Digital divide

IT'S ironic that the Government's digital champion is proposing that school computers be made available to the wider community, after lessons have been completed, when IT is one of the primary victims of the latest education cuts.

Yet, this juxtaposition apart, Martha Lane Fox's plans to encourage people of all ages to have full access to the internet is a commendable attempt to break down the myth that computer usage is the exclusive right of the young.

It is not as Scarborough – a favoured location for the retired – has shown. Its local economy is booming, after many years in the doldrums, because it now enjoys the fastest possible broadband access.

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This is proving to be a lifeline to the more mature generations who are learning, rapidly, that computers can bring about untold advantages – and that one is never too old to log on to the worldwide web to take advantage of special offers or widen one's knowledge.

Of course, there are always going to be people who are resistant to change and that it will take time to win over the sceptics. It is also difficult to see how the Government can provide free computer access to poorer members of society when its spending cuts are already proving to be so draconian.

Nevertheless, it is important that Ministers look at every possible way of providing computer access for people of all ages – whether it be in schools or tax incentives that inspire the expansion of community-based internet cafs and computer centres of learning.

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