NYTimes owned The Athletic has been able to hire some of the laid off WaPo sports reporters

Labour 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...

Wouldn’t SuperBowl be even bigger if it was on Saturday? Perhaps I’m just being a dim Brit

A 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...

My 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

With 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...

Surgical 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...

Just 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...

DMGT 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.

Berkshire 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...

Today, 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...

If 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.

The 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.

The 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.

A 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...

If 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)

Woke 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

The 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

As 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

Digital IDs: A road to ruin open.substack.com/pub/futurene...

The type of announcement which prompts emergency board meetings in Silicon Valley www.axios.com/2025/09/23/m...

I’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...

Favourable 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)

Judge 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.

The 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...

NEW: 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...

Axel 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”.

Latest 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 GE

Had 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.

With 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.

Latest 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...

No 10 influencer drive going well: 'Why are we getting taxed more, and you're doing less?'

As 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.

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. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Whether 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.

Politico has partnered with Uber to launch a bold, new and "immersive experience" for party conference season...The Pub.

A breakdown of the UK’s AI strategy: open.substack.com/pub/futurene...

A breakdown of the UK’s AI strategy: open.substack.com/pub/futurene...

Bit of non-story if you ask me, but the media has seized on the fact that Eben Upton, co-founder of Raspberry Pi, has sold 14% of his shareholding in the company following a one-year lock-in. He founded the business in 2008 -- 17yrs ago. Raspberry Pi has an MCAP of £880m.

For all that has been written about Starmer, no journalist has really been able to access the man within. This unmissable profile is the first to do so: www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Quite a bit of duplication going on with UK DOGE... - The one ran by GuidoFawkes - The new Reform UK one - The one James Watt, the co-founder of BrewDog, promised to launch

Though Musk’s move away from the US government and Trump may be expected, people easily forget he effectively took control of the GoP’s GOTV operation through America PAC. Trump’s successor will have to try and get him back onside for the next Federal election. www.news-future.com/p/how-elon-m...

One of Sam Altman's nuclear start-ups, Oklo, is ripping amid AI optimism. Shares are now around $51 on the NYSE, with the company at $23 per share just a month ago. My deep dive is below on the company. www.news-future.com/p/inside-big...

Starmer's Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme...

With x2 trailers out for GTA 6 and a release date of next year, $TTWO has today launched a public offering of its common stock. >4.7m shares are up for grabs, at a price of $225 per share. The company is hoping to raise $1bn. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are acting as lead bookrunners.

Said it before and I'll say it again, who at the BBC negotiated Lineker's contract? He's been able to build a super-successful podcast business outside of the Corporation whilst taking £1.3m py of licence fee payers' money. Gary's agent deserves a bonus.

Latest on newsletter: The Biden cover-up continues. Whatever happened to preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution of the United States?

Folks, we've hit peak 'Run Club'. For all the downsides of Web 2.0, endurance and strength standards have reached new highs. The proliferation of smart devices and fitness apps have gamified training. And now running a marathon is a very common thing.

Update on SW1 media narrative. Not enough space here unfortunately to post the long version. Labour are clearly trying a re-patch. It won't work - manifesto promises are broken. ECHR is going to be the issue of the summer & the next GE substack.com/profile/1102...

No skin in the game here, but it's very odd of the BBC to question The Observer charging £4.20. Results from Smiths News, Reach PLC and others show that rising cover prices do actually work. The market will decide if £4.20 is worth it for The Observer