Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 1d

New AI & Human Rights newsletter is out.

Featuring a massive investigation into mass surveillance by @lighthousereports.com and loads of other AI and human rights craic

aihumanrights.blog/2025/10/15/1...

15 October 2025

Greetings all, and happy Wednesday. It is very autumnal in London. Significantly less so than it has been in Crete where i’ve been on leave the last couple of weeks. Prompting a very harsh re…

aihumanrights.blog

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 1d

Just arrived, and very much looking forward to reading this

Image of the double black box, book by Ashley deeks

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Pop Base @popbase.tv · 2d

D’Angelo has passed away at the age of 51 following battle with pancreatic cancer.

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Special Rapporteur FoAA @unsrapporteurfoaa.bsky.social · 2d

Freedom of association & assembly are under existential threat.
This report calls for urgent global action to rebuild solidarity, protect civil society & uphold democracy.
🧵👇

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Aoife Nolan @aoifenolan.bsky.social · 4d

Conor Gearty died a month ago yesterday. He was deeply committed to human rights law without idealising it. He recognised its power & value while acknowledging its limitations (& those of the people engaging with it). He was also an exceptional lawyer. This is a fitting final piece in the @lrb.co.uk

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Matt Pollard @mpollard.bsky.social · 3d

Register now for this online @icrc.org event, 4 November at 13:30 CET, with my colleague @trodenhauser.bsky.social.

EVENT: From Hackers to Tech Companies: IHL and the Involvement of Civilians in ICT Activities in Armed Conflict

www.icrc.org

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d

While the perpetrators of Gaza’s genocide pose as its saviours, survivors return home – to a wasteland | Nesrine Malik

Western leaders attending the Sharm el-Sheikh summit have enabled and sponsored this slaughter. They are in no position to build a Palestinian future, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

www.theguardian.com

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 5d

“The big advantage of bikes is that they go directly from where you start to where you finish, when you need to go. The advantage over cars is that they need perhaps 1/10th of the amount of space. Roads that jam up quickly with cars can carry effectively unlimited numbers of people by bicycle.”

Why e-bikes are more important the EVs

Bikes can actually transform cities in the way driverless cars promise

danielknowles.substack.com

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Ben Stanley @benstanley.eu · 6d

Nicely done

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 6d

Vagueness in these proposals - which appear to expressly target Palestine protests - is worrying & on face inconsistent with human rights law.

Freedom of expression includes the right to shock, offend & disturb.

So protest might shock, offend, or disturb. That’s ok.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Universities risk sanctions over Gaza protests, watchdog says - BBC News

Arif Ahmed says freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to harass and discriminate Jewish students.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 6d

This is great. Worth a read.

UK Constitutional Law Association @ukcla.bsky.social · 7d

Alan Greene: Bringing facts to a vibes fight: Kayfabe and debates on the UK and the ECHR ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/09/a...

Alan Greene: Bringing facts to a vibes fight: Kayfabe and debates on the UK and the ECHR

It is now 25 years since the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) entered into force and far from this endurance cementing its legitimacy, the judicial protection of human rights in the UK finds itself in t…

ukconstitutionallaw.org

Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 6d

I thought the first one was some weird sense of humour thing. Still don’t get it.

Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 6d

If the Norwegians had a sense of humour, they'd give Obama a second peace prize today.

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Emily Jones @emilyjones.bsky.social · 7d

Join us on the 22nd October 2025 from 1-2pm UK time for this talk by Professor Susan Marks (LSE) on: 'If the World Is a Family, What Kind of Family Is It?' This event will be held online and in person and all are welcome. To register, please go to: www.ncl.ac.uk/law/events/i...

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Aric Toler @aric.bsky.social · 8d

Our New York Times Visual Investigations team is hiring a reporter. It's the same job I have -- use visual investigation/OSINT/etc. skills to report on the world.

You'll need to be based in/near NYC. Pay range is ~110-130k.

www.nytco.com/careers/job-...

Open-Source Reporter (Video Journalist), Visual Investigations | The New York Times Company

www.nytco.com

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Luke Moffett @lukemoffett.bsky.social · 8d

At least 24 killed as paraglider drops bombs at Myanmar Buddhist festival it comes as the junta is running low on aircraft but is increasingly heavily bombarding civilians aligned with rebel groups #warcrimes
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Myanmar: At least 24 killed as paraglider bombs Buddhist festival

Locals told the BBC the destruction from the motorised paraglider made it hard to identify victims.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 9d

It is outrageous that a company is allowed to make this much profit on the back of such suffering

HJA Civil Liberties @hjacivillibs.bsky.social · 9d

Clearsprings Ready Homes, a company providing accommodation to asylum seekers, has made nearly £187m in profits since being awarded lucrative government contracts, despite allegations of terrible conditions at the hotels it uses www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Asylum hotel provider makes £180m profit despite claims of inedible food and rationed loo paper

Asylum seekers and charities tell BBC of

www.bbc.co.uk

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Jonathan Tranter @jonathantranter.bsky.social · 10d

"Community kitchens feeding thousands of besieged residents in Sudan's El Fasher have shut down after running out of food, volunteers said on Sunday, raising fears of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in the North Darfur capital" sudantribune.com/article/305724

Community kitchens close in Sudan's besieged El Fasher as food runs out - Sudan Tribune

October 5, 2025 (EL FASHER) – Community kitchens feeding thousands of besieged residents in Sudan’s El Fasher have shut down after running out of food, volunteers said on Sunday, raising fears of a de...

sudantribune.com

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Simon Gosden @simongosden.bsky.social · 12d

Today is the 89th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street when the people of the East End of London halted the march of Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts through Stepney.

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 12d

Great and incredibly timely piece by Conor Gearty on the UK Supreme Court’s role in ‘Erasing Human Rights’

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Conor Gearty · Unwelcome Remnant: Erasing the Human Rights Act

The Supreme Court is quietly editing the Human Rights Act out of existence. In cases where human rights cannot be...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 16d

The Starmer 'decisions that will not always be comfortable' line has absolutely sent me. There are lots of things I think Labour should do that Labour members would *hate* but I think they should do them because they would work. 'Labour members hate it' has become how this government self-soothes:

Labour’s unpopularity problem

It incorrectly equates internal party discomfort with policies that anyone else likes and might aid the economy

www.ft.com

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 16d

She can’t even answer the question. What a stupid, insulting and clearly ill thought through, policy

Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 17d

Krishnan Guru Murthy, "Isn't it a bit insulting to say to an Indian doctor who is working 60-70 hours a week that in order to get settled status he's got to volunteer?"

Rachel Reeves, "We want people to contribute if they come to our country"

Labour have gone utterly bonkers

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Greg Davenport @gfazh.bsky.social · 17d

Yep since 2019 we’ve paid £10-£15k in visa fees including around £5k to the NHS during which time my wife had no access to public funds and was paying income tax and NI like everyone else. Stop pretending it isn’t already a massive rip off and overwhelmingly net positive for the country.

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 17d

Migrants already "earn the right to settlement" through extortionate visa costs, which can run into tens of thousands of pounds. They prop up key services, including through the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Pushing the hostile environment on steroids helps no-one.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mahmood demands migrants earn right to settlement in UK

New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Allison West @allisonrwest.bsky.social · 20d

Join us on Monday, 6 October in Berlin for a film screening and talk about Libya’s Detention Industry & Italy’s Complicity👇

@refugeesinlibya.bsky.social
@de-criminalize.bsky.social
@medico2.bsky.social @forensicarchi.bsky.social
@libyanjustice.bsky.social

ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights @ecchr.bsky.social · 21d

Save the date: 6 Oct - MENA Prison Forum in Berlin #5 Libya

The Berlin premiere of the documentary „Escaping Libya’s Detention Industry“ will be followed by a discussion on international crimes committed against migrants and refugees in Libya and the Mediterranean.
www.ecchr.eu/en/event/men...

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Daragh Murray @daragh.bsky.social · 17d

This all the way.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 17d

Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!

Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 17d

Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!

Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.

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