Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · 7d

Delighted to be shortlisted for best news story in the @freelancingfor.bsky.social Freelance Journalism Awards 2025, for a story about the treatment of workers on Strictly Come Dancing, commissioned when I was freelancing for @theobserveruk.bsky.social last year. Congrats to all on the shortlist!

Front cover of Observer newspaper with story about Strictly

Shortlist for Freelancr Journalism Awards 2025 best news story category

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Reposted by Rachael Healy

The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · 9d

Laugh-washing in Saudi.

This week, Jimmy Carr and Jack Whitehall join a bill of top comedians performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. This is despite human rights abuses in the country.

Listen to today's Sensemaker wherever you get your podcasts to discover more:
lnk.to/VmVKTaBS

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · 9d

Thanks to @joeyshea.bsky.social from Human Rights Watch

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · 9d

On today’s @theobserveruk.bsky.social Sensemaker: Self-declared free speech comics like Jimmy Carr are at the first Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. Critics say they’re laundering the reputation of a state that brutally restricts its own citizens’ free speech observer.co.uk/listen/daily...

Laugh-washing in Saudi | The Observer

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observer.co.uk

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Natalie Alana Ashton @natalan.bsky.social · 9d

i've been trying out the Sensemaker pod in the mornings, with mixed results. thought today's one about the Riyadh festival and human rights was *very* good, then realised of course it was, because it was written by @rachaelhealy.bsky.social

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · 9d

Ahh thank you for listening!

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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 27d

Want to be clear that the predictable violence against the police wasn't the only problem with yesterday's march

It's that 100,000 angry racists gathered in London for the biggest racist march in 50 years, and anyone not white had to steer clear

The govt can't see that because they are inadequate.

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · 27d

What links Tommy Robinson, Charlie Kirk and a host of extremely online conspiracy theorists? Money from a so-called “counter-jihad” US billionaire. My colleague @thejohnsimpson.bsky.social maps the connections observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

US cash turned Tommy Robinson into the poster boy of UK f...

Outside the Old Bailey in 2018, a reinvented Tommy Robinson flashed his perfect new teeth to 2,000 diehard supporters at a “free Tommy” rally on a stage ...

observer.co.uk

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Sep 2

And now you can listen to the podcast version 👂📻

observer.co.uk/listen/daily...

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Chortle @chortle.bsky.social · Aug 30

Winning the Edinburgh Comedy Awards' 'panel prize'

by Isabelle Adam of Comedy Club 4 Kids

dlvr.it

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Reposted by Rachael Healy

Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Aug 26

As @taskmaster.tv gets ready to celebrate its 20th series, 10 years on TV, and 15 years since the original live Fringe show, I went behind the scenes to find the secrets of its success. Read all about it in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Screen shot from observer website showing image of Taskmaster’s Greg Davies and Alex Horne, with headline “How Taskmaster took over television”

Photo of page from The Observer newspaper shows large photo of Taskmaster’s Greg Davies and Alex Horne with headline: “How to make a comedy show enjoyed by millions”

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 27

Edinburgh comedy award winner Sam Nicoresti: ‘Actually, this whole show is a monumental failure!’

The comic was determined to make a blockbuster standup show that didn’t address trans issues. Then she changed her mind – and scooped comedy’s biggest prize

www.theguardian.com

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Aug 26

As @taskmaster.tv gets ready to celebrate its 20th series, 10 years on TV, and 15 years since the original live Fringe show, I went behind the scenes to find the secrets of its success. Read all about it in the @theobserveruk.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Aug 4

As the Fringe enters its first full week, I spoke to a few artists about the endurance test of the festival and pushing their physical and psychological boundaries with daring shows observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Onstage orgasms, live tattooing, ‘embracing our mucky par...

The month-long festival can be an endurance test for many its performers, as they confront their emotional and physical boundaries

observer.co.uk

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Aug 4

As the Fringe enters its first full week, I spoke to a few artists about the endurance test of the festival and pushing their physical and psychological boundaries with daring shows observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Onstage orgasms, live tattooing, ‘embracing our mucky par...

The month-long festival can be an endurance test for many its performers, as they confront their emotional and physical boundaries

observer.co.uk

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Reposted by Rachael Healy

Nesrine Malik @nesrinemalik.bsky.social · Jul 28

All that is not action is noise.

This week's column on Gaza as politicians rinse and repeat statements of concern without meaningful pressure on Israel.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Protesting over Gaza’s starvation feels like screaming into a void – but we mustn’t stop | Nesrine Malik

Political platitudes and a few trucks of aid won’t save the children dying now. But they show leaders can’t ignore public opinion for ever, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com

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chloehadj.bsky.social @chloehadj.bsky.social · Jul 6

I spent months on this investigation and gathered docs from the UK courts, Land Registry and a French local authority, to show that Raynor and Moth Winn's story is not as they claim. @tortoisemedia.bsky.social @observeruk.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The real Salt Path: how the couple behind a bestseller le...

Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal it was far from the truth

observer.co.uk

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Josh Halliday @joshhalliday.bsky.social · Jun 30

💊The NHS is battling "medieval" levels of untreated illness in some of Britain's poorest communities – at a cost to the health service of about £50bn a year, or the same as the defence budget.

My big read from Barrow, Blackpool, Burnley and Blackburn:

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

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The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · Jun 21

The battle of Tattle: gossip victims call for website that abuses influencers to shut

Public figures tell of impact on their mental health after being targeted by Tattle Life.

The battle of Tattle: gossip victims call for website th...

Public figures tell of impact on their mental health after being targeted by Tattle Life

bit.ly

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Eve Livingston @everebecca.bsky.social · Jun 22

🚨ICYMI I’ve spent months talking to policewomen abused by fellow officers about how their partners used police training and authority to facilitate abuse - and how their own forces closed ranks when they asked for help.

Read: observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/5j5L...

‘Staying silent is no longer an option’: female police of...

When a domestic abuser is also a fellow police officer, victims have been subjected to further trauma as forces close ranks against them. Now survivors a...

observer.co.uk

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Jun 10

Unbound authors and former staff members who want to talk, including anonymously, get in touch at [email protected]

Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · Jun 5

UNBOUND AUTHORS: We’ve prepared a letter you can send to administrators to demand things like expedited rights reversion, no AI use, return of electronic files (cover art, typesetting, etc) and the option to get any remaining copies of your books. DM me and I will send the template over

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Joshi Herrmann @joshiherrmann.bsky.social · Jun 9

Great reporting from @londonermag.bsky.social - a public school entrepreneur starts a buzzy comedy club in Soho and then comes up with a million excuses not to pay performers.

www.the-londoner.co.uk/no-laughing-...

No laughing matter: Why didn’t a top Soho comedy club pay its performers?

21Soho was meant to breathe life into London's stand-up scene. Yet dozens of artists and former staff members paint a portrait of a company in utter chaos.

www.the-londoner.co.uk

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Jun 7

21Soho was meant to breathe life into London’s stand-up scene. Yet dozens of artists and former staff members paint a portrait of a company in chaos.

My @londonermag.bsky.social debut today with a story about the artists bearing the brunt of business failure

www.the-londoner.co.uk/no-laughing-...

No laughing matter: Why didn’t a top Soho comedy club pay its performers?

21Soho was meant to breathe life into London's stand-up scene. Yet dozens of artists and former staff members paint a portrait of a company in utter chaos.

www.the-londoner.co.uk

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · Jun 7

21Soho was meant to breathe life into London’s stand-up scene. Yet dozens of artists and former staff members paint a portrait of a company in chaos.

My @londonermag.bsky.social debut today with a story about the artists bearing the brunt of business failure

www.the-londoner.co.uk/no-laughing-...

No laughing matter: Why didn’t a top Soho comedy club pay its performers?

21Soho was meant to breathe life into London's stand-up scene. Yet dozens of artists and former staff members paint a portrait of a company in utter chaos.

www.the-londoner.co.uk

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Rachael Healy @rachaelhealy.bsky.social · May 29

You can listen to my first Observer podcast, out today. It’s all about the international nursing staff working in the UK and whether Starmer’s harsh immigration plans will drive them to leave

observer.co.uk/listen/daily...

Could the government’s immigration reforms lead to an exodus of international nurses? | The Observer

New research from the Royal College of Nursing suggests many overseas nurses are thinking about leaving the UK. Could the government’s tough new immigration reforms accelerate that?

observer.co.uk

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