Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 1d

Shameful stuff, yet again UK university leaders plunge the sector further into disrepute

Netpol @netpol.org · 1d

Universities offered to monitor student social media for arms firms, emails show libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/uni...

UK universities offered to monitor student social media for arms firms, emails show - Liberty Investigates

libertyinvestigates.org.uk

Reposted by Rachel 🛼

Former Pingu Child Actor @heresy.bsky.social · 3d

The British regime arrested its own flotilla member Sarah Wilkinson immediately after she returned home from Israeli detention this week. In Israel, Sarah had faced mistreatment and torture at the hands of the IOF.

THEY *CHANGED HER BAIL CONDITIONS* WHILE SHE WAS ABROAD

PURE STATE TERRORISM

british flotilla activist arrested by british state immediately after arriving home from israeli torture

2 22 35

Reposted by Rachel 🛼

Sinan Kose @thesinankose.bsky.social · 4d

This is probably the last actual benefit of being a British citizen which is that they'll intercede on your behalf when things like this happen and in the face of their pet pariah state they refuse to even do that.

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 4d

Keir Starmer’s spokesman asked about Israel detaining British citizens who were on the Gaza aid flotilla, while in international waters, replies that it is a “matter for the Israeli Government”

3 12 73

Reposted by Rachel 🛼

Collapse faster! @maketotalcollapse.bsky.social · 4d

Miatta Fahnbulleh and Torsten Bell are living evidence that the think tank route to influence just _does_ _not_ _work_ for left politics..

State of them both.

Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 4d

Miatta Fahnbulleh is asked about the govt giving the police more powers to restrict protests.

To be clear, what the govt is doing is exploiting the synagogue attack to ban protests against the genocide they’re complicit in, & Fahnbulleh is going along with that to keep her job.

3 3 11

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 4d

I say resigning issue...in the just world we'll never see hed be answering his own personal, ruthless and efficient People's Tribunal in the very near future but of course we're condemned to live in hell world forever instead.

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 4d

Should be a resigning issue tbh, but then there have been plenty of those over the last year that we've just sailed past. I guess he & his government are too busy dreaming up new ways to accelerate the British police state to be arsed.

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 4d

Keir Starmer’s spokesman asked about Israel detaining British citizens who were on the Gaza aid flotilla, while in international waters, replies that it is a “matter for the Israeli Government”

1 2

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Focusing solely on the (well-known!) benefits of vol/community work ignores the coercion, dehumanisation and discrimination inherent in these proposals, and ways in which those factors would be detrimental not just to the 'volunteers' but to the groups who'd be providing & facilitating their work.

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

We have a Home Secretary who is proposing measures to force migrants - who are an incredibly diverse group in terms of socioeconomic status, immigration status, language skills, education, caring responsibilities etc - to prove that they 'contribute' sufficiently to society to have the right to stay

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

"Can" is doing a lot of work here and none of this is a reason to mandate it, especially not for a group of people that's being made into scapegoats by our media and political classes.

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Making it mandatory takes away that choice, holds the implicit threat of punishment over the volunteer, and holds them to a higher standard of proving their social worth than non-migrants. It's rooted in resentment of their very presence, it's not conducive to good work or community.

1 1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Absolutely agree that migrants of all stripes can and do contribute enormously via community/voluntary work. But part of what makes the work of volunteers so valuable & powerful is that it's a genuinely voluntary commitment - you reaffirm that commitment every time you choose to turn up & help.

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Some of his best friends have certainly had...interesting things to say about Diane Abbott!

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

...but then you wouldn't be able parade around your disgust for migrants, make them perform like trained seals to prove their humanity, all in pursuit of the votes of racist pricks who think Keir Starmer's an open communist.

2

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Volunteer work for charities isn't free, insurance, expenses, paid staff to supervise, ongoing training all cost £££. It's of most value to orgs when vols are committed and passionate about the work. Far better to fund charities & community groups properly...

1 1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Have done a tiny bit of volunteer recruitment & training in the past. I can think of nothing better for orgs trying to carry out vital work in their communities than an influx of 'volunteers' who aren't there by choice & rightly resent the whole humiliating charade.

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 12d

"Migrants will have to carry out community work or volunteering to qualify to permanently remain in the UK, according to the Home Secretary." [Telegraph]

2 2 6

Reposted by Rachel 🛼

Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 12d

Mandatory unpaid work to be done by The Other, is it?

Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 12d

"Migrants will have to carry out community work or volunteering to qualify to permanently remain in the UK, according to the Home Secretary." [Telegraph]

20 150 660

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Snagged a lovely barely-worn pair of red doc marten Oxfords for under £30, felt smug and delighted with myself and am now reckoning with how brutal the break-in process will be for my enormously wide feet. Can I maybe get a couple of toes removed, is that a thing?

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 12d

Oh no but you don't understand, he's a sensible serious upholder of the British establishment, he's a Good Guy, it's basically impossible for him to be racist

1 1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 13d

Very true ❤️

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 13d

Thanks Mark. Doing better. It was an expected bereavement & on paper I should have been emotionally prepared to handle it but shit knocked me sideways. But 6 months of trying to reckon with the nature of grief, love & being a person while insipid AI discourse is EVERYWHERE has felt pretty poisonous!

1 1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 13d

Very funny to see this published the day after their interview with Ed lol bsky.app/profile/edzi...

Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 15d

I chatted with the @financialtimes.com about my writing, the podcast, tech criticism, and being myself.

archive.is/2025.09.25-0...

Ed Zitron sitting on a chair with a game console staring very normally

Ed Zitron staring with a shadow on his face

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 13d

I have to tell myself it's just naked cynicism. The idea that there might be people who'd sincerely love to The Entire History Of You-ify their relatives is just too nauseating.

1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 13d

Every attempt to humanise this tech, or to create a human-focused use case in the desperate hope of finding an saleable product, further reveals it to be a fundamentally anti-human reflection of its creators' values.

1 1

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 13d

I've had the dubious fortune this year of going through the most intense + painful grief of my life in the middle of a glut of articles about befriending the chatbot, using the therapy chatbot, replacing your loved ones with the chatbot. And each new one is more viscerally repugnant than the last.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13d

AI can’t raise the dead, but it might do the next best thing on.ft.com/4gFXyus | opinion

AI can’t raise the dead, but it might do the next best thing

Rapid advances in generative AI and voice technology mean communicating with the deceased will no longer be sci-fi

on.ft.com

2 4

Rachel 🛼 @raegun.bsky.social · 16d

New Ghost Stories for the End of the World series on the British far right & intelligence services is going to be essential listening over the coming months innit