Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lembit Öpik talks about Reform in Wales and what nationalists can learn from Sinn Féin

1 1 4

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · 2d

Political parties in Wales have sown their own destruction

Lembit Öpik discuss why ReformUK are surging ahead across Wales - he puts it down to the fact they are populists. .

🚀 Help New Wales👉 donorbox.org/new-wales-in....

👤 Contact @newwales.bsky.social 👉 new.wales/contact-us/

YouTube video by New Wales / Cymru Newydd

www.youtube.com

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · 9d

They were.

How self-absorbed leaders and a broken United Nations threaten global peace

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · 9d

First they came for ...

And I did not speak ...

Because I was not an immigrant ...

To paraphrase Pastor Martin Niemöller.

Simon Hobson In 1997, as a 17-year-old A-level politics student, I stood at a model United Nations general assembly and launched a clumsy attack on the German delegation. My speech, poorly researched ...

Daniel Roberts: Cooperative Wales

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · 14d

Wales' opportunities for coops

@newwales.bsky.social chat with Dan Roberts from @cwmpas.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dvC...

YouTube video by New Wales / Cymru Newydd

www.youtube.com

1 4

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · 14d

What is going on in Bosnia?

Primates should be granted legal rights

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · 28d

Give them the same rights as humans

Using primates as research subjects is an emotive issue in science and the public domain.

Wales should make the historic move of giving all non-human primates the right to life, liberty, and security

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Sep 3

Senedd Reform

How do we improve democracy in Wales?

Jess Blair from the Electoral Reform Society Cymru, about her part in campaigning for a more democratic Wales.

Listen here: rss.com/podcasts/blu...

Blueprint Cymru is a podcast from @newwales.bsky.social

Wales rising: defying the grip of extremism and unionism

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Sep 3

We reap what we sow

As Desmond Tutu said, 'If you're neutral in the face of injustice, you've chosen the side of the oppressor'.

Welsh citizens must reject the neo-fascist rhetoric of Reform UK - An English nationalist group of thugs who would see Wales subjugated to the Jackboot of England.

Simon Hobson The spectre of disunity looms large. Those peddling extremist and authoritarian remedies find an ever-widening platform on our national airwaves, spreading their insidious ideologies acro...

Brendan Roberts: Landmark laws in Wales | Podcast Episode on RSS.com

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 21

Wales leading the world

Legislation from: Future generations, Anti-smacking, HIAs and No lying in politics.

New Blueprint Cymru (Ep.11) from @newwales.bsky.social

#law #wales #worldleading

Does growing up in the care system change how you see the world?, Why is Wales ahead of the rest of the UK in terms of progressive laws?, How do we build on this and continue to ensure that Wales is a...

rss.com

Expert Comment: A property wealth tax is now politically feasible |

Reposted by Simon Paul Hobson

University of Oxford @ox.ac.uk · Aug 21

💷 'Council Tax is probably the most regressive property tax in the world.'

@inetoxford.bsky.social and @nuffieldcollege.bsky.social's Prof John Muellbauer proposes a two-part solution to the fairer taxation of property in the UK ⬇️

John Muellbauer, Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, and Senior Fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, University of

www.ox.ac.uk

1 5 11

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 19

Blueprint Cymru from @newwales.bsky.social

Neil Roberts: Financial literacy

Podcast Episode · Blueprint Cymru · 13/08/2025 · 59m

podcasts.apple.com

Simon Hobson Asides from demonstrating the irresponsible and poor leadership qualities most people have expected of the incoming President of the United States of America, Donald Trump vocalising his ...

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Blowing winds of treachery

Over a decade ago, Putin began annexing parts of the Ukrainian nation. In Westminster, MPs have stood up to condemn that action.

Over 500 years have passed since England completed its annexation of Wales. Furthering English imperial ambitions ...

Read @nation.cymru

Annexed nation

Simon Hobson The 27th of March 2025 marks the 400th anniversary of Charles I’s accession to the throne of Great Britain. Born in Dunfermline Palace in 1600, Charles Stuart was the second son of James ...

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 16

Forced allegiance from Wales

Why we must ensure this king Charles is preceded by a Republic of Wales

#republic #wales #kingcharles

Unfinished business

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 12

I love the idea of politics returning to the traditional 'town hall'. In which those who care, travel around Wales and speak with people about, as you say, what they need and want Wales to become. Then we could come together and write our own constitution or a Welsh bill of rights.

Laurie @ljmu.bsky.social · Aug 8

Agree as huge Risk of a mini-Brexit campaign as special interests hijack to set Welsh against one another. Better step forward would be a Citizens Assembly to help clarify what people’s priorities are and how to best meet collective interest. Any eventual “vote” would then be better informed.

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 2

A plebiscite is not the answer

When a representative democracy resorts to a referendum to resolve a question, it is abandoning the keystone of its own system.

A view on Welsh referendums @bylines.cymru

1 1

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 12

Care about Wales' future?

Then you should be listening to #BlueprintCymru

Building a better future for Wales @newwales.bsky.social

Here's where to listen, media.rss.com/blueprint-cy...

Getting into the zone to solve the shortage of decent housing in Wales

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 12

Is Wales short of housing or do too many of the 'wrong sort' have access to property?

Could we in Wales continue innovating policies and start building homes from materials other than bricks and mortar?

I argue, 'yes!' to both these questions.

Read on @bylines.cymru

#housing #wales #homeless

The continuing housing catastrophe in Cymru, including a dearth of decent housing, invites innovation in strategies

2 6 12

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 3

And that they need to take every opportunity to work with those who want to innovate (many of these are younger farming families) and further modernise agriculture and food production.

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 3

Farming as is has a place in the management of our landscape. And that should be supported through some public funding. But the reverse of this is for farmers to except certain unprofitable practices must go.

No to a referendum: the enemy of an independent Cymru

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 2

A plebiscite is not the answer

When a representative democracy resorts to a referendum to resolve a question, it is abandoning the keystone of its own system.

A view on Welsh referendums @bylines.cymru

The making of a sovereign Cymru has to come through representative democracy, not through a referendum with all its dangers

Fermenting the future: sovereignty could add £100bn to the Welsh agricultural sector

2 8 15

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 1

How does Wales make more of its farming and care for its wildlife?

Read my views here @bylines.cymru

Others with ideas on farming and the future of agricultural in Wales; @newwales.bsky.social @calvjones.bsky.social

An independent Wales can take care of its farmers and landscapes, and mitigate climate change, via agricultural sovereignty and innovation

2 6 17

Simon Paul Hobson @simonpaulhobson.bsky.social · Aug 1

Reshaping #leadership

Jan Griffiths, a proud Welsh native, built her career in the US car industry. Rising to chief procurement officer of a $3bn company, and earning a spot in the #Automotive News’ 100 Leading Women.

Listen here: media.rss.com/blueprint-cy... or watch: www.youtube.com/@NewCymru