Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Dr Tom May

John Williams @worldoftelly.bsky.social · 13h

This is very sad news. I think Tony’s appearance as Ensor in Blake’s 7 was the first time I became aware of him, and then a few years later he was really excellent as one of the main characters in the first series of Geoff McQueen’s Big Deal.

Kirkdale Bookshop @kirkdalebooks.bsky.social · 15h

RIP Tony Caunter, seen here in Blakes 7 "Deliverance"

1 14 48

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Prof Bill McGuire @profbillmcguire.bsky.social · 1d

We have known this for several decades

But knowing means nothing to those who care nothing for the natural world, our climate, or our future

The lungs of the world (along with plankton) are dying

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Dismal’ health of world’s forests is threat to humanity, report warns

Financial institutions pouring money into land clearance and undermining efforts to stop destruction, says Climate Focus

www.theguardian.com

3 49 83

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Phil Harrison @mrpmharrison.bsky.social · 1d

This is the absolute focal point of Tory collapse.
All my life, there'd been the suggestion that the Tories were the 'common sense' party. The pragmatism party. Labour were somehow the idealists, the unrealists.
Brexit turned that on its head - if the Tories die, it'll be Brexit that killed them.

JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 1d

"An essential condition today for entry into the upper echelons of Conservative party politics is being willing to at least pretend that you think taking Britain out of the EU was a good idea. This is a never-ending lobotomy for the Tories."

JWexTheSpa @jwsidders.bsky.social · 1d

"One reason the successive Tory administrations from 2016 to 2024 achieved so little beyond damage control is that they traded middle-aged voters who needed little from the state for older voters who require rather more"
So much good stuff by @stephenkb.bsky.social in his FT column today.

1 2 10

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Philip Stephens @philipstephens.bsky.social · 1d

Lyse Doucet and Jeremy Bowen fine reporting from Middle East reminder of BBC journalism as it used to be…deeply informed, sober and balanced …sad to say marks out shallow sensationalism of BBC’s reporting of Westminster politics ….

13 65 290

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Craig Grävling @ieatpie.bsky.social · 1d

Did you see the one in Durham a few weeks back where they said they'd cut pointless green energy schemes and put the money into social services.... Cutting the solar scheme cost them 70k.
It's all ideologically driven culture war nonsense with suspicious big money backers.

2 7

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Cas Ⓜ️udde @casmudde.bsky.social · 2d

By contemporary far-right standards, this is rare good news for democracy.

Far right fizzles in Portugal’s local elections

Chega failed to conquer any major cities but is set to receive three times as many votes as in 2021.

www.politico.eu

9 140 610

Reposted by Dr Tom May

David Bryant @23daves.bsky.social · 1d

Halfway through and hugely enjoying it. Astonishing how Justin covers all facets of eighties music, from pop to soul to "world music" to even Microdisney, and somehow makes it all cohere. Each entry packs a lot of vital information and trivia so concisely, entertainingly and effectively. Do get it.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 12d

OUT NOW, my month-by-month guide to 1980s pop, from ABC to XTC, and from Madonna to Neneh. #IntoTheGroove, published by @eandtbooks.bsky.social.

Cover of
INTO THE GROOVE: THE 1980s:
THE ULTIMATE DECADE IN MUSIC HISTORY
by Justin Lewis (me)

'An epic compendium of stories and trivia from the 80s music scene'

1 5 16

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

It's seemingly a myth that will never die! :-s While I can't 100% quash it without those JICTAR figures, they really won't be *that* far out.

I haven't watched any of the new Partridge series, The Celebrity Traitors or Film Club live: it's all iPlayer, usually, now, with occasional exceptions!

1 1

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, I think he says 16m. in most of his many interviews!

Overall, of course, personal memory can be wildly inaccurate & there's wishful thinking* & I would suspect that Leigh, while a great director, is not really a statistician!

*It's all needless too, as they are still all excellent figures!

1 1

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

Or he's conflated 18m. from both screenings together, or indeed the 18% of the UK public figure the original attained.

One notable fact about the repeat was it was screened later: from 10:20pm - 12:05, so that *was* a pretty exceptionally high average audience for such a late time slot!

1

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

*ITV supplying company is better wording than 'affiliated', as they were supplying a service to them as far as I know!

1

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

Of course, the JICTAR figures for Abigail's Party in August 1979 repeat could well be *notably* higher, as this ITV affiliated company tended to inflate figures as measuring sets switched on, whereas the BBC measured attentive viewing. But I would be flabbergasted if they were 9 million higher!

1 2

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

The August 1979 repeat, during the long ITV strike, actually scored a slightly lower 8.3 million (15.9%). Its audience Reaction Index went up from 56 to 61 on this occasion.

I guess Leigh's use of maths may be a tad creative (9.09 + 8.3 isn't far off 18 million, *combined*). But still good figures.

2 2

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 1d

Off the top of my head, according to BBC figures (I don't have the JICTAR data), it was seen by 9.09 million - still very good!

The myth of 18 million is one Leigh has repeated in many interviews. Possibly he saw the audience report which said, correctly, that 18% of the UK public saw it.

1 3

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Josh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks to American Campus, the podcast about the history of higher education, for featuring my book. We talk about how NPR and PBS emerged from equal access to education discourses. And how Media Studies originated as a strategy of public media activism.

How universities created NPR and PBS with Josh Shepperd - American Campus Podcast

How public universities gave rise to public mediaReferences and suggested readings:Josh Shepperd. 2023. Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting. University of Illinois Press.Laura G...

americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com

1 46 140

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Fergal Kinney @fergalkinney.bsky.social · 10d

this new Partridge is at its best the furthest it is from celebrity and media and when it’s a weirdly singular satire of Range Rover Britain and the emptiness, repression and bad interior design choices of the people who have actually coined it in since 2010

1 6

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Central Bylines @centralbylines.co.uk · 3d

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Voters recoil at Farage’s fossil fuel funding.
Via @desmog.com @writesbright.bsky.social

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds

Reform UK’s oil industry interests are a major turn-off for voters, new research reveals. The think tank Persuasion UK tested five anti-Reform messages on 6,000 adults. According to the research, “by ...

www.desmog.com

13 150 240

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 2d

Excellent, educative listening.

It is abundantly clear that working as a team, now with charity status, yields the painstaking results, which must be analogised to archaeology. Arrogant individuals with an entitled "treasure hunter" attitude are actively counterproductive; some are even abusive.

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Global Justice Now @globaljusticenow.bsky.social · 2d

We've reached a climate tipping point that threatens lives and futures around the world. The greed of the fossil fuel industry and the super-rich who run it is insatiable.

We cannot accept placing profit over life itself as normal - we must #MakeThemPay

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’

Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns

www.theguardian.com

1 8 6

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Elizabeth Alker @elizabethalker.bsky.social · 26d

📕 THE FIFTEEN MINUTE READ 📕

An extract of my new book ‘Everything We Do Is Music’ - an interview w/ Paul McCartney about his Abbey Road adventures + the electronic version of Yesterday he saw Delia Derbyshire about - is on @faberbooks.bsky.social website ☕️

surl.lt/uvrlqf

1 1 12

Reposted by Dr Tom May

filmisfabulous! @filmisfabulous.bsky.social · 2d

3 key members and trustees of the Film is Fabulous! team joined Tim of the 'Missing Episodes Podcast'

Film collector John Franklin, De Montfort University’s Prof Justin Smith & Sue Malden, renowned former Head of Broadcast Archives at BBC
YouTube Link
youtu.be/CK02j_Mi6iE?...

13 39 92

Reposted by Dr Tom May

The Itinerant Poetry Library @tipl.bsky.social · 2d

All #Public #Libraries closed by successive Brit. gvrnmnts (lack of imaginative) policies, starting with the Carnegies for a theme & ending at the Edward Edwards memorial - who is definitely turning in his grave over the shredding of his public libraries vision that was the origins of the 1850 Act ⚡

2 3

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 2d

The play is available to watch in pretty good prints via Dailymotion and Internet Archive, as here:
archive.org/details/alic...

Alice (The Wednesday Play 1965) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

13 Oct 1965Written by Dennis Potter and Lewis CarrollGeorge BakerDeborah WatlingRosalie CrutchleyDavid LangtonTessa WyattMaria CoyneMalcolm WebsterMaurice...

archive.org

3

Reposted by Dr Tom May

Samira Ahmed @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social · 2d

This terrific cover is the work of artist Mark Swan.

Samira Ahmed @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social · 2d

My BFI Classic on The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night is available to preorder now. Here’s the story behind it. I love the cover - inspired by the film poster and a key theme in the book: the power of television in transmitting the Beatles to the world. samiraahmed.blog/why-i-wrote-...

4 20

Dr Tom May @dreamcargoes.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks also to @worldoftelly.bsky.social for supplying the (extensive) press cuttings that enabled this piece to be as exhaustive as it is!

1 2