Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 5h

aje.io/kfptet

ISRAEL, HAMAS AGREE ON GAZA CEASEFIRE DEAL

Gaza ceasefire breakthrough announced on third day of talks in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh.

aje.io

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 9h

Good rules for sports commentators: (1) don’t tell people what they’ve just seen, and (2) if you’ve nothing worthwhile to say, keep quiet.

Reposted by Graham Scambler

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 19h

Spot on from @stephenkb.bsky.social. And the other aspect of this nasty turn is the eliding of British ‘culture’ with ‘white British’, which will shock anyone who has watched TV or football, or listened to music, or read a book, or indeed breathed since 1980.

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 17h

Scientists develop first-ever blood test to diagnose chronic fatigue syndrome www.itv.com/news/2025-10...

www.itv.com

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 20h

As the days go by, the description in my writings of Britain as a ‘fractured society’ seems more and more apt.

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

A new leftist alternative? We live in hope! www.yourparty.uk @yourpartyuk.bsky.social · 20h

New book. #YourParty: The Return of #TheLeft by #OliverEagleton. Contributions by @andrewfeinstein.bsky.social L.Mohamad, A.Murray, @alexnunns.bsky.social J.Schneider & @zarahsultana.bsky.social "a blueprint for a party...for the many" @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social
www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...

Your Party

Your Party sets the agenda for Britain’s major new political outfit, which over 750,000 people have already registered to support. The book interviews key figures shaping the project: Zarah Sultana MP...

www.versobooks.com

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 22h

news.sky.com/story/its-no... No surprises here.

It's now almost impossible to work your way to riches, says report into growing wealth gap

The Resolution Foundation's analysis of the country's wealth gap comes seven weeks before the chancellor delivers what's expected to be a tax-raising budget, though the government seems reluctant to p...

news.sky.com

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 1d

Yet another lying racist!

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 1d

Thread 🧵

Two years have passed since Israel launched its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Here’s the scale of devastation by the numbers ⤵️

🔗: aje.io/r00cl2

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 1d

15 UK banks ordered to snoop on state pensioners and other benefit claimants under DWP crackdown.

No court order needed. No right of appeal.

Banks will pass cost to other customers.

Those accused of fraud won't get legal advice. The making of another Post Office type scandal.

15 banks ordered to snoop on state pensioners under DWP crackdown

The Telegraph newspaper reports banks will be required to monitor pensioners’ bank accounts and share payments data

www.birminghammail.co.uk

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · 1d

The number of households behind on at least one priority bill has been creeping up over time.

While the poorest fifth are most likely to be affected, the prevalence of bill arrears crept up the income distribution during the cost of living crisis.

Read more: buff.ly/A8msGuU

Chart showing proportion of individuals living in families behind on at least one priority household bill, by income group: UK

The chart shows that pre-pandemic bill arrears were heavily concentrated among the poorest in society: in 2019-20, 17%t of those in the poorest fifth of the income distribution were behind on at least one major household bill, almost double the rate seen among the next poorest fifth (9%), and more than four times the middle fifth (4%). Since then, however, the prevalence of bill arrears has crept up the income distribution. Among the poorest fifth, the proportion of families in arrears actually fell during the pandemic before rising in the cost of living crisis, but by 2023-24, it was only 1 percentage point above its 2019-20 level. The second-poorest fifth, by contrast, saw a much sharper rise: the proportion in bill arrears shot up by 6 percentage points between 2019-20 and 2023-24, moving close to typical rates of arrears seen in the poorest fifth.

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 1d

There’s colour in the garden yet.

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 1d

Yes!

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

No sudden rupture is now required for the far right to take power in this country. For what we're seeing is a steady normalisation of extremists by the Conservative and Labour Parties, BBC, Telegraph, Mail and others. A shift once considered unthinkable beings to look acceptable, even inevitable.🧵

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 2d

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... First paper to introduce felt and enacted stigma (open access).

Being epileptic: coming to terms with stigma

You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 2d

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A hole in our thinking: a response to Scambler’s ‘Health inequalities’

Click on the article title to read more.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 2d

First-year doctors vote to strike over jobs, BMA says www.itv.com/news/2025-10...

www.itv.com

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LSE Blogs @lseblogs.bsky.social · 2d

Citizens of a #democracy are meant to have a say over how it is governed. But authoritarian actors have grown bolder & major democracies have turned inward.

What #constitutional frameworks are resilient? @tomginsburg.bsky.social @uchicagolaw.bsky.social @tarunkhaitan.bsky.social @lselaw.bsky.social

Designing democracy – constitutional resilience in authoritarian times - LSE Review of Books

The Entrenchment of Democracy edited by Tom Ginsburg, Aziz Z. Huq, and Tarun Khaitan compiles analysis from political scientists and legal scholars on how constitutional law shapes electoral…

blogs.lse.ac.uk

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 2d

Thunberg vs Trump for Nobel Peace Prize? Hmm. Tricky one. My option: abandon a silly discredited prize.

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Mike Galsworthy @mikegalsworthy.bsky.social · 2d

"Deported" is a very interesting way to say kidnapped, imprisoned illegally, abused, then released. 🤔

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Esther @elhopkins.bsky.social · 3d

#TransparencyonCovidNow

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Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 3d

es.britsoc.co.uk/healthy-soci...

Healthy Societies in a World at Risk - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association

When I wrote ‘Healthy Societies: Policy, Practice and Obstacles’ (Policy Press 2024) for the British Sociological Association’s ‘21st Century Standpoints’ series, I had three main goals in mind. The f...

es.britsoc.co.uk

Graham Scambler @grahamscambler.bsky.social · 3d

It’s getting daily more difficult not to post political comments. So much to condemn, globally and in the UK. I was born just after WW2, in 1948, and I’ve never been so disgusted by successive UK governments as now. The latest under the duplicitous control freak Starmer is a kind of culmination.

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 3d

Labour MPs who voted against welfare cuts concerned over the govt plans to change the assessment for universal credit disability benefits.

Could trigger another mass rebellion.

Why no focus on corporate welfare - bailouts, £895bn QE, subsidies, tax abuses, no end to profiteering.

Labour faces another mass rebellion over reforms to universal credit

Welfare secretary Pat McFadden plans further reforms to the benefits system, expected to include abolishing the work capability assessment.

www.bigissue.com

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 3d

UK workers using food banks, bosses feast.

Melrose CEO, 1,112 times the average employee wage.
Tesco, 375
Person, 355
Compass, 330
Marks & Spencer, 261
British Associated Foods, 218
Sainsbury's, 195

Can't rebuild economy/society without equitable distribution of income and wealth.

The government must ensure fair distribution of income

'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

leftfootforward.org

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Reposted by Graham Scambler

Yahia Lababidi @ysl.bsky.social · 4d

#art by Sliman Mansour

Temporary escape, oil on canvas, 2018

#Palestine

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