Wednesday newspaper round-up: Railways, BBC, Grok
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 14 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - Leading US investors and private equity firms could step up their foray into UK new-build housing after Donald Trump's move to ban institutional companies from buying single-family homes in the US, raising concerns that investors could "cut corners and increase rents". The US president said last week that he would ask Congress to codify the measure as he tries to address concerns that families are struggling to buy or rent a home. The median property sale price was $410,800 (£305,000) last year, according to the US Census Bureau. - Guardian
Long-awaited plans for better railways across the north of England have been given government backing with an undertaking to "reverse years of chronic underinvestment" by spending up to £45bn building Northern Powerhouse Rail. Just over £1bn has been allocated to work up a detailed three-stage plan to connect cities from Liverpool to Newcastle, which could fulfil most of the demands of northern leaders, in a series of long-term projects. - Guardian
The BBC has been overtaken by YouTube for the first time, signalling the end of the corporation's near century of dominance of entertainment in Britain. YouTube now attracts a larger audience than all of the BBC's channels combined, according to official ratings agency Barb. Almost 52 million people watched YouTube on their televisions, smartphones or laptops in December, compared with the 50.8 million Britons who tuned into the BBC. - Telegraph
Elon Musk's X has stopped its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot undressing women in photos after Britain threatened to ban the site. Grok, the AI bot that operates on Mr Musk's social media site X, began ignoring instructions to generate sexualised images of women in swimwear on Tuesday. It also now ignores other requests to put women in sexual poses or explicit scenarios. - Telegraph
As much as £14 billion of Rachel Reeves's newly created £22 billion fiscal buffer could be wiped out by a series of government U-turns and a big decline in net migration. The chancellor's effort to appease financial markets by more than doubling her fiscal headroom at November's budget may have been in vain because of the government easing tax rises on pubs and farmers along with much lower migration in the coming years, according to calculations by Bloomberg. - The Times
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