Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Aug 28

And if they hadn’t merrily handed over 5 million quid to offload the Obs

Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Lizzi Collinge MP @lizzicollinge.bsky.social · Aug 28

Best birthday socks from @hannahcem.bsky.social and a beautiful pile of books from my Mum. I'm particularly excited to get cracking on the @stephmerritt.bsky.social ones!

A pile of books on a wooden table. Titles include Spider Woman - Lady Hale, a Life; Material World by Ed Conway and Prophecy and Sacrilege by S. J. Parris. Peeking out the bottom is a book by the author Lissa Evans.

Flowery socks embroidered with the legend Fuck All The Way Off.

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Aug 28

Happy birthday - honoured to be part of the festivities! 🥳

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · Jul 22

Even during genocide, two brothers in Gaza bring reading to their community.

A book stall in central Gaza is keeping literature alive amidst genocide.

Photo by Esraa Abo Qamar A small bookstall in the central Gaza Strip is keeping reading alive amidst Israel’s unrelenting chaos and violence, The Electronic Intifada reports. The stall, called Eqra…

buff.ly

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 22

The Art of a Lie is one of my books of the year, and it was a treat to interview Laura in this beautiful venue 🤩

Laura Shepherd-Robinson @laurasrobinson.bsky.social · Jul 22

Wonderful event at York’s STUNNING Merchant Venturer’s Hall last night with the brilliant @stephmerritt.bsky.social 😍

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 22

What could possibly go wrong?

Kriszta Satori @fulelo.bsky.social · Jul 22

#BBCNews - OpenAI and UK sign deal to use AI in public services
www.bbc.com/news/article...

OpenAI and UK sign deal to use AI in public services

The US tech firm behind ChatGPT say it will work with the UK government to "deliver prosperity for all".

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · Jul 22

“Since AFP was founded in 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner.

But none of us remember witnessing colleagues die of hunger"

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Jul 21

A horrifying statement published today by the Editorial Committee of the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die"

Translation from French to English by @cnorristrent.bsky.social:

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die
July 21, 2025

AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip since its staff journalists left in 2024.

Along with a few others, they are now the only ones left to report what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years.

We refuse to watch them die.

One of them, Bashar, has been working with AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then freelance photographer, and since 2024, as lead photographer. On July 19th he managed to post a message on Facebook: “I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work anymore.”

Bashar, 30, works & lives in the same conditions as all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another under Israeli bombings. For > a year he’s lived in utter destitution, working at extreme risk to his life. Hygiene is a major issue for him, with recurring bouts of severe intestinal illness.

Since Feb, Bashar’s been living in the ruins of his home in Gaza City with his mother, 4 brothers & sisters and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any furnishings, except a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that one of his brothers had “fallen, due to hunger.”

Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, it’s no longer enough to buy food, or they have to pay completely exorbitant prices. The banking system has collapsed, and those who exchange money via online bank accounts charge a commission of up to 40%.

AFP no longer has the ability to provide them with a vehicle and there is not enough fuel to allow these journalists to travel for their reporting. Driving a car means becoming a target for Israeli airstrikes. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. (alt txt continued in next post)

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Summer Brennan @summerbrennan.bsky.social · Jul 21

For the love of humanity, stop asking this scam machine questions! Stop asking it for advice! I get it, it was an entertaining novelty for a hot second. But it's bad. Stop stop stop.

Amy Diehl, Ph.D. @amydiehl.bsky.social · Jul 20

Study finds A.I. LLMs advise women to ask for lower salaries than men. When prompted w/ a user profile of same education, experience & job role, differing only by gender, ChatGPT advised the female applicant to request $280K salary; Male applicant=$400K.
thenextweb.com/news/chatgpt...

ChatGPT advises women to ask for lower salaries, study finds

A new study has found that large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT consistently advise women to ask for lower salaries than men.

thenextweb.com

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Natasha Walter @natashawalter.bsky.social · Jul 20

Women seeking asylum in Britain are sisters, not strangers.
If the government is serious about tackling violence against women, it should do more to protect refugee women.
Glad to sign this letter & grateful to all who signed @4refugeewomen.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Influential women urge Labour to include asylum seekers in plan to tackle violence

Exclusive: Letter warns of ‘two-tier’ system if asylum seekers are excluded from promise to halve violence against women and girls

www.theguardian.com

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 19

You have completed your full transformation into Martin from Friday Night Dinner

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 19

Not the actual London Library as I first thought, which would have been amazing, but still a great story 🦊

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jul 19

Fantastic

London library forced to briefly close after fox 'made itself comfortable' inside

Foxes have been known to live everywhere in London from back gardens to the top of the Shard

www.standard.co.uk

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Marcus @marcusjmerritt.com · Jul 14

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 14

It looked like the aftermath of an unimaginable catastrophe. High in protein though, I expect

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 14

This reminds me of when my son decided to see if you could make a ham smoothie in the nutribullet.

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 13

I bought an ice lolly this morning after swimming and it was so cold it froze to my lip and ripped off a big chunk of skin, and suddenly there was all this blood dripping down my lolly stick and my hand, and it just goes to show that summer is extremely dangerous, look after yourselves out there ⚠️

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 12

My son just ran into the kitchen, skidded to a halt and said, ‘Raynor LOSE, am I right?’

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Hannah Fearn @hannahfearn.bsky.social · Jul 12

Hollow laugh from every woman who dates left-leaning men

Marc Cooper @marccooper.bsky.social · Jul 12

Starmer isn't the man he thinks he is. He believes he's righteous and fair-minded, but there's a cruel streak in him that power is exposing.

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 12

💯 😂

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 11

Not many men can carry off a sash...

Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 11

Think this might become my equivalent of the Obama speech in Fleabag...

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · Jul 11

🇫🇷 President Macron: "But I have to say the European Union was stronger with you and you were stronger with the European Union."

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 9

Yep, my son has AuDHD & seeing it used as an excuse for being a dick makes me livid.

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 9

Yes, exactly! It's a topic I'm really interested in, even before this debacle - your book is on my TBR list!

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Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris @stephmerritt.bsky.social · Jul 9

Well worth a read (you can get it free but have to register) ⬇️

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · Jul 9

I've been writing in @thebookseller.com about how questions on the veracity of elements of The Salt Path highlight some of the serious issues associated with the prevalence of the 'nature cure' narrative.

#booksky #naturewriting #lifewriting #memoir #chronicillness

The Salt Path scandal: questions raised about the veracity of memoir

The Salt Path scandal shows how problematic "the nature cure" narrative can be.

www.thebookseller.com

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Damian Carrington @dpcarrington.bsky.social · Jul 9

Thousands meet their MPs to show huge demand for climate action

- Mass lobby in Westminster is kicked off with giant image on cliffs of Dover stating ‘89% of people want climate action’

#climatecrisis
Story by me
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Thousands meet their MPs to show huge demand for climate action

Mass lobby in Westminster kicked off with giant image on white cliffs of Dover stating ‘89% of people want climate action’

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Stephanie Merritt/SJ Parris

Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · Jul 9

This morning, once again, there’ll be a bunch of people and organisations wrestling with the issue of deleting their X accounts. “But what about our follower counts?” Doesn’t matter. “But the reach they represent?” It really doesn’t matter. You think it matters, it really doesn’t. 1/

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