Jenrick criticised for saying people shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ should be arrested

Tory leadership candidate’s comments around far-right protests described as nasty, divisive and ignorant

www.theguardian.com

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Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 8h

Today is World Mental Health Day. Through the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), you can research the history of mental health. BBIH’s free reading list on the history of emotions highlights some recent scholarship on the history of mental health in the UK and Ireland buff.ly/OK5HSbu

Engraving of an 18th century building in a pastoral landscape

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Chris Havergal @chrishavergal.bsky.social · 6h

Bit of a coup for Switzerland, and worrying signs for the US, as married Nobel prize-winning economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, currently full-time professors at MIT, join the University of Zurich www.timeshighereducation.com/news/married... via @patrickjack.bsky.social

Married Nobel prize-winning economists move from US to Europe

Other recent departures from Trump’s America include expert on antifascism who fled to Spain after receiving death threats

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 13h

'Universities have collectively announced more than 12,000 job cuts in the last year, new analysis from the University and College Union (UCU) suggests.'

Thousands more university jobs cut as financial crisis deepens

University workers will vote on national strike action this month over a 1.4% pay offer made in the summer.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 10h

Join us for a roundtable on 'The Modern British City' in January at Senate House, London, with Simon Gunn, Erika Hanna, Owen Hatherley, Peter Mandler, Otto Saumarez Smith and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, followed by wine! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Roundtable: 'The Modern British City'

www.history.ac.uk

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 2d

Plus everyone (including the Tory party leader) has forgotten that the Conservatives *designed* the current funding system to subsidize degrees with the RAB charge: it was a feature then, not a bug, and now it is a 'rip off'.

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 2d

Something grimly predictable about the way that the conversation about 'ripoff degrees' in the UK is always about degrees that aren't rip-offs, but are instead fairly obvious 'this student has chosen something unlikely to pay off economically' rather than the short tail of crap business degrees:

Everyone needs educating in the fight over university degrees

Political confusion over the purpose of these institutions means the obvious fixes are being neglected

www.ft.com

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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

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Rebecca Goldsmith @beccagold.bsky.social · 3d

Delighted to be admitted as a research fellow at Lise Jardine’s (and Raymond Williams’) college today, in excellent company @jesuscollegecam.bsky.social

A woman in a black gown stands in front of a portrait of Lisa Jardine, smiling

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 3d

Higher education as defined in these statistics is almost entirely university education. I don't know what else you are thinking about. It does not include (non-degree) apprenticeships, FE or other kinds of post-school 'training'.

Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 4d

They now use a different measure, CHEP, for participation in higher education to age 25, and as of 2023 it was at 49%. Little of this comes from government targets and most of it comes from consistently high demand over the past 40 years. It may be that demand is now slackening.

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 4d

Not that it matters much, since the participation rate was going to go up to these levels pretty much regardless of policy, but there was a supposed 'target' for 50% participation in higher education and it was hit, by Blair's chosen measure of HEIPR (which aggregated participation from 17-30).

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 4d

The RHS is a membership organisation of 6500+ historians. We welcome applications to join us at any time. Our next closing dates are 13 October and 15 December.

We offer categories for all kinds of historians and at all stages of research, from Postgraduate to Fellow: bit.ly/46V8WOQ #Skystorians

Closing dates for next application rounds:
Mondays 13 October and 15 December 2025

The Royal Historical Society represents the interests of historical researchers in universities, libraries, archives, museums, heritage and broadcasting, as well as those engaged in public, community and family history research.

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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 4d

Over the weekend, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller repeatedly attacked judges, calling them part of an "organized terrorist attack" on the US government....

On Saturday, the home of a judge who ruled against Trump, went up in flames

time.com/7323442/sout...

House of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Administration Set Ablaze

Authorities are investigating a fire at the home of a South Carolina judge who had reportedly received death threats in what could be the latest incident of political violence across the country.

time.com

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 5d

Proportional representation then?

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 5d

Perfectly defensible as a moral principle, but democracies can function pretty well with a fair amount of inertia and/or small-c conservatism.

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Peter Mandler @petermandler.bsky.social · 5d

How so? Opinions like this were more common a generation or two ago when everyone thought democracy was in rude health.

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Martin Hewitt @vicmanch.bsky.social · 6d

I might have solved the mystery of Sarah Lewis, author of *Woman's Mission*, key text of Victorian separate spheres ideology. The ODNB states nothing is known about her, but I have evidence to suggest she was Sarah Lewis (1807-1878), headmistress of a girls' boarding school in Putney in the 1840/50s

A picture of the title page of Sarah Lewis's "Woman's Mission"

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Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 6d

oh wow. this finally happened to me. a piece I wrote lifted wholesale by the Daily Mail, lightly rewritten and without any links back to my original piece of writing.

most amazingly, a weird use of the word 'pacing' suggests to me that they did it with ChatGPT.

archive.ph/LFmzR

archive.ph

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Phil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · 6d

For the latest on George III's response, see next post

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Treasury Department considers minting a $1 Trump coin

The draft design of the coin, which was overseen by the Office of the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, features Trump’s profile on one side of the coin.

www.politico.com

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Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social · 7d

If anyone would like to buy Comment is Freed for $150 million, I'm open to offers.

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 7d

Bari Weiss is expected to be named editor in chief at CBS News on Monday, with parent company Paramount paying $150m in cash and stock to acquire her Substack publication, The Free Press. My story this morning: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Bari Weiss to be named top editor at CBS News

Paramount Skydance will acquire the journalist’s publication, the Free Press, which she started after quitting the New York Times in 2020.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 7d

Building on their Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) internship on medicine and health, @rachelpeacock.bsky.social explores in our latest On History blog Victorian understandings of mental illness through the example of intruders on Queen Victoria’s privacy tinyurl.com/b47xyh34

Medical History and the Bibliography of British and Irish History - On History

Rachel Peacock recently completed a summer internship at the IHR, where she focused on medical history and health in the Bibliography of British and Irish History. In this blog, she explores…

blog.history.ac.uk

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 7d

The "lanyard class" should almost always be parsed as an attack on women who work, and the enforcement of norms that make workplaces better for them.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 7d

This is his repeated attacks on what he calls the "lanyard class". Who are the terrible people who wear lanyards? Doctors & nurses, care workers, teachers, managers, administrators, secretaries. The people who hold society together, who keep everything running, who do the jobs he wouldn't stoop to.

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Otto Saumarez Smith @osaumarezsmith.bsky.social · 8d

Letter in the Times:

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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 8d

This is illegal, plain and simple, with penalties including removal from federal service, debarment from federal employment for five years, and a fine of $1000. 5 U.S.C. § 7326.

A country which valued the rule of law would enforce its laws.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 8d

NEW—US Department of Education sent out standard Out of Office language to employees on Wednesday in light of shutdown. Later yesterday, workers tell me they found someone had updated their auto-responses without consent to a new one blaming Democrats.

Version of original on left, updated on right:

Thank you for your email. There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends. Please visit ED.gov for the latest information on the
Department's operational status.
Thank you.

Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 8d

This week the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, announced the return of maintenance grants for students in greatest need.

In a new blog post, RHS President Lucy Noakes considers the state of access to history and the humanities in UK HE bit.ly/3KP5WMe #Skystorians

@artsandhums.bsky.social

Opening section and abstract of RHS blog post: 'The value and provision of history and the humanities: it’s time for a political response': "This week the government’s Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, announced the return of maintenance grants for students in greatest need. While we welcome recognition of the financial pressures and impediments many student face, it’s clear that this is a policy with nothing for the arts and humanities, including history. However, as Lucy Noakes, President of the Royal Historical Society, explains here, these pressures are equally acute for students in the arts and humanities. Moreover, as a new British Academy report on ‘Cold Spots’ shows, choice—in subjects including history—is being further eroded for many as the provision of higher education contorts to the financial crisis facing UK higher education. If the government is serious about choice, social mobility and access to education it needs to appreciate that provision of many degree subjects is now at considerable risk in a growing number of regions across the UK. For students to have greater choice and access we need the environments in which choices are made to be fair, balanced and accurate. For this we require political leadership to help us address structural failings and false narratives."

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