Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Esheru

@esherukweku.bsky.social

If handing someone their arse, was a video clip

December 12, 2025 at 8:12 AM

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Peter Stefanovic

@peterstefanovic.bsky.social

Rail fares are to be frozen for the first time in 30 years, the government has announced

news.sky.com/story/rail-f...

Rail fares to be frozen for first time in 30 years

Ministers promised millions of rail travellers will save hundreds of pounds on regulated fares, including season tickets and peak and off-peak returns between major cities.

news.sky.com

November 22, 2025 at 11:57 PM

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Byline Times

@bylinetimes.bsky.social

BREAKING: Prosecution in Old Bailey confirms the payments to Nathan Gill came from ‘Putin’s man in Ukraine’,

"It is clear that directions were coming from Viktor Medvedchuk.. .and indeed the source of the money was Viktor Medvedchuk"

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/04/t...

‘Thick as Thieves’: Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage’s Putin Problem

Far from being distant from the Reform UK Leader, insiders told Byline Times that the former MEP convicted of bribery was one of Farage’s closest aides, while we reveal how Gill worked on the Kremlin’...

bylinetimes.com

November 21, 2025 at 11:14 AM

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WulfHelm

@wulfhelm.bsky.social

Today seems an apposite moment to share this from another time and another place. Short🧵

November 21, 2025 at 10:38 AM

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WulfHelm

@wulfhelm.bsky.social

November 21, 2025 at 10:40 AM

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WulfHelm

@wulfhelm.bsky.social

November 21, 2025 at 10:41 AM

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Josiah Mortimer

@josiahmortimer.bsky.social

Presumably the Daily Telegraph and GB News will go big on this story?*

Deeply embarrassing: Michael Prescott himself doctored a Trump quote in his anti-BBC report against...doctoring a Trump quote.

*waits until end of time
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Prescott himself doctored Trump quote in his anti-BBC report

A report alleging Panorama broadcast misleading Trump quotes contains misleading quotes itself

www.thenewworld.co.uk

November 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM

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Caitlin Moran

@mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social

Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round

November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM

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Russ Jones

@russincheshire.bsky.social

Want to know why the prisons system seems to be suddenly falling apart?

Well, it's not sudden. It's just suddenly being REPORTED. This rot was a deliberate policy choice, and I kept the receipts. Because I'm not the BBC.

(A note on what Tories did to cause this, from The Decade In Tory)

November 10, 2025 at 9:56 AM

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Disappointed Optimist

@disappoptimism.bsky.social

“We are in trouble for all the crimes”

Republicans Against Trumpism @rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social · Nov 6

Steve Bannon: If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included.

November 7, 2025 at 8:47 AM

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Peter Stefanovic

@peterstefanovic.bsky.social

The government has recovered £74m from excessive profits made by companies running asylum accommodation, the BBC can reveal.

The Home Office said it had recouped the money following a review of contracts after Labour came to power last year.

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

Government recovers £74m from asylum hotel firms

The amount recouped remains a small percentage of the overall cost of asylum accommodation.

www.bbc.co.uk

November 7, 2025 at 7:10 AM

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DrDinD.bsky.social

@drdind.bsky.social

This is really amazing! Every single Democrat should take note and respond to these questions similarly. The frame almost always implicitly forgives Republicans as if "of course they will act badly, can't we count on you to cover for them?"

Abbi Lichtenstein @abbij1961.bsky.social · Oct 31

@neguse.house.gov gives a lesson on how to reframe a journalist’s stupid question about #SNAP! 💪🏼

October 31, 2025 at 4:12 PM

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Led By Donkeys

@ledbydonkeys.org

Farage: epic grifter

October 27, 2025 at 12:45 PM

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River

@riverlorien.bsky.social

Letter to the local community from asylum seekers living in overcrowded hotels:

"Coming to the UK, we have lost a lot of things in our past life.

You should not judge us by our appearance - our inner selves hold mountains of worries and sadness.

Many of us have left families behind."

Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · Oct 27

Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.

Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.

October 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM

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Stevie Kilner

@1steviekilner.bsky.social

Here it comes.....Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing - your mental hug for a Sunday night.
I love everything about this programme; the music, the photography & of course, the love & friendship between Bob & Paul. Oh and there's some fishing too.
And a great dog.
#GoneFishing

October 26, 2025 at 9:00 PM

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David Roberts

@volts.wtf

[checks calendar]

October 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM

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Howard Goodall

@howardgoodall.bsky.social

The world's most brilliant, secretly influential (& unsung) bassoonist. Fantastic article.👇👇👇

Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · Oct 12

I need a Tommy Flowers Was Robbed t-shirt. Great piece!
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Move over, Alan Turing: meet the working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn’t see in the movies

The Oxbridge-educated boffin is feted as the codebreaking genius who helped Britain win the war. But should a little-known Post Office engineer named Tommy Flowers be seen as the real father of comput...

www.theguardian.com

October 13, 2025 at 9:15 AM

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Kath

@kathyburke.bsky.social

Yes, yes I know I keep banging on about my fucking book! However, if you want one repost this and I’ll do a random winner pick thing by the end of the week because I’m great like that. ♥️📚
#amindofmyown

October 7, 2025 at 4:07 PM

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hillyyard.bsky.social

@hillyyard.bsky.social

October 6, 2025 at 6:04 PM

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BlueDino38

@bluedino38.bsky.social

Windsor Castle, this evening.

Welcome to Britain, Donny Boy 🇬🇧

#Trump #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles

Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · Sep 16

Even more considerate of the royals to provide pristine surfaces upon which the campaign group Led By Donkeys could project their Trump-Epstein videos.

September 16, 2025 at 10:14 PM

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Colin Elves

@colinelves.bsky.social

Lovely moment of abject terror on the face of the interviewer there.

Lilly ⭐️ @mothcub.bsky.social · Sep 4

Iconic moment at the Downton Abbey premiere

September 4, 2025 at 7:18 AM

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Howard Goodall

@howardgoodall.bsky.social

Ms Webster of Newcastle is a ⭐ a story about singing, solidarity & compassion 👇👇👇

Colin Elves @colinelves.bsky.social · Sep 3

With alt:

Smajo Beso • Follow
3d • ©
I started school in Newcastle in Year 5 without knowing a word of English. I was nine years old and had arrived as a refugee from Bosnia just a couple of months earlier.
I was one of those strangers our politicians often speak about.
I missed my grandparents and friends. I was having awful nightmares, and I would wake up screaming every single night. I hated going to school. I would sit in my chair, look out of the window, and spend my day daydreaming about ways to run back to Bosnia. I didn't want to be here.
After a couple of weeks at school, my teacher, Miss Webster, and my classmates did something special to help me settle, something that made me feel less of a stranger. That was the first day I went home with a smile on my face.
I have shared this story before, but as tomorrow is start of the new school year, I thought I would share it again.
**

Miss Webster was amazing, but I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She had this ritual where, at the end of each day, we would all sit on the floor around her, she would play the guitar, and we would all sing a song together.
I couldn't understand what they were singing, but I could see she would sing one part of the song, then she would say someone's name or point to them. The next part of the song would be sung with that person's name in it, and they would get to go home first.
My classmates loved this, but I hated it. It annoyed me because I couldn't understand what they were singing, but if I am honest, l hated it mainly because of how happy they all were. I definitely wasn't happy. I cried myself to sleep nearly every night.
I eventually started having separate English lessons, which I enjoyed more because it took me out of the classroom. It was always daunting coming to school because I felt everyone was looking at me or speaking about me. For months, my dad would stand with me outside the school gates in the morning until it was time to go in.

One day I came back into the classroom from my English lesson. We sat down, and everyone was extra-excited, looking at me more than usual for some reason. Of course, I thought it was because I was a refugee, because I couldn't speak English, or because they couldn't pronounce my name. I was bracing myself for another afternoon of my classmates encouraging me to sing. This was probably the closest I came to running out.
So we were all sitting on the floor around Miss Webster. She was holding her guitar, ready to sing. I remember the sun shining through the tall, narrow windows as I slowly drifted into a daydream of being back in Bosnia. She began playing the guitar, my classmates joined in, but this time, everything was different. I froze. I understood what they were signing. Not because I had miraculously learned English in one afternoon, but because they were singing in Bosnian for me. I looked around in shock, and they were all smiling at me, and for a moment I thought I was daydreaming.

While I was having separate English lessons, Miss Webster had taught our entire class to sing this song for me in Bosnian. They sang it terribly, but it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. I skipped home that day with a huge smile on my face. For the first time, I looked forward to going back to school the next day.
I have often imagined Miss Webster and my classmates rehearsing, struggling with the strange Bosnian words and laughing at themselves. For me, that effort was the ultimate recognition, an act of peace that felt like the opposite of everything I had known during the war. It was special.
I do not know if they realised it then, but that moment helped to give me back my dignity, my belonging, and, for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like I was just a refugee or an outsider. I was home.

September 4, 2025 at 6:29 AM

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Russ Jones

@russincheshire.bsky.social

Wrote this about flags and patriotism in 2021 (in The Decade In Tory). Stand by every word now.

Patriotism is about caring for your fellow citizens – all of them,
not just the ones who buy peerages. It is about decently funding our
national institutions and investing in our collective futures. It involves
delivering a full and enriching education for the next generation, and
providing decent care and respite for the elderly and vulnerable.
It’s about ensuring we have a capable and well-founded health
service, a justice system that is open to all – and which applies equally
to all. Patriotism is about ensuring equality of life chances, and the
possibility of a home and a family. It recognises that it doesn’t matter
what colour, faith, gender or sexuality you are: every person in Britain
is equally British, and division demeans us all.
But simply being British isn’t enough. We live on this planet with
billions of other people, and we have to make it work. So patriotism
is building sound and convivial relationships with our neighbours
and allies. It is tackling global climate change in congress with the
entire world, not seeking ways to screw our rivals and condemn our
grandkids to a terrifying heat death.
Patriotism is about crushing corruption and fostering decency,
rather than the other way around. Those things are patriotic. Not
flags. Fuck your flags. Flags are just the wrapping paper around those
things, and nothing more. Yet increasingly they’re wrapped around a
hollowed-out nation.

August 25, 2025 at 8:59 AM

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Jay Rayner

@jayrayner1.bsky.social

Ever wondered what the deal is with the InsideSuccess kids outside London stations who tell you they are raising money to stop knife crime? I have. Well @jim.londoncentric.media of London Centric has done the leg work, as ever.
substack.com/inbox/post/1...