Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Andy King

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 3h

UAE has no democratically elected institutions, no free speech and an appalling human rights record.

Its economy functions on completely different metrics to the ours & ranks well below us for GDP

No serious person would ever think that we should emulate it.

But here's Tice calling us decadent

130 250 840

Reposted by Andy King

Paul F. Tompkins @pftompkins.bsky.social · 2h

FanTASTIC news let’s get this done

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.

buff.ly

32 250 1.8K

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 1h

So we could save artists *&* kill the copyright theft machine? I'm not seeing any downside here, Nick. Let's kill it.

a man in a jacket says i say we take off and nuke .

ALT: a man in a jacket says i say we take off and nuke .

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Andy King

Mike D London @mikedlondon.bsky.social · 9h

Only the Tories, who nearly tripled the National Debt and who imposed the highest tax burden since World War 2, can be trusted to cut the debt and cut taxes...apparently.

🤔

1 1 5

Reposted by Andy King

George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 21h

This is the Epstein files shutdown.

A screenshot of an X.com post by @AdelitaForAZ
, Adelita Grijalva, stating, "The people of Southern Arizona deserve representation and I'm ready to get to work. Swear me in NOW! @SpeakerJohnson
!" followed by a reply from @GavinNewsom
, Gavin Newsom, saying, "It's not even November and the GOP are already rigging elections." Below, a news headline from McClatchy by Nikki McCann Ramirez dated September 30, 2025, reads, "DEM SAYS MIKE JOHNSON IS DELAYING HER SWEARING-IN TO PREVENT EPSTEIN VOTE," with a photo of Adelita Grijalva smiling at an event in Tucson, Arizona, on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

320 4.2K 12K

Reposted by Andy King

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 19h

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

710 6.1K 14K

Reposted by Andy King

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 5h

So the argument is that authoritarian governments using slave labour and crushing dissent is good but democratic countries freely debating ideas is bad?

15 35 170

Reposted by Andy King

Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 9h

I imagine Robert Jenrick is currently on his way to places like Plymouth and Chelmsford to complain that there are too many white faces and they are insufficiently diverse

11 18 150

Reposted by Andy King

Toby Earle 🇺🇦 @tobyontv.bsky.social · 5h

if you’ve ever watched the apprentice, that’s the world without arts or humanities degrees

38 320 1.3K

Reposted by Andy King

Brian Kirby @boringstorybook.com · 19h

I think I know which house in Olmsted Falls is going to win the decorating contest this year. 🎃💀

A 2-story Lego minifig skeleton Los in from of a house decorated for Halloween

5 3 22

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 4h

Wonder what she has to say about Nigel “never knowingly in Clacton” F@rage spending most of his time in the USA hoping that Trump will look at him, or jetting off on the Far Eastern jollies he gets in return for telling the super-rich how to dodge some more tax. Not to mention “Dubai Dick” Tice…

homer simpson from the simpsons is standing in a grassy field with the words awkward silence has entered the chat

ALT: homer simpson from the simpsons is standing in a grassy field with the words awkward silence has entered the chat

media.tenor.com

1 1 2

Reposted by Andy King

Mike D London @mikedlondon.bsky.social · 9h

I see Jen K is surprised that PMs go abroad to negotiate trade deals and attend things like the NATO or UN Summits - in Starmer's case spending about 1/8th of his time away.

Is Jen new to the UK and unfamiliar with how things work here?

🤔

2 4 9

Reposted by Andy King

Mike D London @mikedlondon.bsky.social · 4h

Indeed...Adam BrooksRiots and the rest of his sort are always careful to ensure that it's only the people they rile up who get prosecuted and jailed...

3 2

Reposted by Andy King

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 9h

Dutch courts fighting to make Facebook and Instagram useable again.

Ramsha Jahangir @ramshajahangir.bsky.social · 9h

Last week, a Dutch court ordered Meta to give Facebook & Instagram users the right to set a chronological feed by default - one of the first EU cases applying the DSA in civil proceedings.

To unpack what this means, I spoke with @bitsoffreedom.bsky.social:

www.techpolicy.press/what-a-dutch...

What a Dutch Court Ruling Against Meta Signals for Private DSA Enforcement | TechPolicy.Press

Tech Policy Press spoke with Rejo Zenger, Policy and Advocacy Lead at Bits of Freedom, to better understand the significance of the ruling.

www.techpolicy.press

21 210 940

Reposted by Andy King

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 7h

I hope and believe that most of my fellow Jews will join me in saying that it is sickening that anyone should justify this outpouring of execrable racist bile by claiming that it's for our sake.

Iain Mansfield @igmansfield.bsky.social · 7h

Outstanding piece by Stephen Daisley.

Ethnicity is no barrier to Britishness - it's culture and integration.

That means 'smaller cohorts and aggressive integration policies' - and tackling the institutions that 'have amplified grievance narratives and radical anti-Western ideologies'.

6 26 94

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 4h

While China was busy installing more solar capacity than the rest of the world combined, Kemi Badenoch was whining that the poor little UK just wasn’t up to meeting its existing renewable energy targets & decided to spend her time fighting culture wars instead.

electrek.co/2025/09/02/h...

H1 2025: China installs more solar than rest of the world combined

Solar surged 64% in H1 2025 with 380 GW added worldwide, led by China’s record pace, keeping 2025 on track for new highs.

electrek.co

2

Reposted by Andy King

Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 7h

Badenoch: "While Britain was redefining what a woman is, China built five nuclear reactors."

A perfect summary of conservative idiocy. Glorifying authoritarian post-communism for its efficiency while vilifying democracy for seeking nuance and respect.

It is the Right who hate their own countries.

49 140 630

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 4h

She’ll be out of a job quite soon (probably after the May local elections), so Badenoch’s looking to her own future, which probably involves milking the right-wing think tank speaking circuit. She won’t get many gigs from the likes of the Heritage Foundation et al by talking about climate change.

2

Reposted by Andy King

Carla Denyer @carladenyer.bsky.social · 6h

Badenoch's speech completely detached from reality with no mention of protecting our communities from the climate crisis - particularly in light of her party’s plans to scrap the Climate Change Act and throw away Britain's progress on preventing climate breakdown

16 77 440

Reposted by Andy King

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 7h

😂

230 790 3.9K

Reposted by Andy King

Mike D London @mikedlondon.bsky.social · 7h

Badenough 'defends the Conservatives' historic record, saying "we have steered this country through its darkest days"' [BBC]

'Into' its darkest days, surely?

2 3 3

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 4h

Akin to the surviving Oceangate management team wanting kudos for steering the company through that rough patch when their submersible imploded (exactly as the competent marine engineers who they ignored warned them it would).
www.bbc.com/news/world-u...

Titan sub CEO dismissed safety warnings as 'baseless cries', emails show

Warnings over the sub's safety were dismissed by OceanGate's CEO, emails seen by the BBC show.

www.bbc.com

1

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 5h

Not an original point, but I think that they don’t care whether these issues are salient to ordinary Brits. What the various factions of the British right do care about is attracting the attention - & money- of the fabulously well-funded transatlantic “think tanks” set up to propgate global Trumpism

1

Reposted by Andy King

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 7h

I wrote about Robert Jenrick's embrace of blood and soil nationalism for @bylinetimes.bsky.social

"The British right is adopting an increasingly extreme form of ethnic identity politics, while failing to explain what the rest of us are supposed to be worried about"

bylinetimes.com/2025/08/19/r...

But what about “ethnic change”? Yes, the proportion of Islington’s population who are (like me) white British has dropped from perhaps 85% to about 40%. This change is indeed visible. For West, it is “far beyond what any group would find tolerable.” What he doesn’t and can’t say is why exactly I’m supposed to find it intolerable. Why should I, or my neighbours, be more concerned about what race or ethnicity the kids are at the local school than the quality or financing of local services, or whether the council is successfully balancing the need for more housing with the interests of long-standing residents?

6 34 85

Andy King @2primates.bsky.social · 7h

Weirdly, the loudest evangelists for the free market & freedom of choice really don’t seem to like the free market & freedom of choice very much.

3