15 Jun 2009
Tomorrow afternoon in a building designed by Scottish neo-classical architect Robert Adam, close to Charing Cross railway station, Lord Carter of Barnes will rise to his feet and deliver the final Digital Britain report.
RSA House is the venue for the report's final disclosure. However, Lord Carter is still working on the implementation plan which will fill in the detail about exactly how all the mission statements will be delivered – the who and when – and hopefully the how much.
I'll be at the event, and I would like to think I'm going to hear something amazing tomorrow, that Carter will blow everybody out of the water with a succession of stunning announcements designed to move the UK's communications infrastructure into the 21st century. So, are we going to get visionary thinking from Lord Carter - or a point release of January's interim Digital Britain report plus small tinkerings at the edge?
The big problem for Carter is that he's hamstrung by the government's aversion to stumping up a serious amount of folding drink vouchers to deliver the proper digital IT infrastructure needed by the UK to compete effectively with our global competitors.
At the last forum organised to discuss Digital Britain, Gordon Brown took the stage and said: "We can't leave this to chance." Unfortunately I suspect that is precisely what will happen after tomorrow's announcement - Brown will be leaving the country at the mercy of Lady Luck, and if his recent luck is anything to go by, that doesn't bode well for the digital future of the UK.
By Dave Bailey
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