Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Josh Spero

James Ball @jamesrball.com · 7h

Here's a genuine risk to free speech in UK universities – from overseas states – that the government is doing little to prevent. @indexoncensorship.org have highlited the case of Roshaan Khattak, a Pakistani human rights defender and film maker:

www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/10/inde...

Index joins call for robust protections against transnational repression in the higher education sector - Index on Censorship

Film maker and postgrad researcher Roshaan Khattak was targeted after researching enforced disappearances in Balochistan

www.indexoncensorship.org

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 8h

YEF!

Two hoardings with words on placed next to each other to make nonsense: SAUARE
IS TAPTER
IN A AND
YEF
REIT

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 8h

Are you sure it’s gin and not illegal jacuzzi water?

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Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 8h

Might sell it. Any offers? All proceeds to go to an illegal spa in my back garden

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Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · 8h

"El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, who attended the meeting, said Chicago-born Pope Leo was visibly moved after being handed dozens of letters from immigrants describing their fears of arrest and separation under Trump’s enforcement policies..."

www.thedailybeast.com/pope-leo-ram...

Pope Leo Ramps Up His Trump Feud With Order to American Bishops

The Chicago-born pontiff has sharpened his criticism of the Trump administration and reportedly decided to take action.

www.thedailybeast.com

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Pablo Manríquez @pabloreports.bsky.social · 16h

SCOOP: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class

Internal emails show tech giant used anti-hate-speech rules meant for minorities to block an app documenting immigration enforcement.
migrantinsider.com/p/scoop-appl...

SCOOP: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class

Internal emails show tech giant used anti-hate-speech rules meant for minorities to block an app documenting immigration enforcement.

migrantinsider.com

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Reposted by Josh Spero

Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 1d

fellas is it gay to live in a city

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 14h

How much are they? There's a Hackney arbitrage going on: they're £3.20 in Dalston, 50p more expensive than down the road in the Mare Street store.

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 14h

Exceptional commenting

LondonLad: Yes! Chocolate prices have gone a bit wild. And for addicts like me a fix has become expensive. I find the 70-85% cocoa ranges the most palatable and am amazed how many countries produce fine cocoa. Coffee and chocolate are my only two remaining pleasures in life. Give me a break!
gks42: give you a kitkat?

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 14h

Good news for Dalston's largest consumer of M&S's gigantic chocolate buttons (the correct size) on.ft.com/46F8Njy

Cocoa price tumbles to 20-month low as record rally ends

[FREE TO READ] Drop in demand and expectations of increased supply weigh on market

on.ft.com

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Professor Peter Matthews @urbaneprofessor.bsky.social · 14h

I was just in a Teams meeting with a colleague who'd just got a new standing desk and kept accidentally hitting the controls to change its height, and when she did she'd slowly vanish from the screen like she was in a lift and it really made my day 🤣🤣🤣

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Jim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 17h

Without one I just couldn’t balance work/kids and would have given in and bought a car. The biggest challenge for mass take-up is everyone’s buying them through regressive Cycle to Work tax dodge. So a £5k bike costs 12 x £241 monthly payments if you’re high earner or 12 x £416 if you’re in poverty.

Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 1d

Electric cargo bikes can replace many everyday car trips for the average family and “reshape suburban family mobility”, say Oxford University researchers. 49 British households were loaned e-cargo bikes for school runs, shopping trips, family outings and other day-to-day use.

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Chris Giles @chrisgiles.ft.com · 20h

There goes my long held view that cash government receipts were accurate because you just had to add some columns in a bank account

on.ft.com/3J0Y6yE ONS revises down government borrowing estimates after data error

ONS revises down UK government borrowing by £2bn after VAT error

[FREE TO READ] Office for National Statistics reduces estimate for current fiscal year just weeks before Rachel Reeves’ Budget

on.ft.com

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Le Monde in English @english.lemonde.fr · 1d

In Germany, Turkish community in the Ruhr tempted by far-right AfD party

While Turkish immigrants in the Marxloh neighborhood of Duisburg had until now mostly voted for the Social Democratic party (SPD, center-left), they have gradually been drawn to the anti-immigration and conservative rhetoric of the far-right.

www.lemonde.fr

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 19h

I'm not sure a word like "like" can cover the range of feelings -- boredom, excitement, amusement

Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 19h

“I enjoy taking opportunities to be challenged. Save the retrospectives for some rainy afternoon." Lovely Nairy Baghramian on.ft.com/46VlLIW

Inside Nairy Baghramian’s sculptural playground

The artist fled Iran for Berlin to find freedom. She explains why her work is the celebration of ‘a life unbound’

on.ft.com

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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 20h

Tomorrow: "More grammar schools!" "Expand Right to Buy!"

Next week: "Bring back National Service!"

On and on, forever.

inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Badenoch: Curb students taking 'rip-off' degrees such as English

The performing arts, sociology and anthropology are among the subjects the Conservatives would like to cut

inews.co.uk

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 21h

George Santos is not in prison "for lying about his past during a campaign," because that is not a crime. He is in prison for stealing money, committing fraud, and a litany of similar related offenses.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump posts that Sen. Blumenthal “should be allowed to speak no longer”

Sanctimonious Richard “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal, perhaps the biggest “joke” in the United States Senate, is at it again! “Dick” lied until the midpoint of his political career, convincing everyone, in particular the Fake News Media, that he was a great “War Hero” who lived on the precipice of death in the jungles of Vietnam. He would talk about his life in the military in almost every speech, in particular the death defying dangers he faced in his many years “fight for freedom” while in Vietnam. He stated that “the battles were violent and long, but there was no going back” - And then it happened, Blumenthal was found out to be a FRAUD. The soldiers in his so-called “platoon” came forward and said that they had no idea who this guy was. He was revealed, broke down and admitted, tears flowing from his eyes, that he LIED, a Whopper, one that lasted 20 year. This guy shouldn’t even be in the U.S. Senate. It should be investigated, and Justice should be sought. Right now there is a Congressman sitting in prison for lying about his past during a campaign. Well, those lies were nothing compared to those of Richard “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal, perhaps the greatest phony in the history of the United States Senate. He should be allowed to speak no longer!

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Morten Morland @mortenmorland.bsky.social · 1d

Wednesday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...

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charlotte @tambourine.bsky.social · 1d

listening to a podcast that’s put out an episode with an unedited ad read in the middle. like, multiple takes, host saying “nope”, lots of dead air, laughing at the lines she has to say. a modern horror story lol

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

What was that Sooty? The children can't hear you!

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The Onion @theonion.com · 1d

U.S. Military Carries Out Strike On Scuffy The Tugboat https://theonion.com/u-s-military-carries-out-strike-on-scuffy-the-tugboat/

U.S. Military Carries Out Strike On Scuffy The Tugboat
Pentagon Claims Little Red Vessel Working With ‘Narco-Terrorists’

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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 1d

Spying case collapsed after UK refused to label China a ‘threat’, prosecutors say on.ft.com/4mPWLsf

Spying case collapsed after UK refused to label China a ‘threat’, prosecutors say

Crown Prosecution Service had charged two Britons with espionage offences

on.ft.com

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 1d

A stunning head of Medusa, the mythical creature whose sight turns everyone to stone. Medusa’s head was a popular motif used to ward off any evil.
The #Roman bronze fitting was found in Xanten, dating 1st century AD

On display at Römermuseum Xanten.

📷 me

🏺#archaeology

A detailed bronze sculpture of a face with wide eyes and flowing, wavy hair radiating outward resembling snakes, displayed in a glass case under museum lighting.

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Andrew Sparrow @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social · 1d

'Not words that I would have used' - Mel Stride refuses to back Jenrick's no white faces comment about Handsworth - www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Jenrick accused of racism over ‘no white faces’ comments and his attack on judges labelled ‘serious mistake’ – UK politics live

Labour mayor of the West Midlands says Jenrick’s comments about Handsworth were racist

www.theguardian.com

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