Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · 4d

Wonderful to be part of the @vox-pol.bsky.social Next Gen Conference in Prague last week - huge thanks to Johnathan Collins for all the organising - it was great to catch up with with colleagues, meet new ones and present my work on ecofascism.

#AcademicChatter
#PhDlife

Sara, a slim, white woman with long light brown hair, stands behind a desk at the front of a lecture theatre. The slide behind her reads "The Whys, Ecofascism and the Overton Window, Normalisation / securitisation, Social media and democracy, Policy impacts - such as ecobordering, Policy propositions - online moderation / community cohesion budgets" with a quote at the bottom which reads "Playing with fear is like playing with fire. You cannot be sure exactly where it will spread", Betsy Hartmann, 2018. The backs of audience members heads are also visible.

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · 14d

Continuing the solid academic tradition of last minute slide updates in the airport en route to a conference

#AcademicSky
#AcademicChatter
#PhDlife

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · 16d

Oh good, it's lucky there isn't data to suggest it could be bad for critical thinking or that ChatGPT users “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.”

arxiv.org/pdf/2506.088...

Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · 18d

The People's Front of Judea called - they wanted to remind you they were satire, not role models

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

‘Good at self-sabotage’: people react to Corbyn and Sultana row in new leftwing party

Public spat over membership portal is a huge turn-off for those sympathetic to ideals of nascent party

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Sara Hill

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 18d

Power is the rock on which truth founders. The mainstream media, with a few exceptions, is a single-issue lobby group, whose purpose is to assert the rights of capital.
Here's what I've learnt about the industry in 40 years in journalism.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I have now been a journalist for 40 years. The forces ranged against my profession have never been so powerful | George Monbiot

Once, I believed that humanity’s problem was an information deficit. Now, I know you can’t speak truth to power if power controls your words, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · 19d

"Ireland is a great example... As the country’s data centre expansion sucked the grid dry, operators are scrambling to hook directly into dirty gas networks, desperate for tonnes of fossil methane to fuel their insatiable hunger. Amazon’s lobbying disclosures in Ireland are endless"

Crikey indeed.

Tim Hollo @timhollo.bsky.social · 19d

AI is literally killing us.

@ketanjoshi.co has the scoop, of course. He's found the fine print on why the Climate Council revised down its analysis of what climate targets are "achievable", and they point the finger at AI and data centres...
www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/19/d...

How data centre lobbying is shaping Canberra's climate policy, right down to our timid emissions target

Hidden in the fine print on the Climate Change Authority's decision to pull back its emissions target? The role of artificial intelligence and data centres.

www.crikey.com.au

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Reposted by Sara Hill

HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 24d

🚨 Large far-right demo in central London today, organised by Stephen Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) under the banner Unite the Kingdom. HOPE not hate will be monitoring closely. Follow this thread for updates throughout the day.

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Reposted by Sara Hill

Raul Pacheco-Vega @raulpachecovega.bsky.social · Jun 8

Did you know that University of California Press @ucpress.bsky.social has a metric tonne of books #Free2DownloadAndRead in their Open Access page? All available here:

www.ucpress.edu/book-lists/o...

Open Access

Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

www.ucpress.edu

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Reposted by Sara Hill

Jess O'Thomson @jessothomson.co.uk · 25d

The far right turnout today is much smaller than the number of people who came to protest at London Trans Pride this year, but the far right will of course get infinitely more press coverage.

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · 28d

Happy to have been part of the cohort behind this short piece arguing against research which links biological invasion and human migration - generally I'm all for interdisciplinary work but in this case...

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Raising concerns on the dangers of linking biological invasions to human migration

A recent paper by Ahmed et al. (2025. “Parallels and Discrepancies between non-native Species Introductions and Human Migration.” Biological Reviews 100 (3): 1365–1395), published in Biological Rev...

www.tandfonline.com

Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Sep 4

Hi! Just entering 2nd year PhD and 43

Congratulations on nearing submission!

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Sep 4

Happy to say I'll be taking on my first module as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in this coming semester.

Advancing with Digital Methods - bring it on!

#AcademicSky
#PhDchatter

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 27

"Cuts to AtW risk increasing the unemployment rate for disabled people and support workers alike, in clear contrast to the government's stated aims..."

Latest piece for @nowthenmag.bsky.social on Access to Work

#disability #disabilitybenefits #disabilityjustice #AccesstoWork

bit.ly/3HOr2JI

Cutting Access to Work will push more disabled people into unemployment – and could decimate entire industries

The example of a Sheffield-based queer disabled arts organisation and the support workers that enable them shows how devastating government cuts could be to vital specialist support.

bit.ly

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 20

Confirmation review passed.
Doctoral status officially confirmed.

Time to get on with it then!

#AcademicSky #AcademicChatter

Black and white text extract reading:

"Any further comments?

The examiner were in agreement that the project proposed is fascinating and significant, and likely to lead to an important and original contribution to knowledge."

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Reposted by Sara Hill

C-REX @crexuio.bsky.social · Aug 19

🚨 The first publication from the HITS project is now out: "Institutional Responses to Threats and Harassment of Academics: Evidence From a Survey Among Political Scientists in Norway" by @arjupskas.bsky.social, Iris B. Segers, & @audreygagnon.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Institutional Responses to Threats and Harassment of Academics: Evidence From a Survey Among Political Scientists in Norway

In an era marked by increasing polarization, academics face growing risks of harassment and threats, particularly when engaging in politically sensitive research or public discourse. This study inves...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 9

You might find this useful @timleachwriter.bsky.social

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 9

It would be really great if the Prime Minister could remember that appeasing the far-right doesn't work

Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · Aug 9

I regret to inform you that Starmer’s been tweeting dehumanising videos of migrants again.

These videos have been shown to increase support for Reform, by increasing salience of migration.

He has to go.

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 9

This is my first go round with Sanderson - read Final Empire last month and really enjoyed it. I've not read much new (to me) epic fantasy for a while because I felt the Malazan Universe and Robin Hobb's Farseer world had ruined all others for me by stealing my heart and soul - trying to move on 😆

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 9

Just started it, but I think I can already tell it will be just as brilliantly devastating as the other Butlers I've read.

Going Mainstream is a work read for me, I need a break from academic papers - what did you think of it?

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 9

Bookish checkpoint 🕯️

🔸last book you read: If it Bleeds by Stephen King
🔸your current read: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
🔸last book added to tbr: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
🔸next read: Going Mainstream by Julia Ebner

#booksky #books

Stephanie Ellis @stephellis.bsky.social · Aug 9

bookish checkpoint 🕯️

🔸last book you read: They Came at Night, Westley Smith
🔸your current read: City of Last Chances, Adrian Tchaikovsky
🔸last book added to tbr: In Search of the Dark Ages, Michael Wood
🔸next read: House of Idyll, Delilah S. Dawson

#booksky #books

Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · Aug 9

bookish checkpoint 🕯️

🔸 last book you read: Insatiable. Missed Steps. Belladonna.
🔸 your current read: A Simple Mistake. Forever Night. The End of the Rainbow. Perils of the Past.
🔸 last book added to your tbr: Protocol of Valor.
🔸 next read: Foxglove. The Scour.

quote with yours! #booksky #books

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 6

Scandalous!

Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 6

Best academic summer out of office so far this year:

"Dear sender,

My email and I are on a break. But don't worry, it's not permanent. We just need some time apart.

We will be back together on 18/08/2025."

You love to see it 👏👏👏
#AcademicSky #AcademicChatter

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Aug 2

Some fascinating and absolutely wild reads in this thread

Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · Aug 1

"The AI infrastructure build-out is so gigantic that in the past 6 months, it contributed more to the growth of the U.S. economy than /all of consumer spending/" - @mims.bsky.social

My takeway is that The US has gone ALL IN BET OF THE 21st Century on AI, while China has gone all in on green tech

Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · Aug 1

Original draft of syllabus is here - www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-politi... - still in need of a summary piece on the role of capital in shaping the AI economy

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Jul 25

Ain't no lie though...

www.thenational.scot/news/2534018...

The National's front page as Donald Trump set to arrive in Scotland

The National's front page on Friday, 'Convicted US felon to arrive in Scotland', pays tribute to Donald Trump as he looks set to begin his five-day…

www.thenational.scot

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Sara Hill @sara-hill.bsky.social · Jul 24

"A second order Trump signed on Wednesday calls for deregulating AI development, increasing the building of datacentres and removing environmental protections that could hamper their construction."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump signs executive orders targeting ‘woke’ AI models and regulation

Crackdown would streamline the building of datacentres and remove environmental protections

www.theguardian.com

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