Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

River Action @riveractionuk.bsky.social · 17d

Hay Festival Winter Weekend! 🌿💙

Our Deputy Chair, Jim Murray will be joining @nicolacutcher.bsky.social in a conversation to spotlight the crisis facing our rivers and the hope for change.

🗓 Saturday 29 November, 2.30pm
📍 Hay Castle
🔗 Find out more: www.hayfestival.com/winter-weeke...

1 2

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · 17d

Delighted to be interviewing the actor and activist James Murray about the state of our rivers. Join us on Saturday 29 November at 2.30pm in Hay Castle!

Hay Festival @hayfestival.bsky.social · 17d

Let’s go!!!

Your Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2025 programme is here. Members enjoy priority booking until Friday.

Join us! www.hayfestival.com/winter-weeke...

1 4

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · Sep 2

Congratulations to the newly elected Leader of the Green Party of England & Wales, @zackpolanski.bsky.social

Leadership elections results

New Leader

Zack Polanski

Photo of Zack Polanski

REAL HOPE. REAL CHANGE.

Green Party

Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of The Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London SE16 9GQ

140 700 3K

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Aug 27

Have you seen it like this before?

1

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Aug 26

This is the riverbed of the River Dore in Herefordshire today. What a drought. There were still crayfish under the rocks. Eerie scene.

2 6 10

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

Dr Emma Garnett @emmagarnett.bsky.social · Aug 24

It is so so SO refreshing to hear a UK farmer say simply we need to eat less meat.

This whole interview with Guy Watson-Singh is excellent.
I also completely agree we need to spend more on food and much much less on rent.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Just eat less meat’
Singh-Watson may believe he has softened. But for many years he has been an iconoclastic voice among farmers. Take meat: most British farmers reject calls to eat less red meat to reduce damage to the environment and people’s health. Singh-Watson says eat good meat but less often: just 5% of what Riverford sells is meat. He had shared an organic chicken with eight people the previous evening: “I probably won’t buy another one for a month.”
“I spent a lot of time looking at the evidence on [the impact of meat] and it was overwhelming,” he says. “Ten billion people can’t live sustainably on this planet if we are eating anything like the level of meat consumed in a western diet. The only answer is we just eat less meat, dairy and eggs.”

5 52 150

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Aug 17

Brilliant to see The Observer devote its front page to examining the government’s treatment of Palestine Action. Excellent coverage inside.

Is Yvette Cooper becoming increasingly desperate by resorting to smears?

1 1 6

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 3

I saw many atrocities as a senior aid official in Gaza. Now Israeli authorities are trying to silence us

Devastated hospitals, mass graves, bodies eaten by dogs in the street. After speaking out, I discovered my visa will not be renewed, says Jonathan Whittall of UN OCHA

www.theguardian.com

32 210 350

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 31

I didn’t have Hyperemesis Gravidarum, but I did have a debilitating nausea with regular vomiting for months.

Whilst we need better medical understanding and treatment, we also need to change the language. It’s NOT ‘morning sickness’. I wrote this for Grazia:

graziadaily.co.uk/life/parenti...

‘The Term “Morning Sickness” Trivialises The True Hell Of Pregnancy Sickness’

The founder of the ‘Not Morning Sickness’ campaign explains why the term makes it sound like a minor inconvenience, when for some women it can be anything but

graziadaily.co.uk

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 31

Brilliant long-read from @abistephenson.bsky.social in the Guardian about extreme pregnancy sickness - how much suffering it causes and why it’s so weirdly neglected.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Don’t call it morning sickness: ‘At times in my pregnancy I wondered if this was death coming for me’

The long read: The Victorians called it ‘pernicious vomiting of pregnancy’, but modern medicine has offered no end to the torture of hyperemesis gravidarum – until now

www.theguardian.com

2 1 1

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 17

This is a refreshingly frank take on Welsh farming from politician Lee Waters. Recommend reading…

amanwy.blogspot.com/2025/07/we-n...

We need to re-set the debate on farming

Speech in the Senedd on 16th July 2025 Let me start with the obvious: Farming is hard. I am proud to come from a family of farmers, and I un...

amanwy.blogspot.com

1 3 9

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

Friends of the River Wye @friendsriverwye.bsky.social · Jul 16

Our latest newsletter dropped this morning with a bumper round-up of news affecting the Wye this month. Read all about bathing water quality, toxic sewage sludge, legal victories and lots of ways you can help defend our rivers…

mailchi.mp/3d36ecfd57b1...

Wye News: Bathing water quality, toxic sewage sludge, farming schemes...

mailchi.mp

4 1

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 13

Just found an old script from Dumbshow Theatre for ‘Electric Dreams’ which was based on The Shock Doctrine.

The opening line feels especially pertinent today:

“We’re not terrorists, we’re librarians”.

1 1

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 13

Screenwriter Ronan Bennett rousingly condemns the government’s position on Palestine Action. What a last line!

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/fre...

Five words about Palestine Action could get me arrested

Support for the protest group was legal last week—but now it is ‘terrorism’. This is an assault on our liberty

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

1

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 13

Proscribing Palestine Action is a huge over-reach by the state.

People of conscience holding placards have been arrested for ‘terrorism’ offences.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

More than 70 arrests at Palestine Action ban protests

The protests - and the arrests - come after the pro-Palestinian group was proscribed as a terror organisation.

www.bbc.co.uk

4

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

Owen Jones @owenjones.bsky.social · Jul 5

This 83-year-old priest has just been arrested for holding a sign which read:

“I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

According to Starmer’s new law, this puts her in the same category as an ISIS or Al-Qaeda terrorist, with a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

170 1.8K 3.9K

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jul 6

How on earth has Keir Starmer, the human rights lawyer who defended peaceful non-violent direct action, ended up proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group?

Make it make sense.

32 28 180

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

River Action @riveractionuk.bsky.social · Jul 3

🚨 Take part in one of the most important public events since the March for Clean Water!

Join us at the UK River Summit 2025 and demand answers from those in power. This is your chance to challenge the status quo and push for urgent water reform.

🎟️ Book your place now - www.theriversummit.com

Celebrating Rivers

www.theriversummit.com

1 2 2

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

River Action @riveractionuk.bsky.social · Jul 3

And a Agriculture and food panel including 🍗:

⭐ Amy Fairman - Head of Campaigns at River Action
⭐ Ruth Westcott - Campaign Coordnator at Sustain
⭐ @nicolacutcher.bsky.social - Journalist and founding member of Friends of the Wye
⭐ Martin Lines - Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network UK

1 2

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Jul 2

I support Palestine Action.
I hate all forms of violence.
I wish no harm on anyone.
I just want a kinder, fairer, greener world.
Apparently this makes me a terrorist.
But I am the opposite of a terrorist.

85 590 2.6K

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

Friends of the River Wye @friendsriverwye.bsky.social · Jul 2

Join us this Saturday in Talgarth at the BMC ‘Beth Nawr?’ Festival.

Our @nicolacutcher.bsky.social will be running a workshop from 5pm to 7pm on ‘How to Protect Rivers’ with legendary river guardian @paulpowlesland.bsky.social

Tickets here:

blackmountainscollege.uk/events/beth-...

Beth Nawr? (Now What?) Festival | Black Mountains College

We invite you to join us for a micro-festival nestled in the hills of Bannau Brycheiniog to unleash your capacity to create a future in which human and more-than-human societies thrive. Tickets only £...

blackmountainscollege.uk

3 2

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · Jun 30

In 2001, as the Terrorism Act 2000 came into force, I warned that it could be used to ban non-violent protest groups and imprison those who support them. Government spokespeople and cheerleaders told me I was talking rubbish.
And here we are.
#PalestineAction
www.monbiot.com/2001/02/22/w...

Wrong T-shirt son? You’re nicked

The act which came into force this week could make terrorists of us all

www.monbiot.com

16 230 650

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jun 28

Nice! I’m interviewing Jay the week before on 9th July in Hay at North Books!

Nicola Cutcher @nicolacutcher.bsky.social · Jun 27

Thank you for writing this Ellie.

Could our Navy land on the beach with aid for Gaza?

When children are starving and civilians are being murdered trying to get food - why are we tolerating it?

We need political and military action to save lives & prevent genocide.

1 3

Reposted by Nicola Cutcher

Ellie Chowns MP @elliechowns.bsky.social · Jun 27

"Ministers repeatedly dodge the simple question: has the UK government conducted a risk assessment of genocide in Gaza? If not, why not? And if so, what does it say?"

Read my op-ed on the UK's duty to prevent genocide in Gaza here: parliamentnews.co.uk/we-cannot-wa...

An image previewing Ellie's op-ed. The title of the piece is in bold text across the top of the image, reading "We cannot wait for the courts – The UK has a legal obligation to prevent genocide". The first paragraph of the op-ed is underneath, reading "I have watched in horror as Gaza has been reduced to a landscape of rubble and despair: children dying of hunger, families drinking brackish water, hospitals rendered inoperative by deliberate bombardment and blackouts, civilians shot dead while queueing for food. In the face of this unfolding catastrophe, our government’s response has fallen woefully short of the obligations it voluntarily accepted when it ratified the 1948 Genocide Convention. Article 1 of that Convention imposes on the United Kingdom not only the duty to punish genocide after the event, but critically—and urgently—the duty to prevent it. By waiting for a court’s formal verdict before acting, we risk complicity in the worst of crimes."

2 45 96