Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1h

The site of every cone reported to John Major's cones hotline

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 2h

What policy themed visitor trail would you do upon retirement? I would pilgrimage to visit the 100 Rishi Sunak outdoor chess sets around the country. I genuinely think it would be one of those fun random things that would take me to places I’d never otherwise go to

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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 2h

So much talk of economics and far right radicalisation but my increasingly view is we are all - myself included - underestimating the impact of both internet culture and (more importantly) the economics of the internet/social media on politics and radicalisation

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 5h

Last night I heard of another friend of a friend who has been lost to a rabbit hole of online propaganda. We need to start treating this as a serious public health concern.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 2h

What policy themed visitor trail would you do upon retirement? I would pilgrimage to visit the 100 Rishi Sunak outdoor chess sets around the country. I genuinely think it would be one of those fun random things that would take me to places I’d never otherwise go to

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 3h

"Politics in the second Trump era can be mostly defined as people Posting adversarially in public"

- a quote that will one day make for a fantastic essay question

American politics has devolved into shitposting and aura farming

The Frog is owning the president.

www.theverge.com

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 4h

If I recall correctly, there was an excellent long thread by @bretdevereaux.bsky.social back on the other site about the impact of grand strategy games on students' thinking

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 4h

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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 13h

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

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James Austin @jamesdaustin.bsky.social · 4h

Everyone knows at least one person (normally, but not exclusively, a guy) whose gone properly mental due to net rabbit holes.

We see public figures regularly go mad and destroy themselves.

And we have, at a policy level, just decided to put our fingers in our ears and go nahnahnah

Alastair Meeks @alastairmeeks.bsky.social · 5h

Last night I heard of another friend of a friend who has been lost to a rabbit hole of online propaganda. We need to start treating this as a serious public health concern.

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Reposted by David Klemperer

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 13h

this is sociopathic behaviour and I think we need to treat it as such! just because something has become easy to do doesn't mean it has become less creepy, or more acceptable!

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

reading about the motorist rights party that just won a load of seats in Czechia

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

In piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social, I suggest Labour conference saw the emergence of two distinct approaches to practicing politics in a broken public sphere:
- YIMBYs and Growth Groupers pursue disruption
- "progressive communitarians" seek re-connection

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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 1d

Deliveroo is a business almost every bit of British politics should have an incentive to regulate out of existence, and yet...

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

Reading @londoncentric.media and reflecting on how everything wrong with Britain can be seen through Deliveroo:
- much of the economy is fraudulent
- people don’t go outside
- workers are underpaid and insecure
- the immigration system is broken
- society is being eroded by Big Tech

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not sure I understand your point here - Deliveroo is MORE expensive than eating out

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AE Snow @demofuturist.bsky.social · 1d

Great article - for communitarians I guess my questions are who is the enemy? What is the controversy?

Right now the dominant story on the left is wealth tax and that is going to squeeze out any other “left” issue

If you want to tell another story you will have to raise its salience by a lot

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

In piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social, I suggest Labour conference saw the emergence of two distinct approaches to practicing politics in a broken public sphere:
- YIMBYs and Growth Groupers pursue disruption
- "progressive communitarians" seek re-connection

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Cat Neilan @catneilan.bsky.social · 1d

Meanwhile MPs including @liambyrnemp.bsky.social are planning to mount a cross-party campaign to force the government to include an outright ban on crypto in the Elections Bill

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Cat Neilan @catneilan.bsky.social · 1d

Exc: The Electoral Commission has been given early notice of the UK's first ever crypto donation

The has been "made, but not declared", to a party understood to be Reform

Reform spox said: "All donations above the reporting limit will be disclosed in the usual way"

share.google/VvtjBjEjEjRa...

Calls for transparency on political funding after first c...

Electoral Commission notified of financial contribution, which is rumoured to have been handed to Reform UK

share.google

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

Which way Labour man?

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Oliver Rivers @maxrothbarth.bsky.social · 1d

I love @londoncentric.media because it’s proper old-school shoe leather journalism.

David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

Reading @londoncentric.media and reflecting on how everything wrong with Britain can be seen through Deliveroo:
- much of the economy is fraudulent
- people don’t go outside
- workers are underpaid and insecure
- the immigration system is broken
- society is being eroded by Big Tech

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

This is the one I was reading yes!

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 1d

this tipped me off to londoncentric.media and, boy, their stuff is really good even if you don't particularly care for London. Why? Because it's laser-focused on *the money* - who is getting paid and how for various aspects, especially the shady ones, of urban life.

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

In piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social, I suggest Labour conference saw the emergence of two distinct approaches to practicing politics in a broken public sphere:
- YIMBYs and Growth Groupers pursue disruption
- "progressive communitarians" seek re-connection

2 9 23

Reposted by David Klemperer

Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 1d

‘“Faragism” is neoliberalism at its most inhumane, more destructive even than [Thatcher’s] monetarism, and vindictive far beyond austerity.’

Good analysis by Gordon Brown - and why progressives should attack Farage on economics above all:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Don’t fall for the authoritarian hype – Reform and the hard right can be stopped in their tracks | Gordon Brown

From the US to Europe and Asia, grievances are being exploited to gain power. But moderate voices are still in tune with the majority, says former prime minister Gordon Brown

www.theguardian.com

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Zoe Williams @zoesqwilliams.bsky.social · 1d

Many smart, sad lines in this Runciman piece www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... but my favourite is this

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David Klemperer @dmk1793.bsky.social · 1d

Reading @londoncentric.media and reflecting on how everything wrong with Britain can be seen through Deliveroo:
- much of the economy is fraudulent
- people don’t go outside
- workers are underpaid and insecure
- the immigration system is broken
- society is being eroded by Big Tech

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Reposted by David Klemperer

francisco varela fan club @paleopragmatist.bsky.social · 2d

Future scholars will struggle to understand the political importance and ideological subtleties of frogs in early 21st century American politics

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 2d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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