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.
Reposted by Laura Phillips
My book about Britain ends with a memory.
Of the first time I ever worked at Broadcasting House as a guest commentator, what that meant to me, and what the BBC means for 🇬🇧’s place in the world.
The idea that the World Service could end is awful, and frankly embarrassing for the British Government.
Of the first time I ever worked at Broadcasting House as a guest commentator, what that meant to me, and what the BBC means for 🇬🇧’s place in the world.
The idea that the World Service could end is awful, and frankly embarrassing for the British Government.
And another bites the dust?
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial
Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 7:58 PM
My book about Britain ends with a memory.
Of the first time I ever worked at Broadcasting House as a guest commentator, what that meant to me, and what the BBC means for 🇬🇧’s place in the world.
The idea that the World Service could end is awful, and frankly embarrassing for the British Government.
Of the first time I ever worked at Broadcasting House as a guest commentator, what that meant to me, and what the BBC means for 🇬🇧’s place in the world.
The idea that the World Service could end is awful, and frankly embarrassing for the British Government.
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Good evidence to believe authoritarian right may significantly overreach on British public appetite for mass deportations & remigration (esp given the dramatic visual evidence from Trump).
BUT also depends on "eıite cues": how media, political voices + online ecosystems legitimise/stigmatise this
BUT also depends on "eıite cues": how media, political voices + online ecosystems legitimise/stigmatise this
February 15, 2026 at 9:31 PM
Good evidence to believe authoritarian right may significantly overreach on British public appetite for mass deportations & remigration (esp given the dramatic visual evidence from Trump).
BUT also depends on "eıite cues": how media, political voices + online ecosystems legitimise/stigmatise this
BUT also depends on "eıite cues": how media, political voices + online ecosystems legitimise/stigmatise this
Reposted by Laura Phillips
A child dying of cancer spent her final days fighting to free her wrongfully detained father from ICE custody.
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
Ofelia Torres, teen who fought to have her father released from ICE custody, dies from rare cancer
Ofelia Torres, 16, died on Friday from Stage 4 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, her father's lawyer confirmed.
www.cbsnews.com
February 15, 2026 at 9:20 PM
A child dying of cancer spent her final days fighting to free her wrongfully detained father from ICE custody.
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
This comes just weeks after a mother from Maryland was denied the right to be at her son’s side as he died from cancer.
Not one dime for this cruelty.
www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/...
Reposted by Laura Phillips
It is absolute and utter neglect to let this come this close to the wire just as the US has let most of its overseas broadcasting shutter.
And another bites the dust?
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial
Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:32 PM
It is absolute and utter neglect to let this come this close to the wire just as the US has let most of its overseas broadcasting shutter.
“The #BBCWorldService costs less than the upkeep of one tank,” Prof Jean Seaton, BBC Official Historian. So in the midst of a disinformation #war with #Russia and #China, etc, there’s no visible govt plan to fund WS 7 weeks from its money running out - even for the price of running 1 tank.
February 15, 2026 at 5:52 PM
“The #BBCWorldService costs less than the upkeep of one tank,” Prof Jean Seaton, BBC Official Historian. So in the midst of a disinformation #war with #Russia and #China, etc, there’s no visible govt plan to fund WS 7 weeks from its money running out - even for the price of running 1 tank.
Such a jolly scene. Young women in the countryside in summer eating blueberries. Where was it, who took it+who were they? Who’s the man at the centre? Find out more www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all...
And please remember, it begins with words+images+we’ve seen where it ends. #Auschwitz
And please remember, it begins with words+images+we’ve seen where it ends. #Auschwitz
February 15, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Such a jolly scene. Young women in the countryside in summer eating blueberries. Where was it, who took it+who were they? Who’s the man at the centre? Find out more www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all...
And please remember, it begins with words+images+we’ve seen where it ends. #Auschwitz
And please remember, it begins with words+images+we’ve seen where it ends. #Auschwitz
February 15, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Such a jolly scene. Young women in the countryside in summer eating blueberries. Where was it, who took it+who were they? Who’s the man at the centre? Find out more www.stratfordeast.com/whats-on/all...
And please remember, it begins with words+images+we’ve seen where it ends. #Auschwitz
And please remember, it begins with words+images+we’ve seen where it ends. #Auschwitz
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Number of stories about different parties being accused of breaching electoral law in Gorton a portend of potential for a very ugly general election campaign. Both from the perspective of campaigners playing fast and loose and the import of more a litigious US style politics.
February 15, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Number of stories about different parties being accused of breaching electoral law in Gorton a portend of potential for a very ugly general election campaign. Both from the perspective of campaigners playing fast and loose and the import of more a litigious US style politics.
Reposted by Laura Phillips
EXCLUSIVE -- "#Syria's Al-Hol Camp comes to an end..."
My latest provides a window into how everything fell apart in al-Hol over the past 4 weeks, with *lots* of exclusive details unreported elsewhere.
www.syriaweekly.com/p/exclusive-...
My latest provides a window into how everything fell apart in al-Hol over the past 4 weeks, with *lots* of exclusive details unreported elsewhere.
www.syriaweekly.com/p/exclusive-...
EXCLUSIVE -- Syria's Al-Hol Camp comes to an end, but not the way anyone intended
One month ago, the al-Hol Camp contained approximately 23,400 residents – almost all women and children who emerged out of ISIS’s final territorial holdout in eastern Syria in 2019.
www.syriaweekly.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:23 PM
EXCLUSIVE -- "#Syria's Al-Hol Camp comes to an end..."
My latest provides a window into how everything fell apart in al-Hol over the past 4 weeks, with *lots* of exclusive details unreported elsewhere.
www.syriaweekly.com/p/exclusive-...
My latest provides a window into how everything fell apart in al-Hol over the past 4 weeks, with *lots* of exclusive details unreported elsewhere.
www.syriaweekly.com/p/exclusive-...
Reposted by Laura Phillips
My old pal @mortenmorland.bsky.social celebrating my 15th anniversary in Downing Street in style
Sunday’s @thetimes.com cartoon times.newsprints.co.uk/morten-morla...
February 15, 2026 at 11:06 AM
My old pal @mortenmorland.bsky.social celebrating my 15th anniversary in Downing Street in style
Reposted by Laura Phillips
15 years ago today I arrived on Downing Street in a cage.
I've seen off Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak and I'm still going strong.
Only two Prime Ministers have ever done longer stints here: William Pitt the Younger and Sir Robert Walpole.
Bill and Bob - I'm coming for you...
(Photos AP)
I've seen off Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak and I'm still going strong.
Only two Prime Ministers have ever done longer stints here: William Pitt the Younger and Sir Robert Walpole.
Bill and Bob - I'm coming for you...
(Photos AP)
February 15, 2026 at 11:07 AM
15 years ago today I arrived on Downing Street in a cage.
I've seen off Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak and I'm still going strong.
Only two Prime Ministers have ever done longer stints here: William Pitt the Younger and Sir Robert Walpole.
Bill and Bob - I'm coming for you...
(Photos AP)
I've seen off Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak and I'm still going strong.
Only two Prime Ministers have ever done longer stints here: William Pitt the Younger and Sir Robert Walpole.
Bill and Bob - I'm coming for you...
(Photos AP)
BBC’s Jonny Dymond with a considered look at Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and the UK’s Royal Family as a whole. 13.00 the at #BBCSounds.
BBC Radio 4 - The World This Weekend, 15/02/2026
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 11:33 AM
BBC’s Jonny Dymond with a considered look at Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and the UK’s Royal Family as a whole. 13.00 the at #BBCSounds.
On Private Passions at noon #BBCRadio3 Philippa Gregory. She’s written sixteen novels about the Plantagenets and Tudors. Now Boleyn Traitor on the intrigue surrounding Anne’s sister-in-law, Jane. Music includes Mozart, Philip Glass, Scott Joplin and Delibes.
February 15, 2026 at 11:20 AM
On Private Passions at noon #BBCRadio3 Philippa Gregory. She’s written sixteen novels about the Plantagenets and Tudors. Now Boleyn Traitor on the intrigue surrounding Anne’s sister-in-law, Jane. Music includes Mozart, Philip Glass, Scott Joplin and Delibes.
@faisalislam.bsky.social: ‘Look up at the skyscrapers+cranes+look down at the buzz of a city full of young workers,+you see something occasionally elusive in Britain, a city full of growth+optimism.’ #Manchester is it a model? Or does it have unique assets? On #BBCRadio4’s In Other News
Could Manchester be a model for the UK to kickstart growth?
With an annual growth rate of 3.1%, Manchester's economy has performed twice as well as that of the UK as a whole.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 10:30 AM
@faisalislam.bsky.social: ‘Look up at the skyscrapers+cranes+look down at the buzz of a city full of young workers,+you see something occasionally elusive in Britain, a city full of growth+optimism.’ #Manchester is it a model? Or does it have unique assets? On #BBCRadio4’s In Other News
How do you want to get your #news? The #BBC public service model, keeping the largest number of people well-informed for <50p a day, or the billionaire owner one, subject to whims, prejudices, and craven kowtowing to raw, corrupt political power? Act now before you don’t have a choice.
Trump’s attack on the BBC is a harbinger of much worse to come
The BBC has its problems—but they are nothing compared to the American billionaires who control much of US media
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 12:36 AM
@barackobama.bsky.social: “There's this sort of clown show that's happening in social media+on television.And what is true is that there doesn't seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum+a sense of propriety+respect for the office,right?”
Obama addresses racist video shared by Trump depicting him as an ape
The former US president didn't name Trump, but lamented the lack of
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 12:14 AM
@barackobama.bsky.social: “There's this sort of clown show that's happening in social media+on television.And what is true is that there doesn't seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum+a sense of propriety+respect for the office,right?”
Through the Night: six hours of @EBU_HQ concerts & recordings, starting tonight with Lisa Streich, Strauss & Bruckner from Stockholm 🇸🇪
Listen at 00.30 or here #BBCSounds (UK) any time for 30 days afterwards.
Listen at 00.30 or here #BBCSounds (UK) any time for 30 days afterwards.
BBC Radio 3 - Through the Night, Bruckner's Fourth Symphony from Stockholm
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra play Lisa Streich, Richard Strauss and Bruckner.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 12:02 AM
Through the Night: six hours of @EBU_HQ concerts & recordings, starting tonight with Lisa Streich, Strauss & Bruckner from Stockholm 🇸🇪
Listen at 00.30 or here #BBCSounds (UK) any time for 30 days afterwards.
Listen at 00.30 or here #BBCSounds (UK) any time for 30 days afterwards.
Reposted by Laura Phillips
“Women are proud of you, thank you”
Gisèle Pelicot becomes emotional as she responds to messages of support from women across France
The interview with this incredible woman is on BBC iplayer now (‘Gisele Pelicot - the Newsnight Interview’)
Gisèle Pelicot becomes emotional as she responds to messages of support from women across France
The interview with this incredible woman is on BBC iplayer now (‘Gisele Pelicot - the Newsnight Interview’)
February 14, 2026 at 2:36 PM
“Women are proud of you, thank you”
Gisèle Pelicot becomes emotional as she responds to messages of support from women across France
The interview with this incredible woman is on BBC iplayer now (‘Gisele Pelicot - the Newsnight Interview’)
Gisèle Pelicot becomes emotional as she responds to messages of support from women across France
The interview with this incredible woman is on BBC iplayer now (‘Gisele Pelicot - the Newsnight Interview’)
Reposted by Laura Phillips
Alex is one of the best communicators in the EU. A consistent theme of his interventions is to change the narrative - on Russia, on European competitiveness
He's right
He's right
February 14, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Alex is one of the best communicators in the EU. A consistent theme of his interventions is to change the narrative - on Russia, on European competitiveness
He's right
He's right