Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 26/02/2026NYTimes owned The Athletic has been able to hire some of the laid off WaPo sports reporters 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 09/02/2026Labour HQ has paid for Scottish Labour’s digital campaign, as previously reported. Now Anas Sarwar is calling for his leader to go. www.news-future.com/p/digital-ad...news-future.comDigital Ads Give Glimpse of 2026 CampaignsPolitical parties turn to YouTube, Instagram and Facebook as we head towards the elections in May 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 07/02/2026Wouldn’t SuperBowl be even bigger if it was on Saturday? Perhaps I’m just being a dim Brit 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 30/01/2026OpenAI has also penned agreements with News Corp, The FT and Axel Springer, amongst many others in the publishing business. A full link to the report is below. Full report is here: www.ippr.org/articles/ais...ippr.orgAI's got news for you: Can AI improve our information environment? | IPPRAlready, 24 per cent of people report using AI for information seeking every week. But there is widespread concern that the information provided will be in 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 30/01/2026A new @ippr.org report (Roa Powell and Carsten Jung) has found that OpenAI's flagship LLM product, ChatGPT, heavily relies on The Guardian for news referrals. The British-headquartered outlet signed a deal with the US AI company back in Feb 2025, but... 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 29/01/2026My main challenge to Lobby reporters and political commentators: how would you describe ‘the centre’ in UK politics today and what is your empirical evidence? Cc @stephenkb.bsky.social 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 14/01/2026With 180 million users, Strava is now planning an IPO. Here's why I think it's the future of social networking. www.news-future.com/p/teetotal-a...news-future.comTeetotal and Terribly Positive, Why Strava is The Future of Social NetworkingWith 180 million users, the fitness tracking app is now planning an IPO 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 05/01/2026Surgical strikes, minimal casualties, night-time raids. We’ve been here before. But this time we’re not watching cable news correspondents embedded inside the American War Machine at prime time. open.substack.com/pub/futurene...open.substack.comWar in The Age of The MemeSocial media has encouraged us to become bit part players in conflicts 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 04/12/2025Just turned on BBC Three for the first time in forever and it's literally just re-runs of old Top Gear and Tommy Furry. Make of that what you will... 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 22/11/2025DMGT buying The Telegraph would create a super Tory-affiliated outlet, w/ the latter title getting closer to Reform over the years while the Mail continually backed the Conservatives. Business-wise, Mail+ was launched far too late, so now DMGT could have a very strong subscription offering. 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 16/11/2025Berkshire Hathaway, a long-time backer of Apple, has now thrown its considerable weight behind one its tech rivals, Alphabet, with a $4.3.bn stake. It has also increased its stake in SiriusXM. The biz is targeting $1.5bn of free cash flow by 2027. www.news-future.com/p/why-berksh...news-future.comWhy Berkshire Hathaway Loves RadioMr Warren E. Buffett and Co. are on manoeuvres with the media again 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 14/11/2025Bernanke published an extremely helpful audit of how the Bank of England communicated its forecasts and these recommendations could be easily adopted by the OBR www.news-future.com/p/britain-is...news-future.comBritain is Being Shaped by Unsound StatsThe issue will impact business, politics and the media 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 14/11/2025The decision comes as the OBR, one of the country’s financial watchdogs, changes its fiscal predictions for the UK once again. I’ve written about Britain’s bad luck when it comes to data and what people like Ben Bernanke have recommended to counter what is increasingly becoming an existential issue. 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 14/11/2025Today, the international currency and bond markets have turned on Britain. After much obfuscation and unsound media briefings, it increasingly looks like the UK’s Chancellor will merely tinker with income tax thresholds at her next Budget... 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 05/11/2025Of course, the country’s unique constitutional make-up doesn’t necessarily lend to the party system, but the adoption of certain conventions, including manifestos and true democratic membership systems, would help. 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 05/11/2025If someone could actually build a proper political party in the US, something akin to the parliamentary systems across the UK, Canada and Australia, they would do extremely well. As it stands, the American Republic looks wedded to personality politics for at least the next electoral cycle. 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 23/10/2025The Financial Times launches The AI Shift, written by John Burn-Murdoch and Sarah O'Connor. It's a weekly deep-dive into how AI is reshaping work, productivity and society. The newsletter promises to combine original reporting, fresh data and visual storytelling. 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 08/10/2025The flotilla celebrations are just bizarre. Perhaps I’m just getting too old, but aren’t activists meant to achieve something? It’s all v performative. Maybe that’s the schtick — more shows, more dead ends, and more ‘celebrations’. Rinse and repeat, then move onto the next cause. 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 05/10/2025A new world was created in the 1950s & we are still discovering how it was really formed today. If anything else, this story should give you a sense of the powers at play & the high stakes which had to be navigated at the start of what we now call the Cold War. www.news-future.com/p/the-shadow...news-future.comThe Shadow General, The Press Baron and The CIA - a Cold War StoryHow The Daily Express went to war with two intelligence services, enraged Winston Churchill and found itself in the middle of an international spy scandal 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Xbox has just raised its Game Pass to $29.99 per month. It's part of a wider industry trend, with some analysts expecting the next GTA to break the $100 mark. All during a cost of living crisis, folks. (3/3) 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 02/10/2025Fortunately, the Champions League was broadcast on ITV back then, w/ the 6 Nations on the BBC. It wasn't all bad, but it does now seem that we're returning to an entertainment divide between the 'haves and the have nots'. Point in case: being a video gamer is increasingly a middle-class pursuit. 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 02/10/2025If I ever wanted to watch the wrestling, I had to pop around my cousins as a kid. They had NTL, a now defunct US-listed British broadcaster which carried Sky Sports. My father refused to pay the Murdoch levy and we subsequently used to catch any major football games on the radio. (1/3) 110
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 01/10/2025Woke up to the US' Secretary of War Pete Hegseth berating his military over its sartorial standards. The message was to the point: get leaner, look meaner. I was cheering along, dear reader, until I happened upon a tragedy. Hegseth was wearing brown shinny shoes 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 28/09/2025The Digital ID debate has exposed large knowledge gaps in SW1. Some of the biggest & best think-tanks don’t have a singular tech policy expert, while top political hacks — who have to scrutinise the government in real-time — don’t have a high-level understanding of the issue 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 26/09/2025As is typical with the PM, he's sent someone else to defend this major policy and he hasn't announced it to the Commons, where our elected representatives could debate it. The good news: the plan and its messaging aren't surviving impact this morning 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 25/09/2025Digital IDs: A road to ruin open.substack.com/pub/futurene... 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 23/09/2025The type of announcement which prompts emergency board meetings in Silicon Valley www.axios.com/2025/09/23/m...axios.comScoop: Microsoft looks to build AI marketplace for publishersCopilot would be the first buyer in the Publisher Content Marketplace. 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 22/09/2025I’ve responded to James Marriott’s intriguing new essay on the impact of technology and media on our post-industrial society below. In doing so, I’ve adopted a slightly different format than usual, but, as ever, I do hope readers enjoy it open.substack.com/pub/futurene...open.substack.comThe Post-Literate Society?An Annotated Critique 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 21/09/2025It was actually The Daily Express which first reported on the full gruesome aftermath in Hiroshima, warning of an ‘Atomic Plague’. (4/4) 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 21/09/2025The censors were even very wary of nuclear-related phrases which could expose the existence of The Manhattan Project. But government officials also cut a deal with The New York Times’ William L. Laurence, otherwise known as ‘Atomic Bill’, to write about the project and the bombing of Japan. (3/4) 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 21/09/2025Equally, The Office of Censorship was formed in December 1941, the same month the US entered World War II. The department was headed by Byron Price, an executive news editor at the Associated Press and World War One veteran, who reported directly to Roosevelt. (2/4) 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 21/09/2025Favourable coverage for access isn’t a new tactic from The Pentagon. The US broadcast media was especially exposed to such deals during the Vietnam War, when light-travelling press reporters could find their own way into the conflict. A camera crew, however, is a different logistical feat. (1/4) 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 19/09/2025Judge Steven Merryday, who has a fairly sound record, is a George H.W. Bush appointee and is potentially a bit of an Anglophile. He cited Hyde Park Speakers' Corner as he effectively told Trump to bore off as part of the POTUS' legal dispute with the New York Times. 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 16/09/2025The New York Times has already spent more than $10mn suing Microsoft and OpenAI as part of a potentially landmark generative AI suit, the publisher is now facing another legal challenge from none other than the President of the United States. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...washingtonpost.comTrump files defamation and libel lawsuit against New York TimesPresident Donald Trump accuses the newspaper and its reporters of defaming him in a book and three articles he said were “false, malicious, defamatory, and disparaging.” 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 11/09/2025NEW: How and why the British media is picking its winners as party politics evolves into a five-horse race www.news-future.com/p/in-a-multi...news-future.comIn a Multi-Party World, the British Media is Picking its WinnersReflections on Reform, the opinion polls and the state of political journalism 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 18/08/2025Axel Springer, which was one of the first major global publishers to sign a partnership with OpenAI, is going to give Sam Altman an award for being an “outstanding individual”. 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 11/08/2025Latest newsletter (👇) What a ‘No Consensus’ World Actually Looks Like: 🚨You will need just 14,000 votes on avg to become an MP 🚨Avg vote share needed to win a constituency has dropped by 33% in just 7 yrs to 42%, it’s heading towards 32% 🚨8 seats were won w/ <30% at last GEnews-future.comWhat a 'No Consensus' World Actually Looks LikeWhy the race to the 30% election winner has already started 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 07/08/2025Had a bit of fun with AI reverse-engineering some of the best Tweeters in the UK media scene. Can you guess who this is? 🕵️ A clue: [PERSONALITY] tends to post during weekday mornings and early afternoons, aligning with news cycles and political events. 010
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 05/08/2025 But bureaucracy and complacency have thwarted those plans. Now a frustrated crypto industry is pushing back harder against any further regulatory hold-ups. open.substack.com/pub/futurene...open.substack.comAnother Committee Might Kill Crypto in the UKHow bureaucracy and complacency damaged the digital assets dream 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 05/08/2025With a large ecosystem of tech talent, start-ups and founders, the UK was in a prime position to become the world’s next crypto hub. a16z even launched its first international office outside the US in London, while successive British governments promised to deliver on the digital assets dream. 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 31/07/2025Latest newsletter explores the three layers of the Online Safety Act debate, how No 10 is trialing a new form of attack on Reform and an explanation as to why the government is hooked on data harvesting. www.news-future.com/p/the-lazy-s...news-future.comThe Lazy Surveillance State Strikes AgainThe UK government's private data demands keep growing 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 30/07/2025No 10 influencer drive going well: 'Why are we getting taxed more, and you're doing less?' 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Straight out of the Biden playbook! Will be interesting to see who gets an invite 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 30/07/2025As per London Playbook this morning: The APPG for Crypto and Digital Assets has been relaunched, jointly chaired by Labour MP Gurinder Josan and Conservative peer and former Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey. 001
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 22/07/2025V good move from the govt. We all know how sexy gen AI is, but internet connectivity across some parts of the UK is still woeful. inews.co.uk/news/politic...inews.co.ukExtra 5G mobile masts to be built across UK to boost phone signalPlanning to be relaxed in bid for connectivity and economic growth 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 09/07/2025You make a very good point. I suppose he is French, and a bit dead 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 09/07/2025Yet to read, only just discovered: Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 09/07/2025They've taxed private schools, employers, family businesses & home owners. HNWs have fled, welfare spending has increased. How is the answer an additional 'wealth tax'? 000
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 09/07/2025Whether you agree with the approach or not, Starmer/Reeves thought they could trigger economic growth by improving productivity in the public sector - that was their big gambit. At the same time, they've decided to spend more (the HO is the only major ministry to get a cut) and borrow more. 100
Ian Silvera @iansilvera.bsky.social · 09/07/2025Politico has partnered with Uber to launch a bold, new and "immersive experience" for party conference season...The Pub. 000