Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 6h

It’s fine. Most of them are deactivated. I nearly always have more than 30 tabs open.

1

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 10h

My main memory is that the climbing ropes in my primary school were (I am sure I am right about this) 100ft high.

1 5

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 10h

which measures the extent to which the state tries to change society and culture (Denmark is very interventionist, so extreme by that measure; Britain leans the other way, as--I think--does France). But Britain is really unusual in the third sense, i.e. integration is rapid.

1 3

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 10h

I like this. Sometimes I think about multiculturalism in 3 dimensions: ideology, policy and outcomes. Britain isn't all that ideologically extreme--it's not as multiculturalist in principle as Canada, nor as anti-multiculturalist in principle as France. It's more unusual in the second dimension...

1 1

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 1d

This Briton scores 16/25. Any New Yorker who scores lower needs to leave immediately.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Are You a True New Yorker? Take Our Quiz

Think you know the landmarks, legends and lore of the city that never stops reinventing itself? See how well you measure up.

www.nytimes.com

1 1

Reposted by Joel Budd

Dylan Difford @dylandifford.bsky.social · 3d

What’s notable about Tory don’t knows is how they’re just Tories. They look like loyal Tories, think like them, and don’t like any other party. The only point of distinction is liking Badenoch a lot less, but otherwise basically 1m easily win-backable votes for the party.

Chart showing political characteristics of current Don't Know groups.

2 1 14

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 3d

Testing the pop-culture fragmentation theory

1

Reposted by Joel Budd

James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 4d

The 10 year wait for Indefinite Leave to Remain will make the UK very unattractive for high skilled workers who often have alternatives. 2019 data (excluding the NHS and universities) shows that high skilled workers on visas are heavily concentrated in multinationals who can move jobs abroad (5/x)

1 25 62

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 5d

Crazy numbers for Reform supporters from the managerial group, both on the "white Britons are discriminated against" proposition and the "men are discriminated against" proposition.

1 3

Reposted by Joel Budd

Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 7d

No more hippy punching. Starmer decides to stop punching its own voters in the face www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Labour has decided to stop punching its own voters

Sir Keir Starmer has embraced peace and love of the party’s hippy base

www.economist.com

8 11 59

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 7d

@ananyo.bsky.social will not mind confirming (if he remembers) that I once asked him how to pronounce his name, and he said: Do not try. It is impossible.

1 1

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 7d

Feeling very badly for the authors of that report. Pushed out on a Sunday, it got little attention. Even I haven’t written about it yet, and a report on new towns to me is like catnip to a cat.

2

Reposted by Joel Budd

Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 7d

Aux armes, citoyens!

On Starmer's headspinning change of strategy, and a rather Macron-like attempt to force a showdown between liberal Britain and Farageism.

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Sir Keir Starmer declares a battle for the soul of Britain

The Labour Party takes aim at Nigel Farage and Reform UK

www.economist.com

2 5 18

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 7d

Ooh, yes please! Not sure why the publisher decided not to indent the paragraphs, but it has created a book about Leicester council housing, so all is forgiven.

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 7d

Good piece. The UK line that smugglers are using bigger boats because it has become harder to get boats and engines to France seems a little unlikely. The bigger the boat, the bigger the profit margin.

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Calais police up their game but migrants board bigger boats

This migrant camp in northern France has ‘never been so busy’, despite efforts from both sides of the Channel to get a grip on small boat crossings

www.thetimes.com

1 3

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 7d

Yes, it’s a daft idea. But it did give us a spectacular city centre, recently restored to its modernist glory and now one of Britain’s finest.

Get rid of the e-bikes though.

Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 8d

“An example of the town of the future is Coventry.... Traffic and pedestrians are kept apart and the roads are planned to let traffic flow smoothly”

(Our Land in the Making, 1966)
Artist: Ronald Lampitt

Illustration of the precinct shopping centre in Coventry, with its shiny 1960s architecture, walkways and colourful flower planters

2 5

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 10d

So much of the discourse is just people expressing views that are entirely typical for their age group, and insisting they are being terribly original.

4

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 10d

I’m trying to remember when I last saw a policy announcement on a non-urgent matter being made on a Sunday.

1

Reposted by Joel Budd

The Economist @economist.com · 11d

Farewell to the road warriors

British men are driving less, and a culture is vanishing

Farewell to the road warriors

econ.st

2 6 18

Reposted by Joel Budd

The Economist @economist.com · 13d

Donald Trump is trying to silence his critics. He will fail econ.st/3Kl4pNZ

9 72 250

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 14d

Absolutely not. Britain came up with the migrants-eating-beloved-animals meme ("Swan bake", The Sun, 2003). And which country pioneered irresponsible speculation about medicines and autism? America is a re-exporter.

Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 14d

We have exported our greatest domestic product: stupidity

36 130 700

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 14d

Wrote this yesterday. To be clear: the "foolish mistake" referred to here is an immigration policy (I argue that Nigel Farage doesn't understand how Britons think about migrants). Not today's stuff about painkillers, which is also a foolish mistake.
www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Blighty newsletter: Nigel Farage makes a foolish mistake

Joel Budd, our social-affairs editor, on Reform UK’s latest intervention on immigration

www.economist.com

5

Reposted by Joel Budd

Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 16d

Labour says chill out, probs can’t happen

7 9 28

Reposted by Joel Budd

Neal Hudson @resi-analyst.bsky.social · 19d

MHCLG estimating that "196,500 net additional homes have been delivered in England between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025".
The numbers are heading in the wrong direction for the government to get anywhere near their 1.5m target and they'll be lucky to hit 1m at this rate.

2 9 16

Joel Budd @joelbudd.bsky.social · 19d

Unhappy findings here. 28% of ethnic minority Britons feel less safe than they did a year ago (14% feel more safe). Many, especially Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, see the lamppost flags and graffiti as a sign of rising far-right nationalism. OK, small sample.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 19d

Opinium asked 500 ethnic minority respondents about racism and flags for ITV Good Morning Britain

www.opinium.com/resource-cen...

2