Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 4h

It's taken over 24 hours to get this uploaded with passable captions, but here's my talk from last night @cumbriauni.bsky.social with @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social on #TheCompanyOfOwls and #DorothyWordsworth. Including some terrible slights on robins, and blackbird impressions. youtu.be/goiC3hhlsx4

Companions of Nature: from sickbed consolations to mimic hootings

YouTube video by Polly Atkin

youtu.be

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The Bookseller @thebookseller.com · 10h

ICYMI: Viking has won an eight-way bidding war for Almost the Whole Truth, the first adult novel from the bestselling and award-winning children’s author, Robin Stevens. It will be published in early 2027 👇 #BookSky

Viking wins eight-way auction for Robin Stevens' adult debut

ebx.sh

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Sue Wilkinson @suewilkinson.bsky.social · 12h

Out with the Roamers today, to see/hear the red deer rut in Martindale.
Thanks Lena for leading a great walk!

Small herd of red deer hinds on a hillside

Stag herding hinds across a hillside (red deer)

Stag and hinds on a rocky hillside (red deer)

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Barbara Sutton @barbscov.bsky.social · 11h

This ☝️ I'm CEV and a carer but I can't get a Covid jab 🙄

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

We need preventative medicine back - which includes making covid boosters available freely to ANYONE who wants one - which means masking in healthcare at the very least, which means a focus on clean air in schools, hospitals, workplaces. You can't limit long covid without limiting covid infections.

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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 12h

And the horrors continue: Cory Doctorow explains how corporate tech enshittifies apps to skirt the law.

How American Tech Cartels Use Apps to Break the Law

The death of competition spells doom for regulation. Competition is an essential component of effective regulation, for two reasons: First, competition keeps the companies within a sector from all …

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 11h

Are you a @societyofauthors.bsky.social member? Remember to vote in the management committee elections! Follow me as I go to post my ballot voting for Jen Calleja, Mohamed Tonsy & Matt Abbott.

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Supervising Animation Wizard @brendering.bsky.social · 21h

Miyazaki survived the bombing of Utsunomiya as a child. His family escaped in a car, but left a neighbor and her daughter behind to save themselves. Miyazaki regrets this, and said this has stayed with him and shaped his film making. He hopes his audience will learn the courage he lacked in 1945.

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Claire Squires @clairesquires.bsky.social · 1d

Fantastic to meet the new @sgsah.bsky.social PhD cohort today at @vadundee.bsky.social, including a talk about the Thread Memory exhibition of Palestinian embroidery by SGSAH PhD researcher Leena Nammari, who has work included

The Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine exhibition (viewed by SGSAH researchers)

Leena Nammari’s work Absence does not mean forgetting; with each clay tablet representing a destroyed Palestinian village, with a cypress tree motif

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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 20h

4000 people have signed up to sue poultry producers.

River Wye pollution prompts UK's largest environmental lawsuit

Livestock and water companies are accused of “extensive” pollution in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers.

www.bbc.com

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Dr Penny Bradshaw @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social · 15h

The next event in our free monthly Cultural Landscapes series will be a talk by Cultural Historian, Dr Sue Allan, on 'Folk song, music & dance in the Lake Counties', taking place at our Ambleside campus on Tue 4 Nov. See here for details and to book a place: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/per...

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 17h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

The #OverdiagnosisBureau: coming for you soon!

Thought you were longsighted and needed glasses to read? Turns out you just needed to adjust your attitude, not your lenses!

a painting of a woman 's face is projected on a wall behind a pair of magnifying glasses

Alt: The eyes of TJ eckleberg from Great Gatsby on a poster, changing to daisy dancing

media.tenor.com

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

And what will happen to all the disabled people who can't work - and those who could work in theory but can't under these ableist conditions - what happens to them when the Overdiagnosis Bureau takes away the trickle of support they get to live. You know. I know. They know.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

And the last thing likely to help any disabled people stay in work? Creating a toxic debate around diagnoses which enables employers to refuse accommodations even more than they already do. The govt should be helping employers to accommodate disabled workers, not trying to claim we're imaginary.

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The Unhurried Reader 📚🦊🇺🇦 @theunhurriedreader.bsky.social · 14h

#InvisibleIllnessVisibleLives

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

This #overdiagnosis discourse is dangerous and will be deadly to many - not just those with ME who have been at the mercy of quacks like Wesseley and O'Sullivan for years -
but everyone who the govt wishes to remove support from and has to find a way to claim are not actually disabled to do so.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 22h

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

We need preventative medicine back - which includes making covid boosters available freely to ANYONE who wants one - which means masking in healthcare at the very least, which means a focus on clean air in schools, hospitals, workplaces. You can't limit long covid without limiting covid infections.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

The most ridiculous irony is that if you actually want more disabled and chronically ill people in work we need MORE quicker better diagnosis --> more targeted support and treatment for people's actual conditions, not CBT or pyscho-social therapy as a generalised sticking plaster on symptoms.

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

This #overdiagnosis discourse is dangerous and will be deadly to many - not just those with ME who have been at the mercy of quacks like Wesseley and O'Sullivan for years -
but everyone who the govt wishes to remove support from and has to find a way to claim are not actually disabled to do so.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 22h

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

Controversial professor to investigate overdiagnosis of mental health and neurodivergence for Labour

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments...

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 22h

Just as we are beginning to understand the biochemical basis of this horrendous condition, the government appoints the man perhaps most responsible for the mischaracterisation of ME/CFS – Simon Wesseley - to its *overdiagnosis* commission. www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/controv...

Controversial professor to investigate overdiagnosis of mental health and neurodivergence for Labour

Get the benefits you're entitled to: help with personal independence payment (PIP), universal credit (UC), employment and support allowance (ESA),disability living allowance (DLA). Claims, assessments...

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 22h

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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So Mayer @suchmayer.bsky.social · 14h

This is what is says on the tin, but also: paying artists, creatives, producers & crew fairly & on time would deflate the false profit margins of *every* creative industry. Paying workers fairly wd "kill" industry *as an endless profit machine*. Not defending AI, saying this problem is baked in.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 14h

UK universities offered to monitor students’ social media for arms firms, emails show

Loughborough, Heriot-Watt and Glasgow corresponded with companies concerned about campus protests Universities in the UK reassured arms companies they would monitor students’ chat groups and social media accounts after firms raised concerns about campus protests, according to internal emails. One university said it would conduct “active monitoring of social media” for any evidence of plans to demonstrate against Rolls-Royce at a careers fair. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

well this sounds like great progress for everyone 🙃

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 14h

NHS could pay 25% more for medicines under plan to end row with drugmakers and Trump

UK ministers seek to end pricing row with pharma industry cited as reason for firms axing projects Ministers are preparing to raise the amount the NHS pays pharmaceutical firms for medicines by up to 25% after weeks of intensive talks with the Donald Trump administration and drugmakers. The government has drawn up fresh proposals to end a standoff with the industry over drug pricing, including changing the cost-effectiveness thresholds under which new medications are assessed for use on the NHS, according to industry sources. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 14h

Will somebody please tell universities and arts organisations that they absolutely do not need to see freelancers' UTRs? This has been a growing problem. Unless you're a subcontractor in construction, no one should see your UTR except you, HMRC and your accountant if you have one. #FreelancerLife

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Terri Windling @terriwindling.bsky.social · 16h

For those within traveling distance of #Dartmoor, this #nature & #folklore event is coming up in Chagford soon: a talk with Dartmoor historian & guide Emma Cunis, with art by Gina Hemery. Emma's people have lived on the moor for generations; her knowledge of this land is deep and wise.

Image: The poster for "Magical Myths & Moorland Legends" at Endecott House, Chagford, TQ13 8AJ, on 17 October, 7PM: an evening of Dartmoor tales and enchantment with local historian Emma Cunis, folklorist Terri Windling, and art by Gina Hemery. The evening celebrates the publication of Emma's new book, Dartmoor Myths & Legends. For tickets, visit Emma's Dartmoor's Daughter website: www.dartmoorsdaughter.com. The art on the poster is a Dartmoor landscape by Gina Hemery.

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