Bill Thompson who chaired a New Statesman debate on IT and modernisation, said at the end:
"I would like to thank all of you. When Freud was talking about the purpose of analysis, one of the things he said was, "It is to turn life-threatening depression into mere unhappiness". I would like to think that we have done a bit of that in our discussion today."
Bill Thompson is a technology critic, broadcaster and essayist
He was chairing a New Statesman round table discussion, sponsored by Atos Origin, which debated issues around IT and how it affects the modernisation of society and, in turn, how society's attitudes affect the technology that seeks to make our lives easier.
Those taking part in the debate included:
- Tony Ageh Project leader iPlayer, new media division BBC
- Neil Glass Author of Plundering the Public Sector; pseudonym David Craig
- Richard Granger Director general IT, Department of Health
- Alan Jackson Chief technical officer Aidworld Ajaz Ahmed Founder of Freeserve; chairman of Callserve
- Alex Bax Senior policy officer, planning and development, Greater London
Authority (GLA)
- Eamonn Molloy, Lecturer in operations and technology management, Said Business School
- Stephen Timms MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, former e-government
minister
- Derek Wyatt MP Chairman of the allparty iGroup; Founder, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University
- John Yard CBE Member, former senior executive at Inland Revenue, EzGov Europe Middle-East Advisory Council,
Roy Simpson, Director public sector, Intel Corporation UK Ltd