Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 31m

[senior spy voice] look we can buy all the guns & tinned food, attempt to stop global climate collapse, or trust the “tech will save us” guys. And they are all options. But the first one is a lot more expensive than you think, and on the third point, have you seen what those guys are actually like?

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 44m

Idk man, it probably does take a guy in fatigues or a quiet word from the spooks to really get the press’s attention on anything that isn’t trivial bullshit. Let’s see.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 54m

🤷
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

National security threatened by climate crisis, UK intelligence chiefs due to warn

Report by joint intelligence committee delayed, with concerns expressed that it may not be published

www.theguardian.com

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 58m

Simon Pegg: I’ve figured it out, the only way to save the world is…to destroy Britain
Tom Cruise: done and done. Let’s get breakfast

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2h

“Saving the world by destroying Britain” sounds like a pretty good trade tbh. Any responsible world leader would take that decision

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 4h

My secret evil plot to ‘destroy Britain’ has been unveiled by (checks notes) the same paper that endorsed Liz Truss.

If I don’t know better I’d say we’ve got them entirely rattled.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

Greens who want to save the world by destroying Britain.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2h

On the NS podcast, the team explain that they don’t know what “abolish landlords” means, then talk about other stuff for 20 minutes before revealing that they do know what it means and actually it sounds pretty good. UK journalism eh, full of surprises

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 6h

“Our companies need access to all the things right now to avoid bankruptcy, I’m afraid ‘complying with the law’ is completely out of the question. What, do you want CHINA to win? Anyway on the plus side if everything goes to plan it’ll destroy your livelihood LOL.”
bsky.app/profile/thev...

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.

buff.ly

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 7h

Yeah the message could be a lot sharper. “Hairdressers keep telling me I want to tax them”? Ok man but do they though.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 9h

Like it’s hard to mount a defence of the ferocious free press when the Express’s modern history is 1. Run as RW propaganda by a guy whose other publishing interests were mostly porn, 2. Bought by a faceless newsco who were obliged to maintain the RW propaganda bit for the sake of “media plurality”

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 10h

Reflexively clutching my pearls at a party leader using coarse language, but intrigued to see which hacks are prepared to go to bat for *the Express*.

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 19h

I'm never actually going to need to write another comment piece again am I?

The right wing shit rags are just going to keep recruiting for us.

Folks - want a better country?

Join.greenparty.org.uk

The party even more dangerous than Starmers labour - UK's answer to Putin's communists

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 21h

Making the Tories do One Nation things should be very easy: you simply convince lots of Sensible Moderates to join the Tory party and vote for you in internal elections. This is much easier than winning normal elections! It’s not even entryism because they’re already Tories! What am I missing here

Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 21h

Ok if the One Nation Tories are waiting it out thinking Cleverly will beat Jenrick without them needing to do anything, what if their shared trait with broadsheet columnists isn’t sensible moderateness, but instead dumb laziness
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Has Kemi Badenoch sounded the death knell for one nation Conservatism?

The Tory leader’s shift to the right has left its centrist wing wondering if its tradition still has a future

www.theguardian.com

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 21h

Ok if the One Nation Tories are waiting it out thinking Cleverly will beat Jenrick without them needing to do anything, what if their shared trait with broadsheet columnists isn’t sensible moderateness, but instead dumb laziness
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Has Kemi Badenoch sounded the death knell for one nation Conservatism?

The Tory leader’s shift to the right has left its centrist wing wondering if its tradition still has a future

www.theguardian.com

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

I mean, there’s the long tail of the financial crisis plus states gearing up for climate-change migration & resource scarcity, and the reason it all looks so deranged is because almost nobody talks about it in those terms

Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 2d

If politics are going crazy in several European countries one after the other, I think it is time to go past blaming the failures of individual political actors (and there are quite a few, both in the UK and France) to looking at the systemic pressures our political systems are failing to deal with.

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 2d

If you are overly focused on the admittedly increasingly batsh*t character of British politics, don‘t neglect the batsh*t character of French politics.

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Reposted by Running Dog

Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

I say this with the bluntness it requires: they will get people murdered if this continues. This is not just populism anymore either: it’s completely unhinged and a deliberate choice that does endanger lives. I am not saying this lightly at all.

Screenshot of an Express article; it says: Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border

In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

Please, my Michael Heseltine, he is very politically homeless

Michael Heseltine shows the Tories' their moral duty to fight off Farage with a rallying roar in the Observer: "The rightwing equivalents to the fascists of the 1930s are back on the march." And later, "to describe [asylum seekers] as thieves or rapists ... encourages the worst sort of prejudice." He excoriates leaving the ECHR and abandoning climate change laws. But he's still a Tory, with "no faith" in Labour's ability to rebuild the economy.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

I mean aren’t the moderate one nation pro-business pro-competence tories supposed to be voting Labour now? Was that not the whole point of the exercise
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Anyone (but them) can see the gaping vacancy in British politics where traditional conservatism used to be.
That yawning space belongs to one-nationers - moderate, socially liberal, pro-business, pro-Europe, pro-competence, aiming at low taxes and a smaller state, but only where pragmatically possible. Where are they now?
Outside active politics:

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

At least “we need all ur books to train the superintelligence that will cure disease & scarcity” had a promise in it. “We need all ur likenesses, for giggles” is the kind of flex that makes clear the first promise wasn’t real

Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 1d

I agree with every word Zelda Williams says. And this at the end from OpenAI makes me want to go full Ned Ludd. Creators can’t have a blanket opt-out on copyright infringement of their work and have to fill out a form appealing to OpenAI’s mercy every time? Fuck off into the sun

OpenAI told the Guardian that content owners can flag copyright infringement using a “copyright disputes form” but that individual artists or studios cannot have a blanket opt-out. Varun Shetty, OpenAI’s head of media partnerships, said: “We’ll work with rights holders to block characters from Sora at their request and respond to takedown requests.”

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 1d

Ok so all that stuff about how parties can only win from the centre was bullshit then? Like I think I agree, but it would be great to clarify that point
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Enjoying the implosion of the Tories? That’s understandable – but completely wrong | Zoe Williams

The world’s most successful democratic party is in a death spiral of its own making – leaving no moderate bulwark between the moderate and truly far right, writes Zoe Williams

www.theguardian.com

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

Increasingly feels like the real “luxury belief” is that you can simply cut away the safety net and still expect society to function; but that keeps getting marketed as hard-nosed pragmatism by some really smart guys, so who knows what to believe really

Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 2d

Tories offer £47bn austerity - cuts to disability benefits, PIP for mental health claimants, social housing, civil service, regulators, green economy, accompanied by anti-migrant rhetoric.

Won't hike taxes the rich or curb profiteering.

The nasty party heading for the dustbin of history.

Tories confirm plans to cut PIP for mental health claimants

The Conservatives have unveiled plans to cut spending on welfare and scrap environmental subsidies

www.mirror.co.uk

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

“My government has a relentless focus on looking after British citizens. Unless you’re kidnapped at sea, in which case good fucking luck I guess LOL”

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 2d

Keir Starmer’s spokesman asked about Israel detaining British citizens who were on the Gaza aid flotilla, while in international waters, replies that it is a “matter for the Israeli Government”

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Reposted by Running Dog

Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 2d

Also even if there is Top Secret material justifying a ban, it’s very difficult I think to argue that retired GPs and Quaker students holding up a cardboard sign are party to that information or responsible for it

Alex von Tunzelmann @alexvont.bsky.social · 2d

When Yvette Cooper was Home Sec she hinted the govt had further material justifying a ban that they couldn’t reveal because of the legal process. If so, better to get that out in daylight ASAP. Because as things stand they have clearly not made the case for proscription to the public’s satisfaction.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

Making bulky waste collections free could solve this problem overnight, but councils apparently prefer to spend their scarce resources unsuccessfully trying to find people to prosecute

Robert Wright @reporterrwright.ft.com · 3d

And the state is growing less and less effective at the same time. One relatively trivial example is fly-tipping. There are steep fines for it and rewards for those who turn in offenders. But the problem grows worse and worse in many places.

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

A surprising amount of the time, Crazy Conspiracy Theory is really just an exclusive lobby hack longread with slightly different emphasis and a different tone of voice

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 2d

You might think commentators would be reflecting on their definitions of radical socialism now that mass deportations are on the menu and their preferred Sensible Moderate solution is eating shit both at the polls and in the governing department. But you would be wrong to think that

Arguably the real dynamic is that elements of the right have hardened, embracing positions that would have been unacceptable a decade ago. By contrast, Labour's policies are clearly less radical, and less socialist, than those proposed by Jeremy Corbyn, eight or so years ago. (Corbyn's new venture is yet to demonstrate it's capable of naming itself.)

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Running Dog @runningdog.bsky.social · 3d

The thing is “Blair’s running the government” is just joining the dots from “Morgan McSweeney is running the government” and “McSweeney’s a huge Blair guy btw”, both of which you’ll hear on all the savvy mainstream politics podcasts. Is “Starmer’s lying” conspiracist now?
www.ft.com/content/c7e4...

I listened to a popular rightwing podcast this week, where the opposition to ID cards came close to conspiracy theories:
Starmer was lying; Tony Blair, or maybe his son Euan, was running the government; people would be tracked on the basis of their political opinions; and
so on.

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