Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sarah May

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 15h

I will bet my bike that close to zero of the British racists that this law is pandering to could pass A-level English.

Migrants will be required to pass A Level standard of English

Migrants will be required to pass tough new English language requirements under a law introduced in Parliament today.

www.gov.uk

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Reposted by Sarah May

Anna Orridge @anna-orridge.bsky.social · 1h

If you cut off food and vital supplies to a place, leaving it besieged, then a small part of the population will start resorting to violence and extortion. It's a human nature constant.

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Matt Round @mattround.com · 11h

OpenAI’s strategy is very clear, it’s trying to get people - especially young people - so reliant on its products intellectually & emotionally (& now sexually!) that going without them becomes unthinkable. And they need signs of that strategy working to keep the funding flowing in

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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 1h

For these folks they are clearly similar concepts

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Tuffy @smtuffy.bsky.social · 14h

The pivot from “I’m building god” to “I’m building a jerkoff tool” is pretty funny

Reuters @reuters.com · 14h

OpenAI to allow mature content on ChatGPT for adult verified users starting December reut.rs/3J8NTAi

OpenAI to allow mature content on ChatGPT for adult verified users starting December

OpenAI will allow mature content for ChatGPT users who verify their age on the platform starting in December, CEO Sam Altman said, after the chatbot was made restrictive for users in mental distress.

reut.rs

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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 2h

Me, in The Guardian, wanging on about migration. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Country diary: Eyes to the skies for autumn’s mass migration | Lev Parikian

Hampstead, London: Spring has the dawn chorus, autumn has ‘vismig’, the changing of the guard of millions of birds – an early start for me, then, to try and glimpse this remarkable phenomenon

www.theguardian.com

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Prof Chris Jackson @seismatters.bsky.social · 18h

I do not think non-members can respond, but the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is running a survey on trans-inclusion at competition level. Feel free to email the BMC with your thoughts: [email protected].

And check out this excellent article: www.ukclimbing.com/articles/fea...

FEATURE: Trans Climbers Welcome

Following the publication of my writing exploring the relationship between climbing and autism, I found myself thinking towards a companion piece about experiencing climbing through the lens of...

www.ukclimbing.com

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Nick Acheson @themarshtit.bsky.social · 3h

Two headlines:

1. Record rise in atmospheric CO2. +2 degrees C by 2050.

2. People can now sext with AI chat bots.

Three conclusions:

1. Am I the only one who - if that’s humanity - wonders whether he’s human?

2. Our extinction is not far off.

3. We richly deserve it.

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Andy Marshall @fotofacade.bsky.social · 3h

Ever get the sense that a wall is trying to speak? At Waltham Abbey, this battered surface tells of remarkable survival — latent with memory. #thread

A weathered wall at Waltham Abbey built from mixed stone and brick, showing centuries of repairs, textures, and layers revealing its long architectural history.

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Dr Wendy Morrison @hillfortian.bsky.social · 11h

Yeah it's only matter of time before they decide archaeology is the reason for the housing crisis, too.

Build baby build until we have no past, no future... What a present.

Debbie Tann MBE @debbietann.bsky.social · 22h

We are being sold a false story that nature is the enemy. That newts, bats, snails and spiders are somehow responsible for the so-called housing crisis and a blocker to economic growth. This is a deliberate lie - using a cynically chosen group of species that could be found in a witches cauldron.

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Reposted by Sarah May

Stevie D @stevieinselby.bsky.social · 18h

In 2024, about 600,000 who turned 19.
Of those, about 300,000 took at least one A level.
Of those, about 56,000 took some form of English A level.
Of those, only 13,000 took English Language A level.

That's about 2% of the population.

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Reposted by Sarah May

Ruth Watson @ruthwatson.bsky.social · 1d

Right-wingers do seem to love Russia
And Russian money.

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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Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · 14h

“Copyright growing pains” is one hell of a euphemism for the biggest IP theft in history

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 2d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

www.scientificamerican.com

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Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 19h

I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 14h

That's twenty-seven flat-out murders. That's twenty-seven lives taken without even a semblance of a legal justification under domestic or international law.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/u...

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Grodaeu @groda.eu · 13h

The pivot to porn was of course inevitable but it won't bring in anywhere close to enough money. They need insane amounts. Some dudes who want to see cut pasted gifs of naked women w cut pasted celebrity heads won't cut it

Reuters @reuters.com · 14h

OpenAI to allow mature content on ChatGPT for adult verified users starting December reut.rs/3J8NTAi

OpenAI to allow mature content on ChatGPT for adult verified users starting December

OpenAI will allow mature content for ChatGPT users who verify their age on the platform starting in December, CEO Sam Altman said, after the chatbot was made restrictive for users in mental distress.

reut.rs

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Reposted by Sarah May

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

For reasons, it would be v. helpful to have information from a broad range of academic and non-academic (incl. GLAM) users of the BBC Written Archives OTHER THAN historians, briefly on: 1) What you've used it for and 2) How the proposed changes would impact on your research.

Reposts welcomed.

Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...

Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research

observer.co.uk

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Aurelien Mondon @aurelmondon.bsky.social · 22h

Who could have guessed that demonising trans people would impact on their rights?

The moral panic was never about 'legitimate concerns' or protecting women or children, it was always about vilification, oppression and the mainstreaming of reactionary politics
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Trans people at risk of exclusion from many UK public spaces, rights expert says

Council of Europe commissioner voices concerns after April’s supreme court ruling on legal definition of a woman

www.theguardian.com

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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 22h

And of course Battlestar Galactica is the sci-fi that does this, the Galactica survives because it wasn't high tech, we open with it about to be turned into a museum and then everything else is destroyed

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

Double kudos to @jonhenley.bsky.social and the @theguardian.com for:

a) taking the trouble to report on a set of continental European elections where the far-right didn't sweep all before it!

b) calling the far-right the far-right, not 🤮 'the hard-right'!

Portugal’s far-right Chega falls well short of expectations in local elections

Party hoped to take 30 municipalities but secured three after share of vote halved from parliamentary elections

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Sarah May

Jim Rossignol @rossignol.bsky.social · 23h

"quarter of the typical energy bill in 2024 was profit. That is equivalent to every household paying £416 a year so other people can grow rich. The water industry tells a similar story. Almost a third of the average bill goes towards funding shareholder dividends and interest payments."

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d

Soaring bills are the gift that keeps on giving for Reform. Shame Labour doesn’t have the guts to do anything about them | Mathew Lawrence

A cost of living crisis is not inevitable if there is the will to stop companies extracting profits from Britain’s essential services, says Mathew Lawrence of the Common Wealth thinktank

www.theguardian.com

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Geoff Belknap @curatorgeoff.bsky.social · 1d

🔔🔔JOB KLAXON🔔🔔🔔
Come and join the team at NMS - we're looking for a new Head of Collections Services. It's a brilliant role and a great team.

Details
Salary - £70.692-80,152
Hours - FT 35 Hours per week
Deadline - Nov 9th, 2025

careers.nms.ac.uk/job/780754

Head of Collections Services

careers.nms.ac.uk

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Reposted by Sarah May

Lee Harris @leeharris.ft.com · 1d

The insurance industry has stepped up efforts to limit future payouts over for petrochemical disasters, following a record judgment by Sri Lanka’s supreme court over the world’s biggest recorded plastic spill. on.ft.com/4n49rvU

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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 1d

Seeing a lot of racist sexist ableist homophobic posts attacking Trump. It's not hard to attack Trump, you don't need to drag in how he looks, his family's ethnicity etc.

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Sarah May @sarahmay1.bsky.social · 1d

Man of the people, anti-establishment, courageous self sacrifice etc

Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 1d

Claims he's just a regular journalist doing his journalising on behalf of the silent millions... checks out for me..

Tommy Robinson
stopped at border driving
Bentley with thousands in
cash'
Far-Right activist insulted police
officers after being arrested for
refusing to give them pin to his
phone, court hears

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