Adam Kessler
LightNews LightNews
adam-kessler.bsky.social
Adam Kessler
@adam-kessler.bsky.social
75 followers 360 following 0 posts
Interested in international development, housing, comedy, Bristol. Co-founder of DevLearn
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Adam Kessler
glennf.com
This essay by the author of a recent well-reviewed book about Tolkien starts modestly and then stabs you with a Morgul-blade halfway through, where you are pinioned by a twist in the telling. You may never recover. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...
Opinion | Why I Keep Returning to Middle-Earth
www.nytimes.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
leecrawfurd.bsky.social
"Most Irish Foreign Aid Never Leaves the Country" www.thefitzwilliam.com/p/most-irish...
Most Irish Foreign Aid Never Leaves the Country
But, weirdly, this is fine (for now)
www.thefitzwilliam.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
meganotoole.bsky.social
Satellite images show that most of the 260,000 civilians in Sudan’s el-Fasher are likely still trapped, as mass RSF killings continue
Satellite images show most el-Fasher civilians likely still trapped
Latest images suggest that majority of 260,000 civilians still in captured city, as mass RSF killings continue
www.middleeasteye.net
November 1, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
zackbeauchamp.bsky.social
Kevin Roberts' defense of Nick Fuentes is a watershed moment: the right has officially declared open, unabashed Hitlerism to be an acceptable position in their coalition

www.vox.com/politics/466...
The GOP’s top think tank just defended an open Nazi
Reasonable people can disagree about whether Hitler was good, says the Heritage Foundation.
www.vox.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
josiegz.bsky.social
The International Federation of Journalists, founded in 1926 and celebrating its centenary in Paris in May 2026, has recorded no comparable death toll since its formation, neither during the second world war, nor in Vietnam, Korea, Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Gaza has become journalism’s graveyard. Killing journalists is killing the truth | Anthony Bellanger
If we accept that reporters die in Gaza, we pave the way for other regimes to consider the murder of journalists a normal instrument of war
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
tonytassell.bsky.social
Have we passed peak social media? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/a072...
October 3, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
gilesyb.bsky.social
My most centrist dad take is that most governing politicians deserve sympathy because almost every policy that's actually any good for the country is unpopular, and almost every popular policy is probably bad.

Johnson's Brexit approach was far worse than Chequers IMHO but 20ppts more popular 1/
September 16, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
A life well lived.

From refugee to matriarch: Joanna Kessler, 1929–2025.
A life well lived
From refugee to matriarch: Joanna Kessler, 1929–2025
www.linestotake.com
September 1, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
peterarnott.bsky.social
There were more people taking part in protests against the board of Sheffield Wednesday than there were people protesting against all the Asylum Hotels in all of the UK this weekend. Don't mainstream bigotry!
dorianlynskey.bsky.social Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · Aug 24
I don’t want to be too shrill about this but I think the BBC, ITV and Sky have disgraced themselves in their coverage of the anti-refugee protests. A massive failure of judgement. But now we know the next time a progressive protest “isn’t news” that it’s nothing to do with numbers
August 25, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
kitwhitfield.bsky.social
A tombstone in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, photographed by Andy Darby.

Note the border inscription.
Gravestone inscribed: Alistair Stephen Fabian Mitchell. 13-6-1957, 10-2-2019. Barrister of the Middle Temple. My brain, socialist. My heart, anarchist. My eyes, pacifist. My blood, revolutionary. Around the edge, the legend: The only man in British legal history to be convicted of biting a policeman with someone else’s teeth.
August 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
mattmuir.bsky.social
Our judges have been through literally HUNDREDS of websites and selected their shortlist for the Tiny Awards 2025 - voting's open now, so take a few minutes to check out some of the best, most beautiful, oddest, silliest websites of the past year, pick your favourite, TELL THE WORLD!: tinyawards.net
A logo for the Tiny Awards 2025 suggesting that you might like to cast your vote
August 5, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
alisonkilling.bsky.social
On Monday Awdah Hathleen, one of the Palestinian activists behind the Oscar-winning film No Other Land was killed by a settler who has been harassing Hathleen's village, Um al Khair, for months. Read our visual investigation into West Bank settlers here: ig.ft.com/west-bank/
How extremist settlers in the West Bank became the law
Mobilisation of violent settlers has intensified Palestinians’ fears of attacks and displacement
ig.ft.com
July 30, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
jackkessler.bsky.social
How to cancel Jews (and get away with it). A 21st century guide to the oldest hatred.
How to cancel Jews (and get away with it)
A 21st century guide to the oldest hatred
www.linestotake.com
July 28, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
sararoseg.bsky.social
This is appalling. Rachel is one of my dear friends and a good egg who just wants to do her funny show. This is just naked antisemitism. It’s not even pretending to be anything else.
Jewish comedy gigs at Fringe cancelled ‘over safety concerns’
Acts allegedly cancelled as venue bar staff express fears of ‘feeling unsafe’
www.telegraph.co.uk
July 24, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
davidbisset.com
Why I 🧡 the web.

drawafish.com

Just draw the fish. Trust me. 🐟
A group of handdrawn fish.
July 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
marisakabas.bsky.social
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)
July 21, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
robfordmancs.bsky.social
The fiscal problem for Labour is Giles is right. The political problem for Labour (& also for whoever succeeds Labour, any time in the next decade or so) is not enough people know or believe Giles is right, there are zero votes in telling ppl Giles is right and many votes on offer from Giles denial
July 15, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
radiobeartime.com
It’s amazing what people get away with

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
The real Salt Path: how the couple behind a bestseller le...
Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal it was far from the truth
observer.co.uk
July 6, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
mjrobbins.com
My latest: An absolutely brain-melting story in which a main road in desperate need of repair is somehow vanished from legal existence. 🤯
The unfixable road that was vanished
A main road through a small town is in desperate need of repair. There's just one small problem: for all intents and purposes, it doesn't exist.
martinrobbins.substack.com
June 30, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
jamesrosscomedy.bsky.social
Have I shouted about this enough? The PBH Weekender! It's a comedy festival, in London, every show is pay what you like! COLAB Tower, from 1800 tomorrow. Come! Schedule is here:
linktr.ee/pbhweekender
June 26, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
yachad.bsky.social
If you want to make it known that many members of the Jewish community are horrified by the continuation of war, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza & the abandonment of the hostages sign this letter.

Your voice does not have to go unreported and unheard 👇🏼

yachad.org.uk/StarmerLetter
May 29, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
jjvincent.bsky.social
clear, depressing set of observations from @randomwalker.bsky.social - "The decline of reading-for-pleasure (due to video) and reading-for-information (due to AI) will accelerate each other, as reading text without an intermediary will come to be seen as a chore."
"A hypothesis on the accelerating decline of reading: * Broadly speaking, people read for pleasure/entertainment and for learning/obtaining information. * Reading for pleasure has been declining for a while and is being replaced by videos (very sharply among young people). This trend will surely continue. * Reading for obtaining information is getting intermediated by chatbots. We are in the very early stages of this shift, so I think people underappreciate the magnitude of what's coming. It's not just that AI replacing traditional web search. Even when it comes to reading news articles, business documents, or scientific papers, the vision that tech companies are pushing on us is AI summarization + synthesis + Q&A. * We don't have to accept this, but I predict that most people will. It's a tradeoff between speed/convenience and accuracy/depth of understanding — the same tradeoff that was once offered to us when it became possible to search the web to look up a quick fact as opposed to reading about the topic in depth in an encyclopedia. * Just as most people in most cases prefer a shallow web search over deeper reading, most people in most cases will prefer AI-intermediated access to knowledge. Traditional reading won't disappear, but people will do it vastly less often, except in hobbyist reading communities and professions where traditional reading is needed. * The decline of reading-for-pleasure (due to video) and reading-for-information (due to AI) will accelerate each other, as reading text without an intermediary will come to be seen as a chore. * Personally, I find this sad. But while it's tempting to moralize all this, I think that's unproductive. Yelling at individuals to resist new media has been done for centuries and has never worked. * Even if people individually rationally choose these tradeoffs, I think we collectively lose something; critical reading skills are arguably essential for a democracy. We need to figure out what to do about that.
May 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
charlescmann.bsky.social
I don't know why George RR Martin takes so long to write his books, but I'll give you an example of why *I* am so slow.

Lemme tell you how I just finished an entire day of work by wanting to bang my head against the desk.

(AI-generated "portrait" of frustrated GRRM—so lousy, but love the 3 legs)
Amusingly awful AI-generated "portrait" of George R R Martin shows a guy who looks vaguely like him with three legs sitting, apparently, on an invisible stool in the corner of a brick and stucco space with crumbly stuff on the floor. Near him is a stone doorway with something like a gynormous mezuzah nearby.
May 20, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Adam Kessler
jstreetdotorg.bsky.social
As Jews and as Americans, we know there can be no moral or strategic justification for blocking humanitarian supplies from millions of desperate civilians.

Our people’s history and our values compel us to speak out. 🧵
May 15, 2025 at 6:31 PM