Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 56m

Tremendously enlightening interview with Muhammad Shehada, well worth watching to the end for his insights into what the Gaza genocide means for us all

Owen Jones @owenjones.bsky.social · 3d

Is Israel's genocide finally over?

There's no better analyst to explain what this all means than the incredible Palestinian analyst Muhammad Shehada 👇👇👇

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1vG...

Is The Genocide OVER? - Everything Explained By Muhammad Shehada

YouTube video by Owen Jones

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 8h

The deportation order derives from the crime of which he has now been exonerated.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him

Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.

www.miamiherald.com

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Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 7h

Sunday reading:

I wrote about the aggrieved extremist who is currently firing thousands of federal workers and ravaging state capacity based on conspiratorial nonsense - and about mainstream media’s infuriating tendency to sanitize Russell Vought and the regime he serves.

This week’s piece:

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy

steady.page

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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 10h

ok, 'resistance to fascism' rankings ok UK politicians

grade based on, do they:

1. call reform fascist (or racist or far-right)
2. call trump admin fascist
3. connect reform to global fascism
4. draw values contrast on immigration
5. support trans rights
6. attempt a coalition

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

christ, i shudder to think what a UK version of this would show

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 1d

i made a model to assign scores for how robustly US politicians oppose fascism & graded 13 leading dems

criteria & method QTed, individual results in 🧵 below:

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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 12h

Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Has Accepted £2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election

Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...

www.desmog.com

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The Bar Council @thebarcouncil.bsky.social · 13h

The Bars, Faculty and Law Societies in the UK have come together and accused politicians of "irresponsible and dangerous" language that is putting lawyers at risk.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Lawyers warn of death threats after Reform and Tories' 'two-tier' claims

In an unprecedented intervention, six legal bodies, representing 250,000 lawyers, expressed “grave concern” over the language being used toward legal professionals

www.mirror.co.uk

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1d

Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?

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Free Movement @freemovement.bsky.social · 1d

In case you missed it: Afghan judge succeeds in High Court challenge to refusal of resettlement | Sonia Lenegan

Afghan judge succeeds in High Court challenge to refusal of resettlement - Free Movement

A judge from Afghanistan has successfully challenged a refusal to bring him to the UK under the Afghan Assistance and Relocations Programme, meaning that the

freemovement.org.uk

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Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 1d

If I see you posting AI slop, it's an instant block. Even if you think it's cute or says a lot about society. If you are purporting that some AI slop is real news, I will report you for misinformation, and then block you. Sloppers should be marginalised.

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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 1d

“Here Farage is, in Gill’s office, with Voloshyn’s wife Nadia, on the day Gill makes an intervention on behalf of Medvedchuk’s channels, with an employee of one of those channels, whose husband started bribing Gill to make these statements 6 days earlier”

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/11/s...

'Stunned?' Farage's Admission He Knew Nathan Gill but Not His Kremlin Associates Does Not Stand Up to Scrutiny

Insiders have told Byline Times, it is 'inconceivable' the Reform Leader did not know about his close aide's pro Russian statements

bylinetimes.com

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 1d

At least one senior Labour official seems to finally remember they aren't in Reform.
The changes won't just harm economy and country, they'll destroy families and force more people into becoming undocumented, leading to more deportations. They need scrapping not pausing.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Sir Sadiq Khan calls for pause on new immigration rules

The mayor of London said the changes had "moved the goalposts".

www.bbc.com

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 1d

So impressive

The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 1d

“Britain is a nation of neighbours, not strangers — and it’s time we built a politics of hope that reflects that.”

Zack Polanski with a message of unity and hope having been out door knocking Handsworth today.

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Asylum Matters @asylummatters.bsky.social · 2d

28 days.
That's how long many newly-recognised refugees now have to find a home, get a job, open a bank account - to build a whole new life.
That means homelessness is inevitable for many people.
Read about the slashing of the move on period here 👇
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Grey text reads "could you build a whole new life in 28 days?"

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Women for Refugee Women @4refugeewomen.bsky.social · 2d

🏠Everyone needs somewhere safe to call home.

But in the UK, many refugee women are pushed into homelessness by hostile asylum policies.

Homelessness places women at risk of harm, abuse, and violence.

#WorldHomelessDay 👇

1/🧵

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 3d

Dominic Casciani is generally much better than most of his colleagues, but even he can’t avoid this BBC habit of seeing every complex issue mainly through the lens of what it means for UK party politics

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 3d

This isn’t as bad as its headline, but it’d have benefited from reminding readers what the ECHR mainly prevents governments from doing in the immigration field, ie expelling people to face torture or similarly inhuman treatment, and tearing apart families with non-British members for no good reason

Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption

www.bbc.co.uk

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Young Roots @weareyoungroots.bsky.social · 2d

Today is #WorldHomelessDay.

Young refugees in the UK are facing a growing risk of homelessness. A sudden policy change has cut their move-on period from 56 days to just 28 — slashing the time they have to find housing, apply for Universal Credit, open a bank account, and access support.

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 2d

What happened to anyone who seriously threatened to reverse any part of the Thatcherite revolution? Who was it that enforced those penalties. There’s your answer, and there’s who is to blame.

The Guardian Y @theguardian.com
Follow
Thatcher was born 100 years ago and her reign feels a lifetime away. Why is her effect on the country still so huge? |
Martin Kettle

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 2d

None of us are safe in a world where basic norms in respect of the sanctity of human life are blithely disregarded. Those norms must be enforced, and enforced visibly. There must be political and legal consequences for every politician who made the genocide possible. The alternative is unthinkable.

Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 2d

The foreign secretary says the UK has been contributing to the peace process.

No. What the UK govt has been contributing to is the extermination of the Palestinian people.

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 2d

They counted them all in, and they counted them all out

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 2d

Out of curiosity, are BBC going to be acting as the government's stenographer like this for the whole year the utterly pointless PR stunt "one in one out" policy is running, or could they try actually ensuring context and balance in all stories about migration?
www.bbc.com/news/article...

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David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 3d

Palestinians will feel understandable relief. The West should feel nothing but shame. Gaza has been obliterated. The territory rendered uninhabitable. Tens of thousands murdered in cold blood. The entire population subjected to starvation tactics. And now, colonial subjugation under Trump and Blair

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CarolineJMolloy @carolinejmolloy.bsky.social · 3d

Amazing how a #bbcqt audience that presumably has been warmed up a bit by Zack amongst others, is sounding so basically decent on the whole, almost like beyond the Westminster village idiots & media tarts all thrilling to crypto fascism, there’s a world of sensible people

join.greenparty.org.uk

Join the Green Party

Join the Green Party from just £6 a year. Become a member today - join the only party standing up for people and planet.

join.greenparty.org.uk

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 3d

This isn’t as bad as its headline, but it’d have benefited from reminding readers what the ECHR mainly prevents governments from doing in the immigration field, ie expelling people to face torture or similarly inhuman treatment, and tearing apart families with non-British members for no good reason

Would leaving the ECHR really 'stop the boats'?

The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Alasdair Mackenzie

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 3d

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Greg Jenner @gregjenner.bsky.social · 3d

Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d

Nigel Farage says UK teachers are ‘poisoning our kids’ and predicts strikes as PM

Exclusive: Reform UK leader, speaking at event for private US college, also claimed the ‘Marxist left’ controls education Nigel Farage has predicted teachers would go on strike within weeks of a Reform UK government, and accused them of “poisoning our kids” by telling them that black children are victims and white children oppressors. The Reform UK leader set out his view on British schools in an event for a private US Christian college in Michigan, claiming the “Marxist left” was “now in control of our education system”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Islington Green Party @islingtongreens.bsky.social · 3d

More than 750 members in ISLINGTON ALONE

We are only getting started 👉🏻 join.greenparty.org.uk

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