Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Steve Battlemuch @stevebattlemuch.bsky.social · 16h

www.iod.com/director/art... - a good article looking at the arguments for an expansion of city boundaries & how it can help economic development. The article uses examples from Nottingham & elsewhere. Don’t fall for the negativity of keeping lots of small councils. Embrace the change.

The entrepreneurial metropolis: If Britain’s cities are to get better, they must get bigger

In Cllr Steve Battlemuch’s Wollaton West ward, you can travel without moving. His ward abuts a place called Broxtowe, a territory in the western suburbs of Nottingham over which neither Battlemuch, no...

www.iod.com

1 1

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 20h

An irony of GOP/MAGA's attacks on university sector is that, structurally, it's as close to a "free market" as you'll find in US.

There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.

Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.

1/4

2 4 13

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Chapters Bookstore, Parnell St, D1 @chaptersbookstore.bsky.social · 3d

They’ll tell you that the arts & humanities aren’t practical and then …

2 70 230

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 3d

Henceforth the red robes will only be worn as an away kit when the Canadian Supreme Court is playing the US one.

Pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings.bsky.social · 3d

Tragic news from Canada where the Canadian Supreme Court has gone from the official dress on the left to the one on the right

Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in bright red wooly gowns, with a beige trim. It looks sort of like a Santa robe

The Canadian Supreme court. Everyone is dressed in black gowns with a bright white kravat, and two thin red vertical lines on the side of the robe

14 95 530

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 5d

Once these things get on general sale, they can be hard to contain but I may have over-interpreted your original comment.

1 1

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 5d

There is a big difference between having a test for a clinically significant illness where there is a specific and effective treatment - not many (any?) of those for respiratory viruses - and having the whole population testing themselves every time they have a sniffle...

1 1

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 5d

According to my textbooks, there are somewhere between 200 and 300 viruses that cause ILI (Influenza-Like Illness). How much do you think it is worth investing to address all of these?

1 1

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 6d

What would be the point of differential diagnosis for a bunch of mostly minor, self-limiting illnesses with no specific treatment? It's one important reason why the UK closed its Common Cold research programme more than 50 years ago...

2 4

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 12d

Those panicing around #LongCOVID seem to forget history. After every major flu pandemic, large groups reported fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, yes, also children. These were real symptoms, but not evidence of a new, mysterious disease.

bsky.app/profile/did...
1/5

Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · Apr 23

Some people do not fully recover from an acute viral infection and experience persistent symptoms or incomplete recovery for months or even years. This is not unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and history shows that post-viral conditions like post COVID-19 condition, referred to as LC, are not new
1/7

2 16 38

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 9d

Except that 'misinformation' involves decisions about what counts as true and false, which may depend upon the scientific domain from which the information originates and the relative power and legitimacy of those who 'own' it. Key to the debates over the value of masks during the pandemic?

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 9d

Agree with your assessment of Chris - problem is what gets to count as evidence and whether politicians are getting good science from other sources. Struck by Francis Collins's admission that US Covid policy attached infinite value to the prevention of a single death and failed to question this.

1 1

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 9d

What he doesn't address is that people may agree on the science but disagree on the implications for action because of different values/contexts. This is not misinformation but proper political debate.

2 1

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 10d

'The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war...' George Orwell, 1984.
The Board of Peace created to govern Gaza...

1

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 10d

Digital ID + tracking immigrant volunteering for ILR gets more than half way to a Chinese-style social credit society. Is this a path we really want to go down?

1

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10d

Is there a reason I ask that the Times are using a picture of asylum seekers in a boat to describe rules for migrants who came on legal routes such as skilled worker visas for doctors?

The Times & Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 10d

Tough new conditions to be imposed on migrants who want to settle in the UK will not apply to more than a million people who arrived in the UK under the post-Brexit immigration surge

Labour’s tough new rules will not apply to migrants already in UK

www.thetimes.com

35 630 2.3K

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 10d

On the morning of Keir Starmer's conference speech here's a new post on an odd psychopathology in British politics - our main parties don't like the people who vote for them - the dreaded Professional Managerial Class. And so they are acting out like a divorced dad seeking cooler voters. 1/n

British Politics' Midlife Crisis

Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters

benansell.substack.com

21 460 1.2K

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

El Espectro 👻 🎃 @telescoper.bsky.social · 10d

A meme for the modern university...

Meme showing a worker labelled "academic staff" digging a hole in the ground while 10 others look labelled with management titles such as "Director of Human Resources" look on. The caption underneath reads "The only way we can cut costs is to reduce the number of academic staff..."

8 110 290

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 10d

Sad to think that humanities and social sciences will return to being dominated by posh students with limited life experiences...

1

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 10d

When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵

21 390 850

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 11d

On the other hand, OA has created an exclusionary paywall in APCs that shuts out scholars not working in HE. Is this a justifiable monopoly?

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 12d

Would raw milk devastate US public health - or just allow artisan cheesemakers to create a more interesting product?

www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/09/publ...

www.socialsciencespace.com

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

OldRailwayAccidents @rwldproject.bsky.social · 13d

If #Railway200 has sparked or rekindled your interest in #RailwayHistory, and you fancy study at Masters or PhD level - then come & study with Dr Mike Esbester at the University of Portsmouth!

An expert in railway, transport & mobility history:

www.port.ac.uk/about-us/str...

Mike Esbester

www.port.ac.uk

1 13 17

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 14d

Today's post delves a bit into the history of #sociology, memories of Erving #Goffman, and his use of #metaphor as method makingsciencepublic.com/2025/09/26/e...

Erving Goffman: Memories, method and metaphors

If you do sociology or, indeed, any social science whatsoever, you’ll come across the work of Erving Goffman. I have done too but never engaged with it as much as I should have done. This was…

makingsciencepublic.com

8 19

Reposted by Robert Dingwall

Judith Green @judegreen.bsky.social · 28d

UK sociologist of health? Next call for @fshi.bsky.social awards closes 30th october www.shifoundation.org.uk/schemes/

1 8 4

Robert Dingwall @rwjdingwall.bsky.social · 13d

Information distributed voluntarily (with few checks on accuracy) across a plethora of different databases is quite different from information compulsorily held on a centralized system with penalties for inaccuracy. The Blair faction clearly see a pathway to a Chinese-style social credit system.

2