Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 14h

If you want to read an actually good piece about integration in the United Kingdom, try @samfr.bsky.social:

The Truth About Integration

I have been challenged by readers to write something less depressing about the state of the country.

samf.substack.com

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Sexy CHOAM Nomsky costume @samthielman.com · 13h

imagine being this guy and finding a really chubby sheep on a warm afternoon

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 17h

Highland cattle are famous for their ability to "disco nap". Normally these brief, efficient sleeps will last between three and twenty minutes, deploying a variety of objects as pillows, including moorland boulders, cars or any particularly large dog or sheep who happens to be nearby.

A highland cow having a little nap on a boulder on Dartmoor (ok, it was actually scratching its head)

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Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 16h

This is devastating but hard to think of more important journalism. 18,457 children have been killed in Gaza (many more not accounted for). Here, The Guardian prints their names and beautiful faces and tells us what they were like before Israel stole their lives. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead

Every name on a list compiled by health authorities in Gaza of the child victims of Israel’s offensive

www.theguardian.com

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El Espectro 👻 🎃 @telescoper.bsky.social · 17h

Solidarity with colleagues at Imperial College who are on strike this week.

University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 1d

Imperial staff have had enough.

A 2% below-inflation offer from one of the wealthiest universities in the UK is an insult to every worker who keeps it running.

Today we strike for fair pay, decent conditions, and respect ✊🔥

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fravery.bsky.social @fravery.bsky.social · 1d

Scott Prior
(American painter b. 1949)
Summer Window, 2022
Oil on panel

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European News @eunews.social · 19h

Dutch court rejects X’s bid to silence data privacy claimant

A Dutch court has rejected a request by Elon Musk’s platform X to impose a gag order on a local tech expert who is suing the company over access to his personal data.

(https://archive.ph/JnfBc)

Dutch court rejects X’s bid to silence data privacy claimant

A Dutch court has rejected a request by Elon Musk’s platform X to impose a gag order on a local tech expert who is suing the company over access to his personal data. (https://archive.ph/JnfBc)

euobserver.com

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Jonathan Pettitt @genotripe.bsky.social · 19h

This is progress, but signs won’t ensure compliance. The roads need to be designed to make travelling faster than 20 mph uncomfortable for drivers

20's Plenty for Us @20splenty.bsky.social · 19h

It's good to see 20mph being the norm across the whole city. Yet another place that is saying #20splenty where people are.

Council chiefs name next Manchester area where speed limits will be cut to 20mph

It's part of a wider drive to reduce deaths and injuries on Manchester's roads

bit.ly

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20's Plenty for Us @20splenty.bsky.social · 19h

It's good to see 20mph being the norm across the whole city. Yet another place that is saying #20splenty where people are.

Council chiefs name next Manchester area where speed limits will be cut to 20mph

It's part of a wider drive to reduce deaths and injuries on Manchester's roads

bit.ly

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Joshua G. Schraiber @jgschraiber.bsky.social · 2d

Just an absolutely horrific self own, depleting the US of amazing students from all over the world who contributed to what used to make America great: its diversity, its openness, and its leadership in education.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d

The number of international students arriving in the U.S. in August fell by 19% this year compared with last year — the largest decline on record outside of the pandemic.

Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August

The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.

nyti.ms

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Bethany Brookshire @beebrookshire.bsky.social · 1d

"You have been hired as a sop to a Trump administration that is actively hostile to the actual free press, and you will be made to oversee wave after wave of layoffs until you quit"

@lopatto.bsky.social If this doesn't keep Bari Weiss up at night, nothing will. www.theverge.com/business/793...

Memo to Bari Weiss Re: CBS News: You’re doomed

Bari Weiss has sold her company, The Free Press, to manage the decline of broadcast news at CBS. How many ways can it go wrong?

www.theverge.com

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"spooky sukkot" daniel s. @self.agency · Oct 7

when israel mass murders palestinian civilians it’s collateral damage. when palestinians mass murder israelis, it’s terrorism. only one side’s civilians are civilians in our discourse. palestinians are all militants or would-be militants and off-duty israeli reservists are civilians.

Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · Oct 7

Saw Israel bomb a residential building called Palestine Tower in Gaza City live on Al-Jazeera over the shoulder of their on-air correspondent.

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Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 2d

A small primer on the #NobelPrize awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi today. This prize was for combining two separate fields of immunology research - genetic research on IPEX and immunology research of regulatory T cells (#Tregs), with enormous impact on biology/medicine

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Jaws Stone - indefinite hiatus @jaws-stone.bsky.social · 2d

If you, like me, are highly suicidal and lack any meaning and hope right now, may I deeply recommend watching this documentary about Ennio Morricone:
youtu.be/gkrNxpuT_z4?...

If you, as a creative, needed a sign now more than ever that what we do is important and fundamentally human.

Ennio: The Maestro

YouTube video by Catapang, Amos Abraham C.

youtu.be

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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 1d

They're going to tax foreign languages, aren't they?

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

Katie Lam says there are some schools in London "where 3/4 pupils don't speak English to the standard needed to for education"

Are there? London school results are outperforming everywhere else, partly + migration/diversity effects

[CPS livestreaming this if want to check the quote.It was 915am]

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The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 2d

New study finds both MPs and the public underestimate how quickly global emissions must be cut.

We surveyed British MPs – most don’t know how urgent climate action is

New study finds both MPs and the public underestimate how quickly global emissions must be cut.

tcnv.link

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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 2d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 2d

The new Aussie critique of the Cass Review does not pull its punches about its failures, & makes the point that "gender-critical beliefs" should be declared.

Since transphobes have made so much of having these protected by law, they should be required to declare them.

archive.is/AqUGz#select...

Evidence‐based medicine has three pillars: (i) appraisal of research evidence, (ii) real‐world clinical expertise, and (iii) individual patient values and preferences. The Review's failures across all three are evident.
Clinician and researcher self‐awareness of personal values is essential for evidence‐based medicine practice. Non‐financial conflicts of interest should be disclosed; for example, religious, cultural, and so‐called “gender‐critical” beliefs. The Review acknowledges no such considerations, and does not disclose the positionality of authors.

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 2d

It breaks my mind that two British political parties have seen scenes like this and decided to try and replicate it in Britain. Thuggary, lawlessness, state brutality. Farage and Badenoch decided they liked the look of it.

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 3d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

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Jonathan Pettitt @genotripe.bsky.social · 2d

This is a hugely important piece for anyone who wants to understand why the Cass review is ideologically driven and should not be used to develop healthcare policy

Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

If people are looking for a good entryway to this whole debate, to the extent that I had any doubts about what was happening with Cass etc, this guy's intervention settled them: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown

The godfather of evidence-based medicine on rejecting anti-trans "misuse" of his work.

www.motherjones.com

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Rob Mullins @robertmullins.bsky.social · 2d

If I were an investigative journalist in the UK (are there any left?), I would be having a good look at the extent to which NHS leadership seems to have allied itself with a fringe medical movement that more or less condones conversion therapy. qnews.com.au/australian-r...

Australian report says UK’s Cass review should not guide transgender healthcare

QNews LGBTIQA+ News

qnews.com.au

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Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 5d

Britain’s meritocracy. Heaven forfend we should ever try to mitigate these effects…

Patrick Dunleavy @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 6d

Elite school students end up in better universities than expected, based on their grades blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

Elite school students end up in better universities than expected, based on their grades | British Politics and Policy at LSE

Students of private and grammar schools are over-represented in elite universities, but only part of that is explained by better grades.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 3d

1937 Germany would like its propaganda machine back

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dag @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 3d

The government want more coercive powers for the state against protests, and the main opposition party wants more coercive powers for the state against migrants.

Our political-media culture continues in a loop where the response to every perceived problem is yet more coercive powers for the state.

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · Jan 3

The inevitable March of Progress is a myth. What evolutionary thinking teaches us is that Homo sapiens is but one fragile branch on a massive ancient tree of life, or (in light of evidence that we co-existed & interbred with other hominins) just one remaining channel from a braided river. 9/9 🧪

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 5d

The Arab Spring is a relevant point to pick, because it’s when all the lads joyfully hailed social media as an excellent tool* for people to organise against cruel, unjust regimes that rule by force, propaganda, patronage and inertia. And then they stopped, and had a think about what that meant.

Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com • 39m
Counter-opinion: it's a f***ing tragedy that corporate greed has broken the medium which facilitated Tahrir Square etc and is now doing its best to break the rest of the Internet.
Financial Times • @financi... • 43m
Opinion: It would be a hugely welcome development to discover that we have not merely reached social media saturation point, but that the experience has been degraded to such an extent that it has shocked people out of their stupor.

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