Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lewis Baston

@lewisbaston.bsky.social

20K followers 1.8K following 3.7K posts

Author of ‘Borderlines’ (Hodder, 2024). Psephologist, cat ‘owner’, traveller, flâneur. https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/lewis-baston/borderlines/9781399723763/

www.hodder.co.uk

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 21d

Delighted to announce that Borderlines is one of @waterstones.bsky.social paperbacks of the year!

Image of the cover of Borderlines, with a photograph of an abandoned customs post in the mist, on a gold background. The text to the right reads Waterstones Paperbacks of the Year.

14 12 96

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 5h

This is just over 66p per defendant! Lower than legal aid rates. A bargain; it’s an excellent read. I won’t spoiler it but the last bit is extremely sinister and you probably won’t have guessed how. The book as a whole left me thinking about truth, and how it is rationed in the courtroom.

The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · 8h

What’s that, you say?

You enjoy critically acclaimed gritty, authentic crime and legal thrillers?

You enjoy reading such thrillers on an electronic medium, such as e-book?

You enjoy ridonculous bargains?

#TheCutThroatTrial is a crazy £1.99 today.

Go nuts.

www.amazon.co.uk/Cut-Throat-T...

1 3 14

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 6h

Unzoomed #635 3/6 🟡🟡🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com looked at a map on this one.

Unzoomed

Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.

unzoomed.com

4 2

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 7h

Very best wishes for this week’s post. And the other thing, of course…

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 21h

He’ll be writing a book with Matt Goodwin next.

Ed Jennings @edjennings.bsky.social · 21h

Another one falls in Kent.

Reform has suspended county councillor Robert Ford after a complaint was made about him by 'several female members of staff.'

The party said that Cllr Ford refused to engage with the complaints process, so he has had the whip removed pending a disciplinary process.

2 10 56

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 21h

It certainly does. It’s a rune rather than a logo.

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 22h

UKIP's new logo looks a bit Far Righty.

2 1 12

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 21h

There is. And a jogger went past, going round and round I assume, just after I took the picture.

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 22h

Seen as I wander through Putney. I do hope bin day is Wednesday here.

An evening view of an office block called Parklife Studios.

2 19

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 22h

It’s either my fault or the ONS’s fault but a spreadsheet I was working on had mismatched data for Scottish Westminster constituencies. So I’ve wasted time and scarce energy and I’ll have to work out how to undo it or whether that’s even possible. Not feeling clever or capable.

2 9

Reposted by Lewis Baston

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 4d

Jenrick is absurdly incoherent on principles of free expression because he wants immediate arrests for "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) while turning up to court to defend shouting "Fuck Islam" while burning a Quran

www.theguardian.com/politics/art...

Robert Jenrick criticised for saying people shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ should be arrested

Tory leadership candidate’s comments around far-right protests described as nasty, divisive and ignorant

www.theguardian.com

8 32 76

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Just having fun with the headline - @gabrielmilland.bsky.social is making a serious point about stuff being put on the curriculum as a cheap but incoherent way for governments to look as if they’re doing something.

1 1 2

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Title for the final volume of George Melly’s memoirs just dropped.

Gabriel Milland @gabrielmilland.bsky.social · 1d

2 1 16

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Unzoomed #634 3/6 🔴🔴🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com

Unzoomed

Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.

unzoomed.com

6 2

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Two settings occur to me: one early-career in Edwardian Merseyside, which I think is a great setting. The other would be early 1920s and also feature Michael Collins.

1 2

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

I really hope you’re being serious about that project.

2 1

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

The crow filming was as I recall fine; I guess a more extended horror version of the story would have involved more crows and more opportunities for stuff to go wrong.

1 1

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

No, I think that’s fair (I found Elizabeth Sandifer’s take entertaining but unconvincing). It took a while before I realised that Martha was right: if she and De Vries had fled to Plymouth they would have been fine.

1 2

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Also - it does make me wonder whether the current regulatory regime is adequate in that we have a foreign-funded organisation that is not donating directly but supplying assistance to a party. I’ve always thought think tanks were a massive loophole in the regulatory system.

Steven Fielding @polprofsteve2024.bsky.social · 1d

As this detailed report shows Reform is a Trojan Horse for the US Christian right to secretly reshape British politics along Trumpian lines. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/w...

They Helped Topple Roe v. Wade. Now Their Sights Are Set on Britain.

www.nytimes.com

14 41

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks. I also wonder whether there are lessons in how Golden Dawn was tackled legally and politically, or whether that was an outlier experience arising from the strong Nazi and criminal nature of the party and the depth of the crisis.

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Not a Greece expert but New Democracy has recovered well from its post-crash lows while being firmly centre-right.

1 2

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...

4 6

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

A fantastic literary agent decided to sign me and I got a book contract with amazingly little fuss. I’ve also met lots of friends and chatted with experts and leaders.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 6d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

1 21

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Unzoomed #633 1/6 🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️
unzoomed.com pleased with that!

Unzoomed

Identify cities using satellite images in this daily puzzle game, where each guess zooms out for enhanced clues.

unzoomed.com

7 9

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

It’s got a pretty interesting history (if one finds urban rail systems interesting). Successor to the splendidly named Manhattan Transfer.

Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 1d

Very sorry for your loss.

Reposted by Lewis Baston

👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 2d

This is very cool as a visual and also yes I agree that a whole lot of people have not/do not want to realise this. It will reduce traffic to the busiest area, thereby reducing traffic in the ‘thru’ zones, without reducing access TO the ‘thru’ zones

Stephen Gower @sjgower.bsky.social · 2d

I made an infographic map. Oxford's Congestion Charge scheme (from 29th Oct) is not like most congestion charge schemes, because you can get to most streets in the city without being charged. My impression is a lot of people haven't realised this.

A street map of Oxford.

Woodstock Road, Banbury Road and the streets in their immediate vicinity are coloured pink. Botley Road and streets off it are coloured green. Cowley Road, Iffley Road and Abingdon Road and streets off them are coloured blue. Streets in Marston and Headington are coloured orange. The ring road matches the colours at each junction and fades between colours as it goes around. A small area in the middle is coloured yellow, and labelled "Central Permit Area". THe Congestion Charge traffic filters are indicated by black circles circles with white segments, those white segments correspond on a 24 hour clock face with when the filter isn't operational (and the remaining black, when the filters are operational). Crosses mark other filters in the city that are enforced by ANPR but are not part of the Congestion Charge scheme.

Text at the top of the image reads "Temporary Congestion Charge for Cars in Oxford 2025-2026. Any road outside the Central Permit Area can be accessed without passing any traffic filers by using the Ring Road and selecting an approporiate exit junction (matching colours on this map)."

A key at the bottom matches the filter types, with text "Traffic Filters. Hollow Way & Marston Ferry Road 7-9am and 3-6pm. St Cross Road, Hythe Bridge Street, Thames Street and St Clements, 7am-7pm. £5 daily permit covers all Congestion Charge filters. Free Permits available. For example for residents, business use, health and car, SEND and disabilty. Congestion Charge permits do not apply for other filters, such as High Street or in East Oxford/Cowley."

Small print reads "Full details at https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/transport-and-travel" and "©@sjgower Contains OpenStreetMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Locations of highway filters are approximate and for overview purposes only. v1.3"

1 13 53