Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

@sarahbia.bsky.social

1.2K followers 3.7K following 570 posts

Local gov officer, disability rights activist, and trade unionist. Northerner, book hoarder, foreign language enthusiast, and unabashed cat lady.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · Jul 10

#AccessToNowhere is a new campaign led by disabled people demanding urgent reform to Access to Work.

We need your support. Please:

1. Sign the open letter forms.gle/ZDiRQotCcr8k...

2. Write to your MP drive.google.com/drive/u/2/fo...

3. Share this post.
#AccessToWorkCollective #AccessToWork

Sign our Open Letter to reform Access to Work

Thank you for your support of this urgent call to reform Access to Work. Please provide your full name to be listed as a signatory to the Access to Work Collective open letter. We welcome signatories...

forms.gle

1 3

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 1d

A little bit of background suggests this is really potentially worrying and she knows nothing about what she's talking about. The snails are not "on the site" (if they were it would be less of a problem because you would just pick another site)...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer

Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

www.theguardian.com

4 13 40

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Nicolas Chinardet @zefrog.eu · 1d

"We can't have particular communities where there's a heavy preponderance of one group or another. That's the kind of country I want my kids to be growing up in," says Jenrick, who lives in Herefordshire where 96.9% of the population identified as white in 2021

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 1d

Wow. Robert Jenrick doubles down by branding a black journalist's questions "ridiculous" and saying that the problem is not his comments, but "journalists like you who pop up and try to knock me down", adding that "this is the reason why terrorist attacks happen". ~AA

10 73 240

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP @bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social · 2d

Ministers appear to be considering further welfare cuts that could deprive hundreds of thousands of disabled people of the support they rely on.

They should remember how their last attempt to balance the books in this way went.

Labour faces another mass rebellion over reforms to universal credit

Welfare secretary Pat McFadden plans further reforms to the benefits system, expected to include abolishing the work capability assessment.

www.bigissue.com

16 35 76

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Daniela Gabor @danielagabor.bsky.social · 2d

anyone who's paid a bit of attention to local fiscal politics would have told you this: every local service is down to bare bones.

3 14

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 2d

Surprise surprise

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Paolo Sandro @paolosandro.bsky.social · 2d

This. People eligible for the flu vaccine are not eligible for the updated COVID booster. That makes zero sense

Clinically Vulnerable Families 💙💜💗 @cvcev.bsky.social · 3d

The MILLIONS of people who were denied vaccines are suddenly realising.

@rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social this was a terrible idea.

Not only will the NHS struggle this autumn / winter, but people will suffer and die unnecessarily.

It isn't too late for a U-turn!

Community Pharmacy England

Q

Pharmacy teams have reported major issues to us over the last two days related to large numbers of patients booking COVID-19 vaccinations via the National Booking System (NBS) who are not eligible for the vaccine this winter.

We are working with NHS England to try to address this unacceptable situation and to get more NHS communications issued to help people understand whether they are eligible for the vaccine.

In the meantime, we have created three posters that pharmacy teams can use to help explain about vaccine eligibility this winter:

4 16 25

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 3d

There's a register of donations and loans to political parties here that you can search and filter if you are so inclined.

Political party donations and loans in Great Britain | Electoral Commission share.google/10I9ZcGFHzK5...

Search - The Electoral Commission

share.google

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 3d

I think that information is publicly available through the Electoral Commission.

However, "Reform has an unusually high number of overseas backers with links to tax havens."

Who funds Reform UK? Inside Farage’s party’s £5m donor network | openDemocracy share.google/2j5sG60ZMiqh...

These are the wealthy funders who’ve given Reform £5m

Nigel Farage says his party is a break from the political establishment. That claim doesn’t match up with its donors

share.google

1 3

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 3d

About 75% of Chris Philp's conference speech so far - and we are 10 minutes in – has been about crimes committed by migrants. You'd think that's all they ever did, rather than work in hospitals, care homes, merchant banks etc etc etc.

5 28 160

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 3d

They're obviously very productive.

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 3d

I'm guessing you're referring to rumours about Jill Stein, who's a US politician. Wrong country. And it's the Green Party of England and Wales, not the UK.

1 4

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 3d

I hope Labour is paying close attention to what just happened in Wigan. Wigan Central just elected its first Reform councillor following a by-election - Wigan Central's first non-Labour councillor since 2011. If nothing changes, this doesn't bode well for any future elections.

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 3d

Er, no.

1 5

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Carla Denyer @carladenyer.bsky.social · 3d

Wish I could say I was shocked, but here's the Labour government constraining the right to peaceful protest again...

'You can protest but only according to our rules. The rules are: you're not allowed to use any of the tactics that make protest effective.'

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.

34 360 920

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 4d

That's what I thought. I watched it in full and the message I took from it was all about positivity and solidarity. I felt cautiously hopeful for the first time in a very long time.

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 4d

Ha ha ha ha ha. Yes, Labour government, "growth" and "delivery", we know.

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · 5d

Caroline Lucas at a Green party panel on protest rights: "I think it is clear that if the Suffragettes were around today, they too would be branded a terrorist organisation"

12 61 220

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 5d

Feeling far less hopeless (maybe even a little optimistic!) after Day 1 of the @greenparty.org.uk conference

Leader's Speech - Zack Polanski at Green Party Conference 2025

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

share.google

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 6d

They're asking peaceful protesters to delay their protest so that the police will have the capacity to arrest them. I'm not sure why anyone would agree to this.

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 6d

PawPurrs Halfway House cat shelter in Hindley, Wigan needs urgent donations to pay off substantial veterinary debts, ensure poorly cats receive treatment, and avoid closure. Please donate what you can to support PawPurrs and needy cats (or maybe consider adopting a cat!)

Animal charity needs urgent donations to avoid closure

A local animal charity is urgently appealing for donations as debts reach an all-time high.

share.google

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 7d

Write to your MP to ask that time restrictions on Disabled Person's Bus Passes are removed. Being disabled is not a part-time job.

actionnetwork.org/letters/unlo...

Unlock Disabled Travel: Email Your MP Now

Transport is what helps us live our lives — to get to work or school, to see friends, go shopping, or get to medical appointments. But many Disabled people are being shut out of society because the ve...

actionnetwork.org

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 7d

The government intends to close independent local Healthwatch services across the country, which give patients a say in relation to health and social care provision. Please sign this petition to ask that the government review this decision:

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

Petition: Review decision to abolish independent local Healthwatch

We are asking the government to: • Revisit its decision to abolish local independent services that speak up for the public • Consult with the public to codesign a service which meets their needs and s...

petition.parliament.uk

Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿 @sarahbia.bsky.social · 11d

I'm equally unmoved by snooker/pool (don't even know the difference between the two - they look the same). It's probably fun to play, just boring to watch.

1 2

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

Pluto Press @plutopress.bsky.social · 11d

🖥️VITRUAL EVENT🖥️

Join Mark Perryman for a free online seminar discussing the politics of the Starmer government and his new book

🗓️ Wed, Oct 8
⏰ 10:30 am
📍 Virtual
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-starme...

1 1

Reposted by Sarah B ♿ 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 💚 🌿

David F. @dfarb.bsky.social · 11d

People are worried about the cost of living, about low wages and growing inequality, and about the dismal state of public services.
Telling people they're worried about immigration is a distraction. Migration isn't the cause of what is really worrying people. It's austerity and unfettered capitalism

2 24 77