Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Andrew

Campaign for Freedom of Information @campaignfoi.bsky.social · 2h

📢FOI in the News!

A record number of people in the UK died while homeless in 2024.

A total of 1,611 homeless people died in the UK during the year, a 9% increase over 2023. The majority of deaths resulted from suicide or street drugs.

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

UK deaths of 1,611 homeless people in 2024 is record high

Most are linked to suicide or drugs, with spice and nitazenes increasingly deadly.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 19h

I know invoking Latin terms can be a bit esoteric, and "dementia" is fine and accurate, but I think there's real merit in zeroing in on the relevant legal concept: he is non compos mentis. Not just that he's a batty old man, he is debilitated in a concrete legal sense, fit for conservatorship.

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 1d

Ruben Gallego on whether Trump is talking to Democrats:

“Look, the President clearly has some kind of dementia, so I think there's a he's probably talking to himself, or think he's talking to a Democrat, but I sincerely doubt that that's actually he's actually physically talking to a Democrat.“

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Reuters @reuters.com · 20h

India to roll out biometric authentication for instant digital payments from Wednesday, sources say reut.rs/4q4WOn6

India to roll out biometric authentication for instant digital payments from Wednesday, sources say

India will allow users to approve payments made through popular domestic payments network, the Unified Payments Interface, using facial recognition and fingerprints starting October 8, three sources directly familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

reut.rs

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Chris Kirk @chriskirk51.bsky.social · 1d

BDS works ✊🇵🇸
www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/israe...

Israel-Premier Tech to be renamed and rebanded, 'moving away from its current Israeli identity', as co-owner Sylvan Adams steps back

Israeli team was the subject of protests at the Vuelta a España and beyond

www.cyclingweekly.com

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Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely infuriating, I’m sure.

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Robert Hernandez @webjournalist.bsky.social · 1d

Journalists of color watching more mediocre “journalists” failing up into leadership positions they are woefully unqualified to handle.

a woman is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee and a tea bag .

ALT: a woman is sitting at a table with a cup of coffee and a tea bag .

media.tenor.com

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Campaign for Freedom of Information @campaignfoi.bsky.social · 1d

To mark October as Black History Month, we wanted to share a handful of FOI disclosures which illustrate the experiences of Britain's Black communities.

The first – James Coombs vs the Home Office and ICO on the origins of the Windrush Scandal.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024...

Home Office forced to release critical report on origins of Windrush scandal

Government had objected to report’s publication as it may ‘damage trust of affected communities’

www.theguardian.com

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Declassified UK @declassifieduk.org · 1d

🚨Leaked Israeli documents reveal the British army’s 77th brigade held secret exchanges with the IDF.

The 77th brigade specialises in psychological operations including online propaganda activities.
www.declassifieduk.org/uk-psycholog...

UK psychological warfare unit collaborated with Israeli army

Exclusive: The British army’s 77th brigade held secret exchanges with the IDF, leaked files reveal.

www.declassifieduk.org

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Patrick Dunleavy @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 2d

Here is a “charity” blatantly engaged in political propaganda that it cannot legally do.
But the useless Charity Commission of course does absolutely nothing because of a vestigial bit of legal camouflage.
novaramedia.com/2025/07/28/m...

Meet the Pro-Israel Lawyers Hounding the NHS | Novara Media

It’s had children’s artwork removed from hospitals, doctors banned from wearing watermelon pins and claimed craft pens evoked 7 October. Are UK Lawyers for Israel really the cartoon villains they appe...

novaramedia.com

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Patrick Dunleavy @patrickdunleavy.bsky.social · 2d

It’s had children’s artwork removed from hospitals, doctors banned from wearing watermelon pins and claimed craft pens evoked 7 October. novaramedia.com/2025/07/28/m...

Meet the Pro-Israel Lawyers Hounding the NHS | Novara Media

It’s had children’s artwork removed from hospitals, doctors banned from wearing watermelon pins and claimed craft pens evoked 7 October. Are UK Lawyers for Israel really the cartoon villains they appe...

novaramedia.com

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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism @tbij.bsky.social · 1d

London libel firm Carter-Ruck tried to “silence” a police investigator who had been trying to protect the public from a $4bn crypto scam, new court documents reveal

City lawyers tried to ‘silence’ police fraud investigator

Carter-Ruck launched campaign against London detective on behalf of $4bn crypto scam, according to court documents

www.thebureauinvestigates.com

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Dr Dean Knight @drdeanknight.bsky.social · 1d

Called by the Clerk’s office late morning today to see if I still wanted to speak to my written submission on the Local Govt Amendment Bill. Sure, I said. But the committee is only slated to be hearing oral evidence tomorrow between 9:50am and 1:40pm…

www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/lis...

Radware Page

Loader page.

www3.parliament.nz

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Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 1d

#nzpol Sometimes a policy is so stupid it makes you question the very fabric of reality. Decisions so fabulously, almost wantonly dumb, you wonder if we actually live in a simulation. Welcome to the world of removing Jobseeker Support for 18 & 19-year-olds. craigrenney.substack.com/p/a-small-wr...

A small wrinkle in the Jobseeker policy

The government’s recent changes to benefits feel like this: the house is on fire, and this policy is them turning off the smoke alarm and saying it’s fixed

craigrenney.substack.com

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Jack Jones @storiesfromjack.bsky.social · 2d

Working on research of direct relevance to this - police responses to JSO slow marches both sides of the Regs Suella Braverman introduced in 2023 that unlawfully brought in a similar power.

It would be the largest expansion in general assembly/procession regulation since 1986.

#protest #law

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 3d

NEW: Home Office announces planned new anti-protest powers, mainly aimed at pro-Gaza protests like those for Palestine Action. Police will be able to consider the "cumulative impact" of repeated protests and potentially order that they be relocated.

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v e l o c i t y @velocity69.bsky.social · 2d

Greta Thunberg has arrived in Greece following her deportation from Israel,
after the Gaza aid flotilla was intercepted
#GlobalSumudFlotilla
She said:
“I could talk for a very,very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment.
Trust me, but that is not the story.”
#Athens airport

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Kirsty Johnston @kirstyjohnston.bsky.social · 1d

"Data shows in almost all parts of the country, there were more people unemployed than there were jobs available."

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

How many job hunters are there for each job ad?

Finding work may not be as easy as "getting off the PlayStation", data on jobs and job hunters shows.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Terry Baucher @trabaq.bsky.social · 2d

Spotted this gem in a footnote on page 62 of Treasury's He Tirohanga Mokopuna

"Between 25% and 30% of everyone born in New Zealand is living overseas by age 30, and emigration rates are even higher among those with tertiary qualifications"

Radical idea here - how about stop shitting on our young?

Footnote from Treasury's 2025 He Tirohanga Mokopuna

"See Hughes, (2025a) and Hughes & Crichton (2025). Between 25% and 30% of everyone born in New Zealand is living overseas by age 30, and emigration rates are even higher among those with tertiary qualifications. Student loan holders living overseas commonly cease repayments, and these loans are sometimes written off as a result. Ministry of Education (2023)."

He Tirohanga Mokopuna is Treasury's long-term fiscal statement and it's full of woe about the funding of NZ Super. Not enough about maybe trying a LOT harder to keep people here.

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Graham Smith @cyberleagle.bsky.social · 2d

Quite amusing that the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 is listed in the Appendix to the Wolfson Report as a domestic statute covering human rights ground. It wouldn't exist at all but for a series of Strasbourg judgments and the ECHR.

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Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 2d

If you thought Luxon’s response to NZ citizens being kidnapped by Israeli forces in international waters was bad, Starmer is worse.

BeardedGenius @beardedgenius.bsky.social · 2d

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Idiot/Savant @norightturnnz.bsky.social · 2d

Buried in here: ACT is shrinking DIA's online violent extremism team, which is already too small, because ACT supports far-right violent extremism www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hawkes-ba...