Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Matt Peterson @mattpeterson.bsky.social · 3h

China is deliberately goading Trump into measures that tank the stock market, knowing that his fixation on the market will drive him to capitulate, WSJ reports www.wsj.com/world/china/...

In its trade standoff with Washington, Beijing thinks it has found America's Achilles' heel:
President Trump's fixation on the stock market.
China's leader, Xi Jinping, is betting that the U.S. economy can't absorb a prolonged trade conflict with the world's second-largest economy, according to people close to Beijing's decision-making. China is holding a firm line because of its conviction, the people said, that an escalating trade war will tank markets, as it did in April after Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs, prompting Beijing to hit back.
China expects that the prospect of another market meltdown ultimately will force Trump to negotiate at an expected summit with Xi late this month, the people said.

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Coates is Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 5h

It’s the 111th anniversary today of the birth of Harry Rée, who was a teacher and conscientious objector when the Second World War broke out, and by the time it ended, when he was 31, had invented ‘blackmail sabotage’ and got a DSO, an OBE, a Croix de Guerre, and a Medaille de la Resistance

b/w photo of a man in socks and sandals, jacket, short and jumper, in front of a wall with a bike leaning on it, and with a pipe in his mouth. If you wanted one image to sum up the word ‘nonchalant’, this would be it

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Pete Marchetto @petemarchetto.bsky.social · 3h

If families at the bottom working all the hours available go without food to make ends meet, that's thrift.

If families at the top have to take one of their four annual holidays in the UK, that's deprivation.

It's sickening how this same theme appears in articles again, and again, and again.

Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 6h

It is may be 3x average pay but 62% tax rate on earnings over £100,000 and cliff edge removal of childcare subsidies limit aspirations of upper middle classes bit.ly/49arr4e misleading to call it ‘working hard’ not ‘being lucky and clever’. Many work very hard on £12.21/hour 48 hours a week or more

This tax trap is killing youthful aspiration

Little wonder the under-40s laud Margaret Thatcher: she valued hard work, unlike the rules that penalise them today

bit.ly

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 2h

Not being a lawyer, I am puzzled that they can't prosecute under Section 1.2, which doesn't seem to require that the counterparty be an enemy, only that the information passed is prejudicial to the interests of the State.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 15h

BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Department of State v
@StateDept
g..
The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.
The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk. Here are just a few examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.:
5:55 PM • Oct 14, 2025 • 34.1K Views

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Ember @ember-energy.org · 9h

ASEAN has already reduced power outages by nearly 60% over the past decade ⚡

But continued disruptions could still cost the region $2.3 billion in annual GDP losses unless ASEAN modernises its grids.

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/aseans-low-carbon-future-flows-through-smart-grids

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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 18h

The mastery of artist Harry Wingfield.
‘Cake’
(Yes, it is a painting - from Third Picture Book, 1971)

Photo realistic close-up in watercolour of a large slice of cream filled Victoria sponge

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Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 2d

My colleagues & I have taken a huge gamble to set up @thenerve.news We’re trying to build a new independent publication from the ground up. Social media is our only distribution for now.

Sharing this article in your networks would make a huge difference. Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social · 3d

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 17h

Es schau’n auf’s Hackenkreuz voll Hoffung schon Millionen

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 20h

"My profession - that of university teacher - is in this way dangerous. If we are any good we must always be working towards the moment at which our pupils are fit to become our critics and rivals. We should be delighted when it arrives." - C. S. Lewis

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The Man in Seat 61 @seatsixtyone.bsky.social · 20h

Early days, but so far so good: “Eurostar reports ‘encouraging’ speeds for new EU border checks at St Pancras” www.therailwayhub.co.uk/72017/eurost...

Eurostar reports ‘encouraging’ speeds for new EU border checks at St Pancras | The Railway Hub

The implementation of a new EU border system at London’s St Pancras railway station has been “quite encouraging”, a Eurostar executive said.

www.therailwayhub.co.uk

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 19h

Give that man a Peace Prize

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19h

Trump announces another strike "just off the Coast of Venezuela" that killed 6 people

Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!

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Politico @politico.com · 20h

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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R Phelps @greygosling.bsky.social · 20h

Seems like a good hook for the UK press to discuss whether the UK government should be on a Nazi-run site like X and not say, on here, and whether Ofcom is doing its job.

Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 21h

Hey news people: I know you like to pretend this doesn't exist, but you need to pay attention to the Nazi drama on Twitter. Basically, it seems as if Elon just restored two major neo-Nazi accounts that were banned by his product head, and might be about to fire the product head for banning them

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Secular Talk @kylekulinskishow.bsky.social · 20h

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❤️Kai in Kanada🇨🇦 @kleinekin.bsky.social · 1d

Well, he and his dear old daddy used to attend KKK "rituals" together, so yeah, def tracks.

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 1d

Why is the UK Government still using X when Musk is using his wealth to defend terrorism against the UK?

Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 1d

Musk is funding the legal battle of UK Far Right activist Tommy Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon - as he faces charges brought by counterterrorism police.

Tommy Robinson claims Elon Musk is funding his legal battle — The Times and The Sunday Times

Tommy Robinson has claimed Elon Musk was paying his legal costs as he went on trial for refusing to comply with a request made by counterterrorism police as he tried to leave Britain last year. Robins...

apple.news

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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 1d

DSIT understood that the key to the uptake of digital ID was trust. Labelling it as a tool to find cheats and evaders destroys that trust.

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LukeBMTB @lukebmtb.bsky.social · 1d

Wile E Coyote's rules were both spoken and very specific.

The Rules:

1. The Road-Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going “beep-beep!”

2. No outside force can harm the Coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.

3. The Coyote could stop anytime—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: “A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.” –George Santayana)

4. No dialogue ever, except “beep-beep!”

5. The Road-Runner must stay on the road—otherwise, logically, he would not be called Road-Runner.

6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the southwest American desert.

7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.

8. Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote’s greatest enemy.

9. The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 1d

All the novels I mentioned are examples if what I, in my uneducated manner, think of as sprawling novels.

After those we get novels of interiority, nibbling at life.

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 1d

Thackeray: Pendennis
Gissing: New Grub Street
Hardy: A Pair of Blue Eyes
Trollope: The Three Clerks.
Somerset Maugham: Of Human Bondage
Lawrence: Sons and Lovers, The White Peacock
Conrad: Secret Agent

Dickens' Copperfield already mentioned.

I accept it depends in the definition of great writers.

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Patrick - Here for the craic 👍🏼 @patrickopatrick.bsky.social · 1d

Reform make their own rules as both Tice & Farage have broken parliamentary rules

Tice not declaring Lavish Hospitality from Senior Russian ❌

Farage breached parliamentary rules over Trump event ❌

Nothing seemingly happened to Farage which begs the question what’s the bloody point of HOP rules 🤷🏼‍♂️

Reform Party UK Exposed @reformexposed.bsky.social · 1d

Richard Tice failed to register lavish hospitality from former Russian finance minister’s wife

hopenothate.org.uk/2025/10/13/r...

Richard Tice failed to register lavish hospitality from former Russian finance minister's wife – HOPE not hate

IN BREACH OF PARLIAMENTARY RULES: REFORM UK’S RICHARD TICE Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has broken parliamentary rules by failing to register lavish hospitality...

hopenothate.org.uk

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Andrew Richards @andrewwr235.bsky.social · 1d

Where's the money for all the things you've promised coming from then, Nigel?

Brown bags from the Kremlin?

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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 1d

Boris Johnson, "My job was to deliver on the mandate of the people and to get Brexit done"

"In 2016, Margaret Thatcher would have been on the side of leaving the EU"

His expression shows that he doesn't believe what he's saying 🤷‍♂️

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William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 1d

At least Simon Jenkins is consistently Simon Jenkins

Feelingantsy 🇬🇧🇩🇪. Maker of Puns @feelingantsy.bsky.social · 1d

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