Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 16h

breaking: man who got over £10million book advance doesn't known the price of a book

Indie bookshops absolutely CANNOT discount a £30 to £20. We'd be making a loss. We sell books at RRP, unlike big chains.

www.thebookseller.com/comment/richard-osmans-sums-dont-add-up?

Osman's sums don't add up

Despite widespread belief, indies just can't afford to discount books.

www.thebookseller.com

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Nadia Whittome MP @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social · 19h

A ceasefire does not erase Israel's genocide and illegal occupation. Alongside aid and reconstruction, there must be justice, accountability, and self-determination for the Palestinian people. (2/2)

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Nadia Whittome MP @nadiawhittomemp.bsky.social · 19h

My heart breaks watching people in Gaza celebrate a possible ceasefire deal, even while Israeli attacks continue.

A ceasefire must be reached, and it must hold this time. Our government needs to put real pressure on Israel to ensure this happens. (1/2)

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 23h

oh! that's so lovely! My first tawny owl of autumn was heard from that hill, when I was dropping a friend off behind it, so I knew there were owls up there, but hadn't thought of it the other night x

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

It's taken over 24 hours to get this uploaded with passable captions, but here's my talk from last night @cumbriauni.bsky.social with @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social on #TheCompanyOfOwls and #DorothyWordsworth. Including some terrible slights on robins, and blackbird impressions. youtu.be/goiC3hhlsx4

Companions of Nature: from sickbed consolations to mimic hootings

YouTube video by Polly Atkin

youtu.be

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The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 1d

ICYMI: Viking has won an eight-way bidding war for Almost the Whole Truth, the first adult novel from the bestselling and award-winning children’s author, Robin Stevens. It will be published in early 2027 👇 #BookSky

Viking wins eight-way auction for Robin Stevens' adult debut

ebx.sh

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Sue Wilkinson @suewilkinson.bsky.social · 1d

Out with the Roamers today, to see/hear the red deer rut in Martindale.
Thanks Lena for leading a great walk!

Small herd of red deer hinds on a hillside

Stag herding hinds across a hillside (red deer)

Stag and hinds on a rocky hillside (red deer)

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Barbara Sutton @barbscov.bsky.social · 1d

This ☝️ I'm CEV and a carer but I can't get a Covid jab 🙄

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

We need preventative medicine back - which includes making covid boosters available freely to ANYONE who wants one - which means masking in healthcare at the very least, which means a focus on clean air in schools, hospitals, workplaces. You can't limit long covid without limiting covid infections.

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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 1d

And the horrors continue: Cory Doctorow explains how corporate tech enshittifies apps to skirt the law.

How American Tech Cartels Use Apps to Break the Law

The death of competition spells doom for regulation. Competition is an essential component of effective regulation, for two reasons: First, competition keeps the companies within a sector from all …

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

Are you a @societyofauthors.bsky.social member? Remember to vote in the management committee elections! Follow me as I go to post my ballot voting for Jen Calleja, Mohamed Tonsy & Matt Abbott.

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Supervising Animation Wizard @brendering.bsky.social · 2d

Miyazaki survived the bombing of Utsunomiya as a child. His family escaped in a car, but left a neighbor and her daughter behind to save themselves. Miyazaki regrets this, and said this has stayed with him and shaped his film making. He hopes his audience will learn the courage he lacked in 1945.

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Claire Squires @clairesquires.bsky.social · 2d

Fantastic to meet the new @sgsah.bsky.social PhD cohort today at @vadundee.bsky.social, including a talk about the Thread Memory exhibition of Palestinian embroidery by SGSAH PhD researcher Leena Nammari, who has work included

The Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine exhibition (viewed by SGSAH researchers)

Leena Nammari’s work Absence does not mean forgetting; with each clay tablet representing a destroyed Palestinian village, with a cypress tree motif

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 2d

4000 people have signed up to sue poultry producers.

River Wye pollution prompts UK's largest environmental lawsuit

Livestock and water companies are accused of “extensive” pollution in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers.

www.bbc.com

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Dr Penny Bradshaw @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social · 1d

The next event in our free monthly Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk by Cultural Historian, Dr Sue Allan, on 'Folk song, music & dance in the Lake Counties', taking place at our Ambleside campus on Tue 4 Nov. See here for details and to book a place: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/per...

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 2d

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.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

The #OverdiagnosisBureau: coming for you soon!

Thought you were longsighted and needed glasses to read? Turns out you just needed to adjust your attitude, not your lenses!

a painting of a woman 's face is projected on a wall behind a pair of magnifying glasses

Alt: The eyes of TJ eckleberg from Great Gatsby on a poster, changing to daisy dancing

media.tenor.com

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

And what will happen to all the disabled people who can't work - and those who could work in theory but can't under these ableist conditions - what happens to them when the Overdiagnosis Bureau takes away the trickle of support they get to live. You know. I know. They know.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

And the last thing likely to help any disabled people stay in work? Creating a toxic debate around diagnoses which enables employers to refuse accommodations even more than they already do. The govt should be helping employers to accommodate disabled workers, not trying to claim we're imaginary.

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The Unhurried Reader 📚🦊🇺🇦 @theunhurriedreader.bsky.social · 1d

#InvisibleIllnessVisibleLives

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

This #overdiagnosis discourse is dangerous and will be deadly to many - not just those with ME who have been at the mercy of quacks like Wesseley and O'Sullivan for years -
but everyone who the govt wishes to remove support from and has to find a way to claim are not actually disabled to do so.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

We need preventative medicine back - which includes making covid boosters available freely to ANYONE who wants one - which means masking in healthcare at the very least, which means a focus on clean air in schools, hospitals, workplaces. You can't limit long covid without limiting covid infections.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

The most ridiculous irony is that if you actually want more disabled and chronically ill people in work we need MORE quicker better diagnosis --> more targeted support and treatment for people's actual conditions, not CBT or pyscho-social therapy as a generalised sticking plaster on symptoms.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 1d

This #overdiagnosis discourse is dangerous and will be deadly to many - not just those with ME who have been at the mercy of quacks like Wesseley and O'Sullivan for years -
but everyone who the govt wishes to remove support from and has to find a way to claim are not actually disabled to do so.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

Controversial professor to investigate overdiagnosis of mental health and neurodivergence for Labour

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments...

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

Controversial professor to investigate overdiagnosis of mental health and neurodivergence for Labour

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments...

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 2d

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 1d

This is what is says on the tin, but also: paying artists, creatives, producers & crew fairly & on time would deflate the false profit margins of *every* creative industry. Paying workers fairly wd "kill" industry *as an endless profit machine*. Not defending AI, saying this problem is baked in.

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.

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