Sunday, March 11, 2007

An Encounter with George Osborne

Today in The Sunday Times: fear and loathing in John Adam Street, a savage journey to the dark heart of the technophile dream.
Posted by Bryan Appleyard at 6:21 am

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 11, 2007 6:28 am

    As someone who went to the RSA session and being neither politician nor geek nor media person, I share these observations.

    I would also add the third pillar George Osborne spoke about was the need for change in culture. Yet, he was a clear example of the culture that needed change - used printed notes speeach and asked only a retorical question where the answer supplied by his researchers for Tom Anderson's number of friends was out by 36 Million. This means the check was at least several months old as they came up with 125Million instead of 161 Million on the day!

    So, these are the people to come up with accurate procurement figures saving 5% of annual budget on IT. I think with the margin of error on the only numeric item in the speech of over 20% Mr Osborne and his team would have no hope of succeeding.

    So, plus for bringing up the subject in enthisiastic way and a fail for implementation. And, as Bryan Appleyard implies, it is this latter that makes a difference.

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  2. BritMarch 11, 2007 1:23 pm

    A lot of the people I've met through blogging are deeply sceptical about where technology is taking us in this sort of area.

    I sometimes think it would be fun to set up an organisation called the SFES: the Society for E-Luddites.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bryan AppleyardMarch 12, 2007 8:39 am

    Attractive idea, Brit, though I am trying not to be a Luddite, without much success.

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