September 2009 Archives

Inshallah, today at the Labour party conference I will tell parliamentary candidates that whethwr or not they get elected, they will not be re-elected if most of their voters are unemployed, in low-paid dead-end jobs or in pension-slashed poverty come the election of 2015.

The industry presentations at the EURIM Information Society Policy Dragon's Den at the LibDem Party Conference attracted some obvious, but seldom answered, questions from Parliamentary Candidates - beginning with: "Public Sector ICT spend is unpopular - why shouldn't that £16 billion or so a year be the first target for cuts?

I promised speakers and dragons at the EURIM Dragon's Den in Bournemouth yesterday that I would blog my general impression and then give them the opportunity to check what I plan to say tomorrow, including how I have quoted them, when I do a more detailed account of what was said. Meanwhile, if I were a twitter, the headline above would be my tweet. 

I blogged last week on plans for the EURIM Dragon's Dens at the Party Conferences. On Monday it is Bournemouth. After each Den I plan to post a note on the political priorities for action on ICT as seen by the Candidates of that party.

It is just over a year since my blog on the DCMS consultation to outlaw product placement. I was appalled at the complacency of the UK ICT and Content industries and its lobbyists in the face of  another EU attempt to outlaw the future and drive our creative industries across the Atlantic but was a lone voice. I was therefore delighted at the new Minister's U-turn yesterday

"Wise spending - not big spending" was how a BBC presenter summarised Lord Mandelson's comments this morning on the announcements planned this week. Commenting on the Eurim guide to current good procurement practice released today, Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury as well as Digital Britain Minster, said ...

Much of the UK, including public services, would grind to a halt if we lost access to the Internet for any length of time. The Digital Britain implementation plan includes an exercise later this year to assess preparedness for a major network failure. It is unclear whether Industry or Politicians fully appreciate the other consequences of our growing technology dependency.