Swindon broadband wifi is twinned with Disneyworld

We had a fascinating trip to Swindon for the last Politics Show of the year. The town is the butt of many jokes, the latest surrounding their twinning with Disneyworld, but there is serious work being done here, at the cutting edge of the new economy, and serious questions to be asked.

We were guests of the California-based microchip manufacturer Intel who employ 700 people in Swindon. They want Britain to move faster - matching line speeds of 50mbs in other parts of the world - and explore new areas of on-line work like telemedicine.

That would sell more of their processors and graphics chips, of course, but unlike global corporations our government has to think about more than the bottom line.

Complaints from rural areas that they're starved of broadband have led Lord Mandelson to include a 50p a month levy on fixed phone lines in the Digital Economy Bill to help pay for the extension of broadband to rural areas.

Swindon Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, who was on our Politics Show panel, explained that the levy was aimed at people with fixed lines because those on lower incomes could shift to pay-as-you-go mobiles and avoid the tax.

And she criticised the town's local Conservative council for spending money on a free wireless internet scheme for the town, while cutting other parts of the budget.

That Disney connection returned as she labelled the council "Mickey Mouse" -
they called government policy "Goofy" for slowing the pace of change in the digital economy.

To me it highlighted that we're all part of one global on-line economy nowadays. As the world spins faster than Walt Disney could ever have imagined consumers are demanding that every part of the UK can share in the very latest technology and national governments have very little influence.

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