Bonkers Boris and Gormless Gordon go all Internet on your ass

By Davey Winder
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 17:52

Networking

Boris Johnson is either the Mayor of London or the bumbling oaf from TV quiz shows depending upon who you are talking to. Gordon Brown is the washed up UK Prime Minister according to just about everyone. Neither have taken much of a public nor political interest in the Internet, until now...

Gordon Brown, the man who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom without bothering to have an election, courtesy of Tony Blair stepping down a year ago, is not a happy man. His Labour Party has taken a battering in the polls as well as in recent local elections and bi-elections.

Usually the cure for the 'as popular as Hitler' political blues is to throw money at the electorate. Something that is rather difficult when the world is facing a recession.

Still, Gormless Gordon has managed to find the odd UKP £300 million to propose a scheme that would provide low-income families with vouchers to get them Internet-connected. Vouchers ranging in value between £100 and £700 will be dished out on a means-tested basis.

Appealing to 1.4 million traditionally Labour voting households, it is a clever move to please the electorate with free broadband connectivity, kit and even computers for those without one at present.

The money has to come from somewhere, and this scheme is supposedly aimed at getting kids and teachers connected to the Internet that somewhere will be other areas of education funding according to various reports.

Funny, when Labour was riding high in the opinion polls the need to get IT into low-income households was not a priority. In fact, the Government scrapped the Home Computing Initiative scheme (which gave tax breaks to companies which loaned employees computer kit) in 2006 without any warning.

The Conservative Mayor of London and all round bumbling media celebrity Boris Johnson has described the Brown Broadband Bonanza as sounding "a bit like a desperate bribe by the prime minister."

Instead, he announced during a BBC London Radio interview, everyone should be given WiFi access. Well, everyone in London. Well, everyone in Stratford, which will be home to the 2012 Olympics.

Arguing that other parts of the world have done it, Johnson says there is no reason why London can't become a place where you can get on the web for free wherever you go. Well, Boris, some detail would be nice to start with.

The Mayor gave no idea of how the scheme would, or could, be funded. Nor, indeed, if it would be a free access system or not.

Politicians, dontcha just love 'em?