Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 11h

My piece without the paywall now: www.rotherhamgateway.co.uk/news/rotherh...

Rotherham Gateway is a part of the much broader solution for better rail connections across the North - Chris Read | Rotherham Gateway

www.rotherhamgateway.co.uk

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 11h

Ha - I still think it comes out on a Friday every week though, and it’s been years now.

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 12h

This is of course good advice. But the Tories choosing this of all weeks to announce their plan for people to not bother so much with English must only be seen through the English lens of irony.

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 13h

Badenoch and Co see education only as a means to a massive income in some soul destroying career.

Devoid of imagination and the power of knowledge they view life entirely through the prism of the CV.

My advice always is to study what interests you and the rest will follow

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 13h

Paul’s excellent journalism can be found in all the usual places! #BuyAPaper

whitehousepaul.bsky.social @whitehousepaul.bsky.social · 13h

Also online here, and in print down yr favourite newsagent, fresh off the van this morning! www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/politic...

Scheme to protect tenants from rogue landlords set to be decided this month

PRIVATE landlords in a Rotherham community previously covered by tough licensing restrictions could be spared formal restrictions in future – due to improvements in the area.

www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk

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Reposted by Chris Read

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

"We haven’t come all this way, Katwala says, “just for Elon Musk, a man born into an apartheid state, who’s polarised America, to come and start a civil war here by breaking the law"
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Sunder Katwala on race, patriotism and flag-waving: ‘The far right is vocal and angry because it is shrinking’

The director of British Future has spent his career trying to find common ground when it comes to race and immigration. He describes his own experience of racism – and why he’s still hopeful for the U...

www.theguardian.com

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

Level up your half term: Plug In & Play returns to Rotherham

www.thestar.co.uk/arts-and-cul...

www.thestar.co.uk

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

It just isn’t good enough. So we’ll continue to use the powers available to protect private tenants, continue to inspect proactively, and to make communities safer for everyone who lives in them.

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

Meanwhile one in ten landlords were not meeting the legal requirement of using deposit protection.

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

The numbers may have been somewhat affected by an organised write-in campaign…

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

In Eastwood, where in places as many as one in five properties are empty, just 6% of the consultation responses acknowledged this as a problem.

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

In Masbrough, 95.6% of properties were found to have hazards.

Curiously in the consultation, respondents there were less likely to report problems with the quality of housing.

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

Over the last set of designations we saw:
❌ 1 in 7 properties were found to have Category 1 hazards
❌ 155 Emergency Prohibition Notices had to be issued
❌ £40m of illegal cannabis grows were seized
❌ 15 prosecutions, with 23 cases ongoing

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

Yesterday we published plans to make five new selective licensing designations, regulating private landlords across the borough:
www.rotherham.gov.uk/news/article...

Council to consider new scheme to improve housing and tackle anti-social behaviour – Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Council to consider new scheme to improve housing and tackle anti-social behaviour

www.rotherham.gov.uk

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 1d

An argument you might think was a bit close to home for her at the moment.

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 1d

Pushed repeatedly on why she doesn't know how many civil servants would lose their jobs under her plans, Kemi Badenoch finally goes with: "If a job shouldn't exist then it isn't really a job".

LBC @lbc.co.uk · 1d

"So you're laying waste to people's jobs, but you don't know how many?"

Kemi Badenoch plans to get rid of 'quite a lot' of civil servants.

She doesn't have the exact figure, but she assures Nick that she's 'looked at it'.

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Reposted by Chris Read

The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · 1d

‘They are treated with the most appalling hostility’: the children seeking safety on our shores trib.al/sKk6LjA

‘They are treated with the most appalling hostility’: the...

The number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Britain has soared, and many are being put at risk having got here

trib.al

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Reposted by Chris Read

Alan Griffiths @alanji.bsky.social · 2d

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 2d

Apparently we’ve reached this stage now.

Cat Neilan @catneilan.bsky.social · 2d

Burnham says he never supported the 50% university "Blair target", which became "hardwired" by Michael Gove's reforms

Reposted by Chris Read

Alastair Campbell @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social · 2d

New @therestpolitics.bsky.social LEADING with defence secretary John Healey - his 28 years as an MP, his take on TBGBs, all things military, Gaza, Ukraine, and a remarkable story of how he sailed across the Atlantic to celebrate a change in the law

alastaircampbell.org/2025/10/156-...

156. Defence Secretary, John Healey: Is Britain Ready For War? - Alastair Campbell

What tactic did Donald Trump steal from Gordon Brown? What can we learn from when Labour beat UKIP in the 2012 Rotherham by-election when it comes to taking on Farage? As a New Labour alumnus, why doe...

alastaircampbell.org

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 2d

Nah, they’ll have to tell themselves a story that allows them to have been right all along. That’s just how people are.

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 2d

What a meeting it must have been 😆

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 3d

🤷‍♀️

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 3d

Excuse me while I vomit a little.

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Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 3d

Everything else aside, a song in your heart isn’t that much use in a fight.

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 3d

This Angus Young piece on what happens if you’re a child abuse survivor who doesn’t conform to the far right narrative is an eye opener.
open.substack.com/pub/aqyoung6...

Plot twists and an inconvenient truth

The 20-second Agatha Christie moment

open.substack.com

Chris Read @christophe-read.bsky.social · 3d

When we had the far right - including Tommy Robinson - shutting our town centre down week after week, this was exactly what we needed. Of course people need to be able to protest, but they also need to be able to work, run businesses and be able to go about safely. Sensible reforms are well overdue.

LBC @lbc.co.uk · 3d

“It is designed to capture cumulative disruption.”

Shabana Mahmood denies that strengthened protest laws were created with the Gaza protests specifically in mind.

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