Gordon Brown’s promise to fit broadband in every child’s home is eerily familiar of Tony Blair’s promise many years ago, when still leader of the Opposition, to link up every school in the land with a fibreoptic cable, courtesy of BT. Whatever happened to that cable, I wonder. At the time, The Spectator majestically described the policy as “Newt Labour” – a nod in the direction of Newt Gingrich who, in the wake of the 1994 Republican congressional revolution, was promising radical democratisation via technology. “Let them eat laptops,” was the mocking liberal headline.
Whatever else Gordon says today, I am delighted that he is now a convert to the joys of webworld. He used to ask visitors to Number Ten whether they “liked the Internet” – as if it were an exotic dish or a football team facing relegation.
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