British MP delivers speech in Parliament from an iPad
Well, it was sort of accidental. Labour MP Kerry McCarthy wanted to deliver a speech in the House of Commons, and there were so many last minute changes to the text that she just decided to read it from her iPad.
The Mirror reports the use of the iPad was the first after a rule change that allowed iPads in the chamber. Devices no bigger than a sheet of A4 paper are allowed, so smartphones and tablets are OK, but laptops are still not allowed.
Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting that Tony Blair's former IT chief has criticized the government for overly ambitious and badly managed technology procurement. Ian Watmore, who is now leading a charge for better government efficiency thinks costly IT projects should be stopped to save money. Then he added that Apple products, which he said he used at home, should be used more in government.
All this struck a chord with me, because in the late 90s I led a massive IT project for the BBC, which is kinda, sorta, quasi governmental. The BBC is funded by UK taxpayers through a license fee. To get my project done, I had to struggle with byzantine rules and an army of often overpaid consultants who were simply driving the costs up. Almost all were very Windows-centric, even though Macs were heavily used in the creative departments for editing and graphics at the time.
Thanks to Warren and Jack for the tip on the iPad story
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Well, it was sort of accidental. Labour MP Kerry McCarthy wanted to deliver a speech in the House of Commons, and there were so many...
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The BBC's licence fee is paid by UK householders, whether or not they are taxpayers.
March 31 2011 at 5:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNearly right.
Paid for by UK householders who watch live television. Apparently you don't need a licence to watch iPlayer.
And a Canadian MP used a Blackberry PlayBook to deliver a speech on the budget. I really don't get the big deal
March 30 2011 at 10:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe point is that governments and similar institutions are often very 'old world'/traditional in the way they do things. Technology adoption and new ways of working are often fought because these establishments place tradition before efficiency and many of the people within are unwilling/unable to move with the times.
March 31 2011 at 3:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'm sure there's a BlackBerry news site or blog somewhere that reported about that.
March 31 2011 at 5:25 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply@Mel Martin:
Is it true that Microsoft made some sort of financial contribution to the BBC to encourage take-up and installation of MS products? I'm sure you couldn't call it a bribe.
Did you ever run into the BBC's resident Apple hater Rory Cellan-Jones? If you did, I hope you took a well-aimed kick at his sensitive parts. Not encouraging violence but that man is irksome.
No doubt she'll be claiming for her iPad on her expenses, which I am paying for along with the £2,500 they give to MP's for each child they have under the age of 18, so they can come visit mummy of daddy MP in London at my expense!!
March 30 2011 at 8:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIf she was commenting on the budget she probably sounded like a bit of an angry bird
(Brits will get that joke. Not exactly politically correct, but hey...)
Phooey to being PC! No bad words, just bad context.
I get the idea behind your joke but you could have phrased it better. That said, this is the internet so who am I to tear apart your well intentioned pun? High five, good sir!
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