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Peter Oates

@thirdlightpress.bsky.social
175 followers 752 following 133 posts

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.

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Reposted by Peter Oates
Anil Dash @anildash.com · 13/10/2026
You know, the thing is, I had drafted this piece a month ago, and then never published it, because I thought maybe it was too mean.
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Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
This is a very disturbing read by Philip Moriarty about the corporate consultants at University of Nottingham, whose "bloodless prime-LLM-grade corporate boilerplate" called Future Nottingham 2 is guiding decision-making - cuts, cuts and more cuts. muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.com/2026/10/07/j...
muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.com
Just how much of Future Nottingham 2 was written by vastly overpaid consultants?
PA Consulting misled a government department, threatened the press, and over-charged the NHS up to £2,500 a day. So why is a PA consultant listed as the author of the Future Nottingham 2 business c…
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Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
‘Culturally British by my standards’ is one of the most chilling phrases uttered in British politics. Entirely unsurprising to me who it’s from.
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David Anderson @bricksilk.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Letter printed in The Times today
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The ability to pour hundreds of millions of pounds into a loss-making TV channel, bent on wrenching British politics sharply to the right, is yet another of the ways in which extreme wealth is trying to remake UK democracy. It needs to be part of any serious conversation about political funding.
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It’s a mark of the corruption of our whole way of thinking about the world that trying to meet a planetary emergency is routinely described as “ideological”, while continuing to accelerate it is presented as “pragmatic” and “economic”.
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thread
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Nick Davies @njdavies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Great to hear the PM say “We are going to be much prouder in standing up for our values and the rule of law” re foreign information warfare. I wonder if he or the Home Secretary might consider doing the same when it comes to masked vigilantes shutting down infrastructure and harassing the RNLI
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Ash Oro @ashoro.co.uk · 22/09/2026
1/23 Sorry, this will be long... There is a lot of shouting about what happened in the Channel yesterday. So I want to go back to basic law. Not immigration policies or political rhetoric. At sea, the starting point is simple: Preservation of life comes first under all maritime conventions.
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Willard Foxton @willardfoxton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I think it's absolutely mad that today there's a *national news story* about 400 oil platform workers losing their jobs, and the government being blamed. 25% of the UK TV industry lost their jobs in the last 4 years and we never hear a peep about it! Some jobs are 'real jobs' I guess.
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Mags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Every year on 19 December, the famous Christmas lights at Mousehole in Cornwall are dimmed between 8 and 9pm, leaving just the Cross and Angels shining down across the village and out to sea.
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MꙬse Allain @mooseallain.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A man in a face covering talks to another man who is looking disappointedly at a small box he is holding. Man 1 “What's that?”. Man 2 “Baklava. I misread the WhatsApp”
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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Excellent by @paulnowaktuc.bsky.social on Mahmood's settlement proposals “You end up with Reform claiming a woman born in Somalia who's lived here most of her life, worked hard and contributed to our society,somehow isn’t fit to hold elected office.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The government shlould be extremely strong on why it is wrong to intimidate & abuse RNLI members + push a clear social norm against sharing addresses for purpose to intimidate, threaten & incite, imcluding pushing police to prosecute it, quickly & publicly, and warning of a repeat
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Reform Party UK Exposed @reformexposed.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Reform UK Councillor Madgwick, meet consequences of your actions you dangerous idiot. Protesters outside Portsmouth hotel mistake Pakistan U19 cricket team for asylum seekers www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Protesters outside Portsmouth hotel mistake Pakistan U19 cricket team for asylum seekers
A group of masked agitators gathered outside a four-star hotel in Portsmouth after reports a group of asylum seekers had been taken there, when it was in fact Pakistan’s under-19 cricket team on a…
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Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
My first cartoon for adults for a while, on the Dover business
A one panel cartoon showing three male-looking figures in all black wearing balaclavas, so you can only see their eyes. Below it says: 'Spontaneous' protest. The figure on the right is saying: 'OMG, SO EMBARRASSING, WE ALL WORE THE SAME OUTFIT!
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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
He was listening. He said "yeah, that was great" when the fake US donor described paying for the polling, and that it was "a very modest investment". And, unprompted, "front page of The Times". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Nigel Farage tells BBC he 'wasn't listening' in foreign donor talks
The Reform leader also told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that his family are "begging" him to leave his job.
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Rhys Kaminski-Jones @rhyskamjones.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
According to the FT, Orr is acting as a live-in-landlord-cum-cult-leader to Cambridge students including those under his own supervision, whilst receiving formal complaints about his behaviour, and boasting publicly how the university is a recruiting ground for the party he might be doing crime for
in North Cambridge, and a daughter. The
outbuildings and at least two other flats on the same road, which are owned by the family,
are home to a select group of postgraduate students from a range of faculties including
divinity. In a podcast interview in December 2024, Orr described having “10 students living
with us. They’re mainly PhD students or postdoctoral fellows.” He explained that they
always gather for Sunday lunch and often for dinner. “That’s amazingly stimulating,” he
said. “They’re . . . the cream of their generation in their respective subjects.”
The residents pay rent and do chores. Helen has fashioned a small chapel from a shipping
container, in which she holds morning prayers.The housing of students raises potential conflicts of interest. Over the past academic year, there were three divinity scholars lodging at the Orrs’ community, according to several
people familiar with the living arrangements. One is a postgraduate student who is directly
supervised by Orr. Cambridge’s staff and student relationship policy stipulated that its
employees are “strongly discouraged” from entering into close personal relationships with
students. Any relationship which involves “any form of dependence, whether emotional,
practical, financial or otherwise”, must be declared.Among the complaints upheld by the investigator are that Orr allegedly made belittling
remarks to the student, and had demanded an “excessive” and “unreasonable” amount of
written work in an effort to refine a thesis proposal. The report also criticised “at worst
inappropriate and at best thoughtless comments made [by Orr] in the equally
inappropriate context of [Orr’s] own home”. This was in reference to a dinner that the
student, who comes from a Christian, conservative background, had attended at Orr’s
house.While the society was established long before Orr had any formal role in Reform, it has
taken on new significance as his political activities gathered pace. Orr has described
Cambridge as a useful recruiting ground for Reform, boasting last autumn in an interview
with The Telegraph that he had met “hundreds” of highly able students he thought would
make suitable allies. He has also, according to The Spectator magazine, been tasked by the
party with “building a pipeline” to bring talent to staff a future Reform administration.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Zia Yusuf has tweeted this about the leader of Camden Council, Sagal Abdi-Wali, who has lived in Camden for over 35 years, after arriving as a child refugee in the early 1990s. (Nadhim Zahawi, born in Baghdad to an Iraqi Kurdish family, came to the UK as an 11 year old:should be asked about this)
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Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
this is a very insightful thread that I think identifies the core issue with AI use in teaching: students have to be taught traditional research skills before they can assess how to use AI (if at all) in a way that is valuable
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Rob Davies @byrobdavies.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"I want your children's lungs to be smaller and less functional" is a bold electoral strategy.
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Charles C Roseman @evoroseman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
RE: freedom of speech, academic freedom, and race science. In this (long) thread, I’m going to 1) establish my bona fides on academic freedom and race science, 2) show why academic freedom and freedom of speech are different and… 1/34
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Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
It’s just so vapid to think that “are Black people naturally stupid” is a legitimate research question.
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
New Substack post: ‘Edge Case Wars’ - Have the Culture Wars Been Misnamed? rolandmcs.substack.com/p/edge-case-...
rolandmcs.substack.com
‘Edge Case Wars’
Have the culture wars been misnamed?
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Tanita Tikaram @tanitatikaram.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
White professor ‘ MattGPT ‘ whose most recent book contained fabricated quotations, non-existent source references, & left ChatGPT URLs accidentally embedded in footnotes is sad about Jason Arday’s death but still wants Arday & all black academia held to higher standards than his own writing .
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The 2010 Equality Act entails 'protected characteristics' and a very specific, 3-part definition of race. That's important and very clearly set out in the legislation. US law is utterly irrelevant to the Equality Act 2010's operation. It always has been. DEI is not EDI. Don't confuse them. 6/8
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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Chat shit, get commissioned 💪🏻😅 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Farage has turned Clacton into a human zoo. Here’s the truth about what’s happening here | Sarah Elizabeth Cox
When I moved to the town in 2022 I loved the beach walks, cheap drinks and panoramic coastal views. Now it feels like a never-ending circus, says historian Sarah Elizabeth Cox
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Rachel Sylvester @rachelsylvester.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
New Scandinavian wings at Wandsworth and Pentonville jails have seen a 45% fall in assaults, 57% drop in self harm and halving of staff absence rates - fascinating results from trial into a more rehabilitative approach to prisons observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk
‘Scandi wings’ offering pianos, pool and tea parties coul...
A unit in London’s Wandsworth prison has been transformed using methods from Sweden and Norway that prioritise rehabilitation over retribution
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
A must-read by @daisychristo.bsky.social:
substack.nomoremarking.com
Schools aren’t to blame for the NEET crisis
When learning more doesn’t help you earn more
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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
If only the quiet collapse of our universities got as much attention as Jason Arday has. Here’s @gsoh31.bsky.social’s recent piece for Arguably on the “slow, grim dribbling away of one of Britain’s great triumphs and economic advantages”. www.arguably.uk/p/the-quiet-...
arguably.uk
The quiet collapse of British universities
One of our great triumphs and economic advantages is fading away
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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Why is it OK to dehumanise North African migrants when similar imagery, say of Jews, would rightly provoke outrage?
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
No, European heatwaves are not CAUSED by a fall in air pollution. The word CAUSED is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting here! Let's look at what the study being 'reported' on was actually researching and what it found🤓 1/22 🧵
Telegraph Headline:

Heat waves caused by fall in pollution.
Met Office and Spanish researchers conclude cleaner skies since the 1980s allow more of the sun's heat to reach the Earth's surface. 

Red Monk Debunked stamp over the text
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Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I've confirmed that the UK's new Sovereign AI Fund does no due diligence on whether AI companies use copyrighted work without permission before investing in them. It took me 3 Freedom of Information requests to find this out: 🧵 1/10
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Philip Schwyzer @philipschwyzer.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Please read and read again this stunning reflection on what’s happening at Exeter — and on the personal cost (for far too many and for far too long) of struggling to uphold the humanities within a system bent on grinding them down and squeezing them out. #DefendExeterUni
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 29/07/2026
I'm late to this but holy hell, I could write an entire book about this single screenshot. The way the image just perfectly captures the journalists doing luxury, disengaged hand-wringing about blackouts while the ACTUAL THREAT plays out in front of their eyes.
Front page of The Times newspaper with main headline "Net zero 'risks blackouts'" above a large beach photo of sunbathers under a colorful umbrella watching an orange, smoke-filled sky from nearby wildfires
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Jon Patience @smoulderstoat.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
There used to be consequences to this level of dishonesty. Serious consequences. If it didn't end your career it hung over it like a bad smell. Now people are rewarded for it.
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Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
... - Books using AI now make up 20% of total sales - 1/3 of bestsellers include AI text - As a result, authors who don’t use AI are making less money 2/3
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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
When the story of why humanity didn't stop climate change is written, it will feature front pages like this. Even as the skies blacken with climate change-induced wildfires, right wing media continue their relentless crusade against measures to tackle it.
The Times: Net zero risks blackouts. Below a photo of French wildfires.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
'On Tuesday the government published its response to the Education Committee’s report on higher education funding and the threat of insolvency. It’s 37 pages...read quickly, amount to a department competently batting away an inconvenient select committee.' 1/2
wonkhe.com
Ministers are throwing students to the wolves
On Tuesday the government published its response to the Education Committee’s report on higher education funding and the threat of insolvency.
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 19/07/2023
Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface
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Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Holiday in the climate emergency. No that’s not AI or edited, just a snapshot I just took with my phone on Lacanau beach in France. What future will this boy grow up in? It is in our hands, but time is running out.
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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 25/07/2026
You see this frontpage and do genuinely wonder what on earth the conversation must have been between the senior editors when they were laying it out...
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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
The Burnham chapter begins. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog assessing Burnham and Burnhamism, plus Farage’s fortunes, and the rancid reactions to the alleged murder of Ann Widdecombe. Long, last post of the summer: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-...
Image of the opening paragraphs of the latest blogpost
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Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This from RFKJr's CDC is the classic "burden of proof fallacy" and a gross abuse of science. In science (and law) the burden of proof rests on the person making a positive claim ("vaccines cause autism") to provide supporting evidence, NOT the job of the opposition to disprove it.
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Chaminda Jayanetti @cjayanetti.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Misinformation is rife on social media and plays a key role in fuelling racist abuse, violence and even riots But the way we regulate it is - bluntly - rubbish In the second part of my look at social media regulation, I focus on our flawed approach to misinformation and how we might improve it:
chamindajayanetti.substack.com
How do you solve a problem like social media? Part II - misinformation
Misinformation and disinformation are among the worst online scourges, with huge real-world impacts. Why are our regulations so weak? And are there risks in making them stronger?
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 20/07/2026
Why has Britain’s oldest political magazine become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia? | Nesrine Malik
theguardian.com
Why has Britain’s oldest political magazine become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia? | Nesrine Malik
A report on the Spectator’s coverage of Muslims makes for grim reading. Conservatism is now focused on this minority to the exclusion of everything else, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I see people are giving Burnham a technical way out of going for drilling as within the manifesto. Well done. However, it’s clearly against the spirit of the manifesto, and semantics may work on wonks, but this is exactly the kind of thing that puts people off. As well as being a bad idea…
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Alan Stedman @alanjstedman.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
100% this We need public service broadcasting. What we have now has been hijacked by the right We need Gibb out of that organisation
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
This is the kind of 'evidence' Nous delivers. Consultancies are not the single cause of #UKHE 's crisis, but who are they profitably making it ever worse...
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William Dalrymple @willdalrymple.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Wonderful piece on the widespread failure to teach the British enough about Empire by a proper specialist in the subject, the great Alan Lester @aljhlester. Full of interesting background about Gove and his extremist paymaster, Paul Marshall that I didn't know alanlester.co.uk/blog/teachin...
alanlester.co.uk
Teaching the British Empire: Experts Versus The Spectator
Alan Lester The Spectator’s owner Paul Marshall and its editor Michael Gove are afraid of William Dalrymple. His sequence of books on colonial India that have sold millions, his Empire podcast with…
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