Peter Oates
@thirdlightpress.bsky.social
Third Light Press occasionally publishes Kindle versions of history and historical fiction (and one collection of Augusta Webster's poetry). We look for neglected books that we think someone might want to read again. We're often wrong about that.
Pinned
Gent in the profile pic is Martin Longman, my great grandfather. Came to England aged 16 around 1886 and eventually founded Longman's florists, the company that made Princess Elizabeth's wedding bouquet and her coronation bouquet when she became Queen. Immigrants, eh?
Reposted by Peter Oates
Me, an idiot: I'm worried about these parties that seem really hostile to darker-skinned people.
James Orr, an actual associate professor at actual Cambridge University: It is impossible for populists to be undemocratic, because of the Greek origins of the word "democracy".
James Orr, an actual associate professor at actual Cambridge University: It is impossible for populists to be undemocratic, because of the Greek origins of the word "democracy".
January 18, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Me, an idiot: I'm worried about these parties that seem really hostile to darker-skinned people.
James Orr, an actual associate professor at actual Cambridge University: It is impossible for populists to be undemocratic, because of the Greek origins of the word "democracy".
James Orr, an actual associate professor at actual Cambridge University: It is impossible for populists to be undemocratic, because of the Greek origins of the word "democracy".
Reposted by Peter Oates
It’s a real shame that Nigel Farage is too unwell to do interviews the morning after Donald Trump threatens us with sanctions.
Here he is with “the bravest man he ever met”. He campaigned to make Trump President, and has spent the last year enjoying all the chaos he has caused.
Here he is with “the bravest man he ever met”. He campaigned to make Trump President, and has spent the last year enjoying all the chaos he has caused.
January 18, 2026 at 10:51 AM
It’s a real shame that Nigel Farage is too unwell to do interviews the morning after Donald Trump threatens us with sanctions.
Here he is with “the bravest man he ever met”. He campaigned to make Trump President, and has spent the last year enjoying all the chaos he has caused.
Here he is with “the bravest man he ever met”. He campaigned to make Trump President, and has spent the last year enjoying all the chaos he has caused.
Reposted by Peter Oates
It is simply a lie to claim that the Conservative government (or any other UK government in recent history) oversaw 'an open borders experiment".
No excuse for the PM or Reed repeating this lie or for media not describing it as such.
No excuse for the PM or Reed repeating this lie or for media not describing it as such.
“Robert Jenrick is the man who as Immigration Minister oversaw the open borders experiment that led to the biggest increase in illegal immigration in our country”
Labour's Steve Reed reacts to Robert Jenrick's decision to defect from the Conservatives to Reform UK
Labour's Steve Reed reacts to Robert Jenrick's decision to defect from the Conservatives to Reform UK
January 16, 2026 at 8:37 AM
It is simply a lie to claim that the Conservative government (or any other UK government in recent history) oversaw 'an open borders experiment".
No excuse for the PM or Reed repeating this lie or for media not describing it as such.
No excuse for the PM or Reed repeating this lie or for media not describing it as such.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Robert Jenrick: an apology. thecritic.co.uk/fran...
January 15, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Robert Jenrick: an apology. thecritic.co.uk/fran...
Reposted by Peter Oates
Labour can legitimately argue that the Conservatives' immigration policy was chaotic, cruel and cack-handed, but that's very different to Starmer's repeated claim that it operated "an open borders experiment". That claim is both false and actively dangerous.
January 15, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Labour can legitimately argue that the Conservatives' immigration policy was chaotic, cruel and cack-handed, but that's very different to Starmer's repeated claim that it operated "an open borders experiment". That claim is both false and actively dangerous.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Reminder that this is who Jenrick is - a man so devoid of soul that he had cartoon murals painted over in a *children's asylum unit* just in case a terrified kid might find them momentarily cheering.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
Minister Robert Jenrick ordered painting over of child asylum unit murals
Robert Jenrick is reported to have considered the cartoon images in the Dover centre too welcoming.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 15, 2026 at 4:36 PM
Reminder that this is who Jenrick is - a man so devoid of soul that he had cartoon murals painted over in a *children's asylum unit* just in case a terrified kid might find them momentarily cheering.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli...
Reposted by Peter Oates
This "open borders" line is *infuriating* - these people came here to study or work, because they had a uni place or a job to come to. They paid visa fees, student fees, NHS surcharge - and many of them are doing challenging and important work - staffing our care homes, for example, including Mum's.
Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers.
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
!["And this is what Keir Starmer’s press secretary has said about Robert Jenrick at the lobby briefing this morning.
[Highlighted] Robert Jenrick was the immigration minister in a government that presided over an open borders experiment [Highlighted], a health minister who left people stuck on waiting lists, and a Treasury minister during the worst decline in living standards on record.”
While Reform continues to welcome failed Tory retreads, this Labor government is putting the country back on track."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cixgmtrg7nzy4gkmyfeosaox/bafkreibe3jczrmbmzfnhj2adl4qe432lbpmcbn6m6qrentwih7vxj4fu7y@jpeg)
January 15, 2026 at 2:29 PM
This "open borders" line is *infuriating* - these people came here to study or work, because they had a uni place or a job to come to. They paid visa fees, student fees, NHS surcharge - and many of them are doing challenging and important work - staffing our care homes, for example, including Mum's.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers.
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
January 15, 2026 at 2:14 PM
Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers.
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders".
It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer
Reposted by Peter Oates
The tripwire force is finally here... But instead of being in Ukraine to deter Russia, it is within NATO territory to deter one NATO ally from violating another NATO ally's sovereignty.
The world turned upside down.
The world turned upside down.
Europe is deploying a tripwire in case of U.S. attack. Crazy times.
January 14, 2026 at 5:25 PM
The tripwire force is finally here... But instead of being in Ukraine to deter Russia, it is within NATO territory to deter one NATO ally from violating another NATO ally's sovereignty.
The world turned upside down.
The world turned upside down.
Reposted by Peter Oates
And here we are: the entire transatlantic alliance is now talking about Greenland, instead of talking about ending the war in Ukraine.
January 14, 2026 at 1:36 PM
And here we are: the entire transatlantic alliance is now talking about Greenland, instead of talking about ending the war in Ukraine.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Banning social media for kids may be good or bad but that guy is a comically obvious bullshit artist with entire books full of trite lessons extrapolated from anecdotes that are themselves barely half-true.
January 14, 2026 at 7:31 AM
Banning social media for kids may be good or bad but that guy is a comically obvious bullshit artist with entire books full of trite lessons extrapolated from anecdotes that are themselves barely half-true.
Reposted by Peter Oates
The government retreat over AI and copyright is the headline, but yesterday's evidence from Google was also... interesting.
thecritic.co.uk/arti...
thecritic.co.uk/arti...
January 14, 2026 at 8:00 AM
The government retreat over AI and copyright is the headline, but yesterday's evidence from Google was also... interesting.
thecritic.co.uk/arti...
thecritic.co.uk/arti...
Reposted by Peter Oates
The utterly shameless & widely covered "report" out today, claiming net zero will "cost" £9tn is based on:
* Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc
AND
* Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero
I kid you not, it is that stupid
* Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc
AND
* Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero
I kid you not, it is that stupid
🧵A political/media guide to the "truth" about net-zero
1) Add up costs to install & run a net-zero energy system
2) Pretend fossil-fuelled alternatives wld be free
3) Do say "eco zealots are bankrupting us"
4) Don't say "free cars if we scrap net-zero" cos it sounds ridiculous
5) That's it!
1/10
1) Add up costs to install & run a net-zero energy system
2) Pretend fossil-fuelled alternatives wld be free
3) Do say "eco zealots are bankrupting us"
4) Don't say "free cars if we scrap net-zero" cos it sounds ridiculous
5) That's it!
1/10
January 13, 2026 at 7:37 AM
The utterly shameless & widely covered "report" out today, claiming net zero will "cost" £9tn is based on:
* Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc
AND
* Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero
I kid you not, it is that stupid
* Assuming free fossil-fuel energy, free petrol cars, free gas boilers, free gas power plants etc
AND
* Including climate damages in the "cost" of net zero
I kid you not, it is that stupid
Reposted by Peter Oates
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
January 7, 2026 at 9:49 AM
If the UK government had a Culture Secretary, that person would be in a position to take a view about whether child porn on demand was a good thing, or a bad thing. thecritic.co.uk/brin...
Reposted by Peter Oates
Amazingly, Zahawi only got round to deleting the below after the press conference announcing his defection to Reform.
January 12, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Amazingly, Zahawi only got round to deleting the below after the press conference announcing his defection to Reform.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
How to Read an "AI" Press Release — Sonja Drimmer
Every so often someone like Mark Zuckerberg or Sam Altman will dribble out some unadorned text in Times New Roman font, announcing with stentorian certitude the advent of a new world that their latest...
sonjadrimmer.com
July 30, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Zuckerberg farted out some nonsense today, and since most media outlets refuse to report critically any time a tech CEO offers them some a pseudoserious press release, I've decided to do it for them.
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/7/30/how-to-read-an-ai-press-release
Reposted by Peter Oates
"The question is not only how to keep universities solvent, but how to ensure that, in ten or twenty years’ time, they are still universities."
Three short paragraphs, and you've got the whole mind-bending mess that is #UKHE finance & governance neatly laid out.
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
January 11, 2026 at 9:43 AM
"The question is not only how to keep universities solvent, but how to ensure that, in ten or twenty years’ time, they are still universities."
Reposted by Peter Oates
Three short paragraphs, and you've got the whole mind-bending mess that is #UKHE finance & governance neatly laid out.
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
January 10, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Three short paragraphs, and you've got the whole mind-bending mess that is #UKHE finance & governance neatly laid out.
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
This is why it's all so exhausting: our managers declare there's only one static frame, while we know their framing is part of the issue.
💡 www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/01/10/w...
Reposted by Peter Oates
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
January 8, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I call on my party and my government to remove themselves entirely from X and communicate with the public where they actually participate online and can be protected from such illegality.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Going back to when Justin Webb as the BBC's America correspondent during the W Bush era believed he had to fight what he viewed as institutional anti-Americanism, it is always worth taking a closer look at the think tank, media and social media circles shaping the worldview of senior broadcasters
Heard similar on Radio 4 this morning. Was really, really odd. Talking about accusations of fraud involving Somalis. Not sure what - at all - had to do with ICE shooting a woman did.
Felt like classic 'some say it's rainy outside, others say it's sunny' faux impartiality
Felt like classic 'some say it's rainy outside, others say it's sunny' faux impartiality
Why’s BBC R6 news explicitly highlighting ethnicity of local Minneapolis councillor talking about woman shot by ICE? Can’t see any reason his Somali heritage is relevant. Same time repeats trump lies re ‘self-defence’ despite footage showing otherwise. Another eg @petergeoghegan.bsky.social
January 8, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Going back to when Justin Webb as the BBC's America correspondent during the W Bush era believed he had to fight what he viewed as institutional anti-Americanism, it is always worth taking a closer look at the think tank, media and social media circles shaping the worldview of senior broadcasters
Reposted by Peter Oates
I understand the pressures on the BBC, but Radio 4's coverage of the Minneapolis shooting is an example of "bad balance".
It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder".
The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.
It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder".
The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.
January 8, 2026 at 8:38 AM
I understand the pressures on the BBC, but Radio 4's coverage of the Minneapolis shooting is an example of "bad balance".
It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder".
The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.
It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder".
The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.
Reposted by Peter Oates
The US government is now freely killing people at sea, in other lands, and on its own streets.
It is difficult to see what more is needed for Congress and the Supreme Court to exercise their constitutional duty to check and balance what is now a rogue state abroad and a gangster state at home.
It is difficult to see what more is needed for Congress and the Supreme Court to exercise their constitutional duty to check and balance what is now a rogue state abroad and a gangster state at home.
January 7, 2026 at 9:39 PM
The US government is now freely killing people at sea, in other lands, and on its own streets.
It is difficult to see what more is needed for Congress and the Supreme Court to exercise their constitutional duty to check and balance what is now a rogue state abroad and a gangster state at home.
It is difficult to see what more is needed for Congress and the Supreme Court to exercise their constitutional duty to check and balance what is now a rogue state abroad and a gangster state at home.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Fifty million Brits had a Covid vaccine.
The speed at which they were developed is one of the success stories of the last 25 years.
Farage took to the airwaves today to say they were not real vaccines.
This might be a popular view in the MAGA movement, but it's not where the British public is.
The speed at which they were developed is one of the success stories of the last 25 years.
Farage took to the airwaves today to say they were not real vaccines.
This might be a popular view in the MAGA movement, but it's not where the British public is.
January 7, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Fifty million Brits had a Covid vaccine.
The speed at which they were developed is one of the success stories of the last 25 years.
Farage took to the airwaves today to say they were not real vaccines.
This might be a popular view in the MAGA movement, but it's not where the British public is.
The speed at which they were developed is one of the success stories of the last 25 years.
Farage took to the airwaves today to say they were not real vaccines.
This might be a popular view in the MAGA movement, but it's not where the British public is.
I've lamented the decline of @theobserveruk.bsky.social sport section which no longer has match reports but is a collection of sports features better suited to a monthly supplement. But they could at least get the result of the 1980 FA Cup final right in a feature on fouls in football.
January 4, 2026 at 9:21 AM
I've lamented the decline of @theobserveruk.bsky.social sport section which no longer has match reports but is a collection of sports features better suited to a monthly supplement. But they could at least get the result of the 1980 FA Cup final right in a feature on fouls in football.
Reposted by Peter Oates
Feels as if there's a real gap in the market right now for a peace prize for people who actually promote peace
January 3, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Feels as if there's a real gap in the market right now for a peace prize for people who actually promote peace