Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 23h

We’ve experienced a big bump in in-person attendance this year, after several years of low numbers. Not sure it will continue or exactly why (maybe related to high fees or changing attitudes) but I guess we’ll see…

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 1d

We have both. Attendance online for my courses is now below 5%. They can watch recordings, of course.

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly. The empty spaces are the online seminars.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'It is no secret that student attendance has plummeted in recent years, with near-empty lecture halls a staple of the post-pandemic world.'

Really? I lecture to all our 1st years. Lecture hall is full, not near-empty. Student engagement picked up last year and (early days) seems stronger again. 1/2

Fiction ‘brings lectures to life’ as academics face empty classes

University ‘whodunnit’ inspired by attempts to tackle poor attendance as scholars look for novel ways to engage mainstream audiences

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'It is no secret that student attendance has plummeted in recent years, with near-empty lecture halls a staple of the post-pandemic world.'

Really? I lecture to all our 1st years. Lecture hall is full, not near-empty. Student engagement picked up last year and (early days) seems stronger again. 1/2

Fiction ‘brings lectures to life’ as academics face empty classes

University ‘whodunnit’ inspired by attempts to tackle poor attendance as scholars look for novel ways to engage mainstream audiences

www.timeshighereducation.com

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 1d

What an odd chap.

Frederik Obermaier @frederikobermaier.com · 1d

🤦‍♂️😈 "Thiel said that international financial bodies, which make it more difficult for people to shelter their wealth in tax havens, are one sign the antichrist may be amassing power & hastening Armageddon,saying: “It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money.”" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

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Frederik Obermaier @frederikobermaier.com · 1d

🤦‍♂️😈 "Thiel said that international financial bodies, which make it more difficult for people to shelter their wealth in tax havens, are one sign the antichrist may be amassing power & hastening Armageddon,saying: “It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money.”" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 1d

Sellar and Yeatman must be spinning in their graves. "It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History", says Trump.
Very 1066 and All That.

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 2d

He won’t be happy.

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Marcus Bösch @boesch.bsky.social · 2d

Barron Trump tipped for top job at TikTok www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Barron Trump tipped for top job at TikTok as dad says users ‘owe’ him

The president has previously claimed that users ‘owe’ Barron Trump for saving the social media platform in a video from the Oval Office

www.independent.co.uk

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Jeppe Mulich @jmulich.bsky.social · 2d

It's not just the US that is shutting down foreign language programs and funding. We are dismantling the tower of babel with our own hands and replacing it with the broken toaster of automatic translation.

Chinese Universities Abandon English Departments Amid Policy Changes and AI Disruption – Chinascope

English departments, once among the most popular programs at Chinese universities, are facing widespread closures across the country. Multiple factors including government policies, AI advancement, an...

chinascope.org

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Richard Dunley @redunley.bsky.social · 2d

🚨 JOBS!!! 🚨

2 lots of jobs advertised in the School of Humanities & Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra

2.5 FTE positions in War Studies related disciplines - external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

1 FTE in Indo-Pacific Studies - external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

Lecturers/Senior Lecturers, Humanities & Social Sciences

Join our internationally recognised team of academics and share your knowledge in a humanities discipline relevant to the study of warfare. We have full and part-time teaching opportunities on offer.

external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 5d

And here we go. I never wrote this article, and yet it is cited here.

www.liberalbriefs.com/geopolitics/...

And of course, it sounds so plausible, I seriously checked whether I had forgotten it, or the footnote was slightly wrong.

#AIisnotresearch

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Abu Aardvark’s Ghost @abuaardvark.bsky.social · 5d

Omg students don’t come to class and don’t do the readings, that’s never happened before in college. This generational crisis requires, nay demands, blatantly unconstitutional federal pressure and extortion of not just Harvard but everyone, everyone!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/u...

Harvard Students Skip Class and Still Get High Grades, Faculty Say

www.nytimes.com

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 5d

I like a good pun, but this one almost sent me over the edge!

Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 5d

Really @internationalintrigue.io? Really??

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Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 5d

The torrent of UK China news keeps coming. So much for the reset...

China threatened to retaliate against the UK government if ministers targeted parts of its security apparatus under foreign influence rules, the Guardian can disclose.

China threatened to retaliate against UK over foreign influence rules

Exclusive: Chinese officials warned that targeting its security apparatus would negatively affect relations

www.theguardian.com

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Reuters @reuters.com · 6d

The Chinese embassy in Manila hired a marketing firm that ran fake social media accounts praising China, undermining the Philippines’ security alliance with the US, and criticizing Western COVID vaccines, Reuters found reut.rs/437dUqn

How China waged an infowar against U.S. interests in the Philippines

The Chinese embassy in Manila hired a marketing firm that ran fake social media accounts praising China, undermining the Philippines’ security alliance with the U.S., and criticizing Western COVID vaccines, Reuters found.

reut.rs

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 6d

This looks like a triumph of hope over experience (or should that be Triumf?) given the almost decade long delay in the delivery of the systems ordered in 2018. But anyway...India wants more Russian S-400 air defence systems. www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/i...

India-Russia in talks to acquire 5 more S-400 air defence systems

The Russian S-400 system ensured that Pak Air Force did not fly east of Indus on May 10 during Operation Sindoor.

www.hindustantimes.com

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Chris Goodman @cbgoodman.co · 6d

The third amendment is about to get very relevant.

'Very difficult situation': Kristi Noem whines locals not letting ICE agents use restrooms

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem complained that her agents were not being permitted to use restrooms in Chicago because of opposition from residents.During a Sunday interview on ...

www.rawstory.com

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Michelle Ye Hee Lee @myhlee.bsky.social · 8d

BREAKING: Sanae Takaichi, a hardline conservative security hawk, is set to become Japan’s new — and first female — prime minister.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

Sanae Takaichi is set to become Japan’s first female prime minister

The new leader will take the helm of the world’s fourth-largest economy at a time of unusual political instability, rising prices and increasing regional tensions.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 8d

Nothing improves morale, aids retention, and shows respect to highly trained professionals quite like wasting their time on pointless, menial, purely performative tasks.

Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 8d

The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

bit.ly

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 8d

Ah yes. Minor conflict termination issues like laying down arms.

NDTV @ndtv.com · 8d

President Donald Trump told Israel on Friday to immediately stop bombing Gaza after Hamas agreed to release hostages and some other terms in a US plan to end the war, but vexing issues like disarmament appeared unresolved.

Read: www.ndtv.com/world-news/h...

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NDTV @ndtv.com · 8d

President Donald Trump told Israel on Friday to immediately stop bombing Gaza after Hamas agreed to release hostages and some other terms in a US plan to end the war, but vexing issues like disarmament appeared unresolved.

Read: www.ndtv.com/world-news/h...

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Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 8d

The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Trump officials discussed sending elite Army division to Portland, text messages show

A high-ranking White House official was indiscreetly texting about the Portland, Ore., planning last weekend, according to messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

bit.ly

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 9d

This has to be the first ever Indo-Pacific Studies position advertised? external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

Lecturer, Indo-Pacific Studies

Share your knowledge and expertise in Indo-Pacific Studies with our cohort at UNSW Canberra.

external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au

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Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 9d

Is it our government’s position that if an American commits a drug crime with a cartel (or they allege that) it can just kill that person without trial even if not an immediate threat? I am genuinely trying to understand what if any lines they believe exist. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 10d

Totally normal.

Ashley Huebner @ahuebner.bsky.social · 10d

Chicago: “The Border Patrol official said that snipers rappelled down from helicopters on top of the apartment complex, as a precaution from potential violence.”

Trump’s Chicago ICE Crackdown Intensifies With Drones, Helicopters and Trucks

www.nytimes.com

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Ashley Huebner @ahuebner.bsky.social · 10d

Chicago: “The Border Patrol official said that snipers rappelled down from helicopters on top of the apartment complex, as a precaution from potential violence.”

Trump’s Chicago ICE Crackdown Intensifies With Drones, Helicopters and Trucks

www.nytimes.com

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Ian Hall @drianhall.bsky.social · 11d

"The president talked at length, and his comments should have confirmed to even the most sympathetic observer that he is, as the kids say, not okay."

Tom Nichols @radiofreetom.bsky.social · 11d

The generals and admirals at Quantico today should be forgiven if they walked out of the auditorium and wondered: What on earth is wrong with the commander in chief?

www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

The Commander in Chief Is Not Okay

Trump put on a disturbing show for America’s generals and admirals.

www.theatlantic.com