Laura Phillips
@lauraphillips.bsky.social
Campaigner to support the BBC, (not a BBC employee).It’s affected by savage UK govt cuts: c40% 2010-2024. BBC costs <48 pence/around 62 US cents a day per UK household. It’s a national public service broadcaster, respected worldwide for accurate reporting.
‘President Donald #Trump says the US needs to "own" #Greenland to prevent Russia+China from doing so.
"Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases+we'll have to defend Greenland," Trump told reporters on Friday.’ 1/
"Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases+we'll have to defend Greenland," Trump told reporters on Friday.’ 1/
Trump says US needs to 'own' Greenland to prevent Russia and China from taking it
We will do it
www.bbc.co.uk
January 9, 2026 at 10:54 PM
‘President Donald #Trump says the US needs to "own" #Greenland to prevent Russia+China from doing so.
"Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases+we'll have to defend Greenland," Trump told reporters on Friday.’ 1/
"Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don't defend leases+we'll have to defend Greenland," Trump told reporters on Friday.’ 1/
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Daily users on X
May 2023: 9.5m
May 2024: 8.6m (-0.9m)
May 2025: 6.9m (-1.7m)
This msy go below 6m by Spring 2026, though LinkedIn around 5m, so would need a year as bad as 2024-25
But down 30% in 24 months, 2023-25, while Reddit doubled to 7m/day and 29.4m per month (10m ahead of Twitter!)
May 2023: 9.5m
May 2024: 8.6m (-0.9m)
May 2025: 6.9m (-1.7m)
This msy go below 6m by Spring 2026, though LinkedIn around 5m, so would need a year as bad as 2024-25
But down 30% in 24 months, 2023-25, while Reddit doubled to 7m/day and 29.4m per month (10m ahead of Twitter!)
January 9, 2026 at 10:40 PM
Daily users on X
May 2023: 9.5m
May 2024: 8.6m (-0.9m)
May 2025: 6.9m (-1.7m)
This msy go below 6m by Spring 2026, though LinkedIn around 5m, so would need a year as bad as 2024-25
But down 30% in 24 months, 2023-25, while Reddit doubled to 7m/day and 29.4m per month (10m ahead of Twitter!)
May 2023: 9.5m
May 2024: 8.6m (-0.9m)
May 2025: 6.9m (-1.7m)
This msy go below 6m by Spring 2026, though LinkedIn around 5m, so would need a year as bad as 2024-25
But down 30% in 24 months, 2023-25, while Reddit doubled to 7m/day and 29.4m per month (10m ahead of Twitter!)
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Monthly users on X
May 2023: 24.3m
May 2024: 22.1m (-2.1m)
May 2025: 18.9m (-1.8m)
On this trajectory, the monthly X users in the UK could easily dip below 18m now & so may fall behind surprisingly high monthly users of LinkedIn (18.4m in 2025) by May 2026!
May 2023: 24.3m
May 2024: 22.1m (-2.1m)
May 2025: 18.9m (-1.8m)
On this trajectory, the monthly X users in the UK could easily dip below 18m now & so may fall behind surprisingly high monthly users of LinkedIn (18.4m in 2025) by May 2026!
January 9, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Monthly users on X
May 2023: 24.3m
May 2024: 22.1m (-2.1m)
May 2025: 18.9m (-1.8m)
On this trajectory, the monthly X users in the UK could easily dip below 18m now & so may fall behind surprisingly high monthly users of LinkedIn (18.4m in 2025) by May 2026!
May 2023: 24.3m
May 2024: 22.1m (-2.1m)
May 2025: 18.9m (-1.8m)
On this trajectory, the monthly X users in the UK could easily dip below 18m now & so may fall behind surprisingly high monthly users of LinkedIn (18.4m in 2025) by May 2026!
BBC Press Office: Jody Ford has been appointed to the BBC Board as a non-executive director.
Jody brings extensive commercial experience from the technology sector in both the UK and the US. As Chief Executive Officer of Trainline since 2020.
Jody brings extensive commercial experience from the technology sector in both the UK and the US. As Chief Executive Officer of Trainline since 2020.
January 9, 2026 at 10:40 PM
BBC Press Office: Jody Ford has been appointed to the BBC Board as a non-executive director.
Jody brings extensive commercial experience from the technology sector in both the UK and the US. As Chief Executive Officer of Trainline since 2020.
Jody brings extensive commercial experience from the technology sector in both the UK and the US. As Chief Executive Officer of Trainline since 2020.
BBC PM: The government will back Ofcom if the regulator blocks Elon Musk's platform X, after concerns about its Grok AI being used to make sexualised deepfake imagery.
BBC’s Technology Editor @zsk.bsky.social doesn’t expect #Grok or X to be banned – but says it’s ‘fighting talk from Downing Street’.
BBC’s Technology Editor @zsk.bsky.social doesn’t expect #Grok or X to be banned – but says it’s ‘fighting talk from Downing Street’.
video.twimg.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:26 PM
BBC PM: The government will back Ofcom if the regulator blocks Elon Musk's platform X, after concerns about its Grok AI being used to make sexualised deepfake imagery.
BBC’s Technology Editor @zsk.bsky.social doesn’t expect #Grok or X to be banned – but says it’s ‘fighting talk from Downing Street’.
BBC’s Technology Editor @zsk.bsky.social doesn’t expect #Grok or X to be banned – but says it’s ‘fighting talk from Downing Street’.
BBC: Colombian President Gustavo Petro will come to the White House the first week of February, President Trump has announced.
January 9, 2026 at 10:15 PM
BBC: Colombian President Gustavo Petro will come to the White House the first week of February, President Trump has announced.
#BBC's Alan Little: "It's a very nativist document," argues Karin von Hippel. "It's very ideological. The underlying message is that the Christian white male is no longer running many of the countries [in the West]..."
What Trump's vision of the new world order means for Europe
The turbocharged events of the last week - and the new US National Security Strategy - raise pressing questions about the new world order, and what it means for Europe
www.bbc.co.uk
January 9, 2026 at 6:06 PM
#BBC's Alan Little: "It's a very nativist document," argues Karin von Hippel. "It's very ideological. The underlying message is that the Christian white male is no longer running many of the countries [in the West]..."
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Can't even cover up their child porn creation properly - No, Grok hasn’t paywalled its deepfake image feature www.theverge.com/news/859309/...
No, Grok hasn’t paywalled its deepfake image feature
X’s sexual deepfake machine is still running, despite Grok saying otherwise.
www.theverge.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Can't even cover up their child porn creation properly - No, Grok hasn’t paywalled its deepfake image feature www.theverge.com/news/859309/...
For anyone wondering, here is one of the #EU's former chief #trade negotiators @JohnAClarkeEU explaining the significance of the #Mercosur trade dealhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mqDtCKoBRU [Via BBC's Jonathan Josephs]
BBC News: EU set to agree long awaited trade deal with 4 South American countries 09 Jan 2026 0537
YouTube video by Jonathan Josephs
www.youtube.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:45 PM
@bahmankalbasi.bsky.social: 'Iranian regime mouthpieces are on State TV openly threatening to kill protesters.
“Families keep your kids who may want to cause trouble at home”
“If [you go to protest] and a bullet hits you, don’t complain.”'
#Iran
“Families keep your kids who may want to cause trouble at home”
“If [you go to protest] and a bullet hits you, don’t complain.”'
#Iran
January 9, 2026 at 5:35 PM
@bahmankalbasi.bsky.social: 'Iranian regime mouthpieces are on State TV openly threatening to kill protesters.
“Families keep your kids who may want to cause trouble at home”
“If [you go to protest] and a bullet hits you, don’t complain.”'
#Iran
“Families keep your kids who may want to cause trouble at home”
“If [you go to protest] and a bullet hits you, don’t complain.”'
#Iran
Reuters: "TEHRAN PROSECUTOR SAYS THOSE COMMITTING SABOTAGE, BURNING PUBLIC PROPERTY AND INVOLVED IN ARMED CLASHES WITH SECURITY FORCES WILL FACE DEATH SENTENCE - IRAN STATE MEDIA -"
January 9, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Reuters: "TEHRAN PROSECUTOR SAYS THOSE COMMITTING SABOTAGE, BURNING PUBLIC PROPERTY AND INVOLVED IN ARMED CLASHES WITH SECURITY FORCES WILL FACE DEATH SENTENCE - IRAN STATE MEDIA -"
So well judged. #Trump's #America is "ugly". How much harm is he doing to his country's global influence?
"Trump is destroying the postwar world that America made in favour of a Hobbesian jungle in which the strong take what they must — and he is doing so with racial imagery." My Swamp Notes with @jyshapiro.bsky.social on Trump's predatory boomerang. as.ft.com/r/9f5de7fe-2...
The white man’s burden, Trump edition
[FREE TO READ] America’s president is repudiating the postwar world fashioned by the US
as.ft.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:16 PM
@khosroisfahani.bsky.social, ex #BBCMonitoring: 'BREAKING: #IRGC Intelligence Org, in a statement, has threatened to "retaliate and export insecurity" to countries that "orchestrated" the recent protests.
IRGC has sleeper cells around the world.
This is a terror threat.' #Iran
IRGC has sleeper cells around the world.
This is a terror threat.' #Iran
January 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM
@khosroisfahani.bsky.social, ex #BBCMonitoring: 'BREAKING: #IRGC Intelligence Org, in a statement, has threatened to "retaliate and export insecurity" to countries that "orchestrated" the recent protests.
IRGC has sleeper cells around the world.
This is a terror threat.' #Iran
IRGC has sleeper cells around the world.
This is a terror threat.' #Iran
Sebastian Usher, #BBC: Regime stepping up gear in repression-this from National Security Council: ‘In response to the demand of all segments of society for the establishment of order+security,decisive & necessary legal action will be taken against armed vandals & those who disrupt the peace…’ #Iran
January 9, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Facebook parent Meta has reached nuclear power deals with three companies as it continues to look for electricity sources for its artificial intelligence data centers.
Meta signs three nuclear power deals to help support its AI data centers
Facebook parent Meta has reached nuclear power deals with three companies as it continues to look for electricity sources for its artificial intelligence data centers.
bit.ly
January 9, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Facebook parent Meta has reached nuclear power deals with three companies as it continues to look for electricity sources for its artificial intelligence data centers.
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Richard Brooks reports in this week’s Private Eye that almost all of that £50m has now been taken as dividends by the developers Chris Musgrave & Martin Corney (there’s £2.7m left in the account) 👇
January 8, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Richard Brooks reports in this week’s Private Eye that almost all of that £50m has now been taken as dividends by the developers Chris Musgrave & Martin Corney (there’s £2.7m left in the account) 👇
ICYMI:
Conservative Mayor of Tees Valley Lord Houchen told Newsnight in 2024 that 2 private developers had ‘£50m of their money sitting in a bank account’ when I quoted an independent report pointing out the pair had put no direct cash of their own into regenerating the huge old Redcar steelworks site 👇
January 9, 2026 at 2:59 PM
ICYMI:
Reposted by Laura Phillips
As Tees Valley mayor Lord Houchen's defence of his deal with local businessmen crumbles, here's the Eye's recent special report on how Britain's flagship regeneration scheme secretly turned into one of the biggest giveaways of public money on record.
➡️ www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...
➡️ www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...
Special Report: Stripped Tees
IT WAS to be the UK’s largest regeneration scheme in decades, a model for regional devolution and the flagship post-Brexit freeport. But the redevelopment of the former steelworks on the south bank of...
www.private-eye.co.uk
January 9, 2026 at 2:41 PM
As Tees Valley mayor Lord Houchen's defence of his deal with local businessmen crumbles, here's the Eye's recent special report on how Britain's flagship regeneration scheme secretly turned into one of the biggest giveaways of public money on record.
➡️ www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...
➡️ www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...
Reposted by Laura Phillips
The Latest: US military says its forces intercept another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean
The Latest: US military says its forces intercept another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean
The Latest: US military says its forces intercept another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean
www.independent.co.uk
January 9, 2026 at 2:52 PM
The Latest: US military says its forces intercept another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean