Ian Silvera
@ianjsilvera
Edit Tech, Power & Media 🤖📰, looking at tech innovation, its impact on media and politics, and how policy-makers deal with it all. #PUSB
Big fight in the Lords on Tuesday concerning foreign media ownership: - Lord Forsyth likely to back fatal motion - Lib Dems pulling out all the stops - IPAC legal opinion advises Lisa Nandy to issue an FSIN to halt Telegraph sale spectator.co.uk/article/inside…
I watched in horror with Farage as 78 migrants crossed to the UK – what we saw undermined any claims of ‘stopping the boats’ thesun.co.uk/news/35791393/…
V 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. x.com/singharj/statu…
📱Exc: Labour slips out announcement on relaxing planning laws to make it easier to erect 5G mobile phone masts inews.co.uk/news/politics/…
📱Exc: Labour slips out announcement on relaxing planning laws to make it easier to erect 5G mobile phone masts inews.co.uk/news/politics/…
Follow-up on @Steven_Swinford news that the BMA will now indeed be striking x.com/ianjsilvera/st…
There aren't many industrial reporters around any more, so maybe this point is going over hacks' heads: Wes Streeting is negotiating directly with the doctors' unions. You would normally let the employ do this. It's bold and - if you don't know your stuff - it could be dangerous
A timely intervention from Spectator owner Paul Marshall in the FT, calling on the UK govt/regulators to pull their socks-up over stablecoins. "Japan introduced a Stablecoin Law in 2022, Singapore in 2023, Abu Dhabi in 2024 and the US in 2025. Britain has just entered a…
Overview of the state of the UK's economy via @Simmons__ youtube.com/watch?v=6mPl1D…
scoop: Substack has raised $100 million, pushing its valuation to $1.1 billion. The founders are warming to advertising and plan to experiment with bundles. With @jtes
Britain’s trade chief to press White House on Trump tariffs in Washington trip politico.eu/article/britai…
As it stands, it looks like there will be no independent investigation into the MoD leak. The ICO, which reports to Parliament and is sponsored by DSIT, has merely "supported" the MoD's own investigation. It's known about the leak since 2023. No fines have been announced. "We’re…
BBC Annual Report (24/25) Licence Fee Stats: — 5% increase in licence fee income to £3.8bn, driven by 6.7% hike in fee — 14% increase in licence fee collection cost to £166m py — >1% drop (303k) in licences, with 23.8m in force at year end — Evasion up to 12.5%, refunds up…
So if you're reading the MoD leak story today...x.com/ianjsilvera/st…
More than 10 Qs for Digital ID card advocates: Is the government happy to build new centralised databases with significant personal data and, if so, at what cost? Given past hacks, would the government admit that the project would immediately go on the National Risk Register?…
My Sunday Times piece is a gloomy one: UK government debt is on an unsustainable trajectory and today’s politicians seem unwilling or unable to do anything to stop it: The UK can’t keep muddling through a massive increase in debt thetimes.com/article/eb5125…