Government spends another £300mill dishing out Laptops and Broadband

[lou]

http://www.labour.org.uk/free-computers-broadband-access

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8449485.stm

Not sure about this... £300 million quid we can ill afford to buy laptops for kids to use facebook/MSN and parents to play online Bingo on (and probably get into a worse financial mess!) Dont know about anyone else but I can vouch for my household that very little time (practically none) is spent liasing with the school on our computers!

What happens if they get stolen or damaged? Who foots the bill for that or do they just dish another one out? Whos going to pay their increased electric bills?

Not at all sure this is the best use of that amount of money in the current climate?

[Guest]

The irony is, some of the people who will benefit from such a scheme are likely to be the people who moan about immigrants coming here and getting everything for free.

[lou]

The irony is, some of the people who will benefit from such a scheme are likely to be the people who moan about immigrants coming here and getting everything for free.

Yeah good point, didnt think of that

It just smacks of trying to get votes off the "working classes" (or not working as the likely case may be!)

[coale39]

Wont be surprised if Labour handed them out at voting stations during the GE.

[MPH]

If this happens you can guarantee porn website subscriptions would double in this country.

[Tha Carter]

defo gunna try and get 1 of dese maybes 2 if lucky. den go down cex and sell bak 4 cash.

I iz like Branson. bare busness skillz.

[Flynny]

Yeah good point, didnt think of that

It just smacks of trying to get votes off the "working classes" (or not working as the likely case may be!)

In fairness that's what Labour should be doing and haven't been doing for much too long. I know there has to be a certain amount of cynicism with politics but I wouldn't start knocking them for doing what they should be doing and were elected to do.

Not a huge amount of money in the scheme of things and the money was probably budgeted and contracts signed ages ago anyway.

Talking of politics I'm thinking of voting Lib Dem now which is a shocking state of affairs.

[Jimothy]

In fairness that's what Labour should be doing and haven't been doing for much too long. I know there has to be a certain amount of cynicism with politics but I wouldn't start knocking them for doing what they should be doing and were elected to do.

Not a huge amount of money in the scheme of things and the money was probably budgeted and contracts signed ages ago anyway.

Talking of politics I'm thinking of voting Lib Dem now which is a shocking state of affairs.

So am I. Always voted Labour until now. It's about time people realised there is a 3rd option, that you don't have to vote Labour or Tory, and voting Lib Dem isn't a wasted vote. If all the people who were tempted to vote for them and then dismissed them as a wasted vote, voted for them, I think they'd do pretty well.

[Guest Bilo]

Desperate attempt to cling onto power by any means necessary. If that means wasting taxpayers money on a lame-brained folly such as this, so be it so far as Labour are concerned. They aren't stupid enough to honestly believe they can still be in power by the summer so if/when this scheme goes tits, they can blame the Tories from the opposition bench for messing it up.

As others have said, I'm seriously contemplating voting for the Lib Dems this GE, Cameron appears to be an opportunist and Labour lost their way some time ago. If enough people vote for the Lib Dems, they can really grow in influence and stature in British politics. Surely no bad thing.

[Flynny]

So am I. Always voted Labour until now. It's about time people realised there is a 3rd option, that you don't have to vote Labour or Tory, and voting Lib Dem isn't a wasted vote. If all the people who were tempted to vote for them and then dismissed them as a wasted vote, voted for them, I think they'd do pretty well.

Conservatives won't be in the slightest bit squeamish about cutting and have to honour commitments they've made to tax-breaks to the wealthy. Labour look weary and Brown seems to have had to be convinced of the need to be honest instead of doing it naturally (though he could still win me round if he actually does it, maybe). Seemingly Lib Dems are the only party who have been honest when they can and Nick Clegg doesn't really get enough credit for being pretty plain-speaking even though it's very occasionally cringeworthy.

I think at the minute, basically, they're the only people I consider credible and who don't leave me with working-class guilt.

[Flynny]

Desperate attempt to cling onto power by any means necessary. If that means wasting taxpayers money on a lame-brained folly such as this, so be it so far as Labour are concerned. They aren't stupid enough to honestly believe they can still be in power by the summer so if/when this scheme goes tits, they can blame the Tories from the opposition bench for messing it up.

Again, hang on, this was announced in 2008 as the article states clearly. Brown gets plenty of pretty justified stick as it is but people bashing him purely out of momentum seems a sad state of affairs. Electoral bribes happen with quite sad regularity but if this is one (which it isn't) it'd be a really really lame one.

[Guest Bilo]

Again, hang on, this was announced in 2008 as the article states clearly. Brown gets plenty of pretty justified stick as it is but people bashing him purely out of momentum seems a sad state of affairs. Electoral bribes happen with quite sad regularity but if this is one (which it isn't) it'd be a really really lame one.

It was first mentioned in 2008 when he was a maximum of two years away from calling an election. Biding his time and playing politics now he knows the odds are stacked against him suggests this was something of a 'trump card' so far as Labour are concerned.

As for electoral bribes; with the economy in the state it's in, what else can they afford? It's one of those relatively easy publicity stunts which sounds like Old Labour territory by extending equality of opportunity, but the fact is that a lot of the 'hard-working families' that all three parties are aiming to attract won't be eligible for this scheme. I'm sure the pro-Labour tabloid press such as The Mirror will liken it to the founding of the NHS and the Welfare State but it's badly thought out, badly conceived and a piss-poor headline grabber that almost all will see through. Four years ago, I'd have said most of the tabloids would have fallen for this but now the Murdoch media empire is telling everyone not to vote Labour, the Sun readers will do as they're told and ignore this scheme as a cheap stunt. For once, they're right to do so. (Hurt to say that)

Sod it, I'm voting Lib Dems for the same reasons you are chap.

[l444ry]

Can't forget this from calamity Clegg.....even puts it on the plate for Brown!!!

[Jon the Hat]

This is probably a pretty good idea actually. For those os us over 30, the rate at which the kids today pick up new technology makes our own efforts look pretty weak. And I compare my skills - from a home which always had a computer from about 6 years old - to my wife's who never had one until she bought her own in her twenties - a huge gulf there as well. We should not be leaving the poorer parts of society off the technological bandwagon.

[lou]

In fairness that's what Labour should be doing and haven't been doing for much too long. I know there has to be a certain amount of cynicism with politics but I wouldn't start knocking them for doing what they should be doing and were elected to do.

Not a huge amount of money in the scheme of things and the money was probably budgeted and contracts signed ages ago anyway.

Talking of politics I'm thinking of voting Lib Dem now which is a shocking state of affairs.

So am I!

I would rather they be delivering better thought out policies for all of us not just those on benefits AGAIN. Yeah I suppose when were over 2 trillion pounds in debt £300 million is a drop in the ocean! I still think its better spent on more important things, like crime, education or the NHS for example?

I cant see many (if any) people using these laptops for educational purposes, as I live in the real world. (not saying you dont, was refering to Jim Knight or whoevers brain child this was.)

[lou]

This is probably a pretty good idea actually. For those os us over 30, the rate at which the kids today pick up new technology makes our own efforts look pretty weak. And I compare my skills - from a home which always had a computer from about 6 years old - to my wife's who never had one until she bought her own in her twenties - a huge gulf there as well. We should not be leaving the poorer parts of society off the technological bandwagon.

Theyre not left out, they have IT taught at school!

[davieG]

So am I!

I would rather they be delivering better thought out policies for all of us not just those on benefits AGAIN. Yeah I suppose when were over 2 trillion pounds in debt £300 million is a drop in the ocean! I still think its better spent on more important things, like crime, education or the NHS for example?

I cant see many (if any) people using these laptops for educational purposes, as I live in the real world. (not saying you dont, was refering to Jim Knight or whoevers brain child this was.)

MP's have already been doing that

[Guest]

defo gunna try and get 1 of dese maybes 2 if lucky. den go down cex and sell bak 4 cash.

I iz like Branson. bare busness skillz.

Yep, just like Richard Branson. Only without the ability to string a coherent sentence together

[Daggers]

Not a huge amount of money in the scheme of things and the money was probably budgeted and contracts signed ages ago anyway.

Money was allocated over a year ago but it isn't enoguh to cover costs.

The government tried to foist it onto LEAs to implement - not one said yes. So, they are currently trying to get schools to sign up and offer and administer it to low-income parents. There are no incentives attached, just a whole list of additional responsibilities for teachers. Unsurprisingly, not many schools are altogether keen either.

They may have to resign themselves to dolling them out to Jeremy Kyle audiences. There again, they won't be in power to do it anyway.

[Webbo]

Pathetic gimmick.

PS. I won't be voting Lib Dem.

[dandannieldanok]

I would never in a million years got through my GCSEs, my AS levels, and my A levels without a computer and access to word processing and the internet, so I think this is a very decent idea. This will help kids who get stuck in a vicious circle of poverty (not necessarily through anyones fault, just circumstance) by giving them a kickstart in their studies.

The alternatives are:

1) Carry on as normal and hope the kids from poorer families can get by without

2) Open schools after hours so kids can use their computers

3) Make library computers a lot cheaper to use and increase their quantity

^ Each of them are flawed and this proposal does have holes in it but it's still a decent proposal.

[Webbo]

The alternatives are:

1) Carry on as normal and hope the kids from poorer families can get by without

2) Open schools after hours so kids can use their computers

3) Make library computers a lot cheaper to use and increase their quantity

4) Only use computers when teaching IT. Try actually teaching the other subjects instead of asking questions and then letting pupils cut and paste the answers from wikipedia.

[Wycombe Fox]

If these laptops are so important to education, why don't we lend the money to the 'poor' to buy them on a 'pay-back-when-you-have-a-job' basis, in the same way that university students take out loans? That way it's an investment for the future of both parties.

Where's the incentive for people to lift themselves out of the 'poor zone' if luxuries, such as a laptop, are handed out courtesy of our wonderful government misappropriating my hard-earned money.

Reasonable laptop @ £400 plus 12 months connection @ 15.00 = £580. The figures quoted equate to £1111 per laptop. Someone's making a killing somewhere.

Sheer madness.

[CosbehFox]

My annoyance with this is that Mandelson has just revealed his cuts for Universities. Couldn't they do with a good percentage of this amount?

[Guest]

I would never in a million years got through my GCSEs, my AS levels, and my A levels without a computer and access to word processing and the internet

How the hell did we manage without them?

My annoyance with this is that Mandelson has just revealed his cuts for Universities. Couldn't they do with a good percentage of this amount?

I agree, but this would probably be seen as elitism.