Free £500 Lap top

[Christmas Tree 4920]

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-laptop-grants

 

10,000 being given away free if you have any family or friends that meet the criteria.

[Andrew 4969]

jesus christ thats £5million down the pan for absolutely no reason

[Happy Face 29]

Hope they're giving away a free hdmi cable to hook it upto their 42"+ hdtv in their council house...

 

(a real hate of mine)

 

To be fair, it's difficult to find an old fashioned CRT tv in this day and age.

[Andrew 4969]

Hope they're giving away a free hdmi cable to hook it upto their 42"+ hdtv in their council house...

 

(a real hate of mine)

 

they wont need it while theyre sat in the garden on their settee though

[Guest alex]

PC gone mad.

[The Fish 11080]

Suppose it'll help them look at all those jobs they can't get.

[Meenzer 15871]

PC gone mad.

 

[NJS 4446]

I'd imagine the idea is to make people feel part of society and not left out because they are poor (as its targetted at people with no internet access) - not that bad an idea imo.

 

I know it all adds up but £5m is peanuts - expecially for something that could affect 10000 people.

[Happy Face 29]

Poor people need porn too.

 

If only to take their mind off being unemployed and uneducated.

[Gejon 2]

PC gone mad.

 

Good work sir

[Anth 113]

I'd imagine the idea is to make people feel part of society and not left out because they are poor (as its targetted at people with no internet access) - not that bad an idea imo.

 

I know it all adds up but £5m is peanuts - expecially for something that could affect 10000 people.

 

I Agree, not every low income household are full of Alcoholic benefit cheats with asbos. It will be good for stuff like home work etc

[ewerk 31596]

Since when have laptops and internet access been a right? Waste of money imo, is going to the local library such a problem?

[Anth 113]

Since when have laptops and internet access been a right? Waste of money imo, is going to the local library such a problem?

 

I dont think they are a 'right' but I do think it is a good idea to allow kids to have access to laptops at home that will potentially aid them in their studies. Fair poijnt about Libraries though

[ewerk 31596]

Yeah, they have access in libraries and also in school I imagine. At least 95% of their usage will be non-educational. Seems like a pointless handout to me, NJS called £5m peanuts, in the overall picture it may be but £5m could make a hell of a difference to a school or hospital.

[NJS 4446]

Yeah, they have access in libraries and also in school I imagine. At least 95% of their usage will be non-educational. Seems like a pointless handout to me, NJS called £5m peanuts, in the overall picture it may be but £5m could make a hell of a difference to a school or hospital.

 

As I said, I think the 5m is "good value" for 10000 people to benefit.

 

I'd also say having access at home is a lot easier and likely to be used far more than an "inconvenient" trip to the library - ie they aren't going to go there every day.

[ChezGiven 0]

Since when have laptops and internet access been a right? Waste of money imo, is going to the local library such a problem?

Its an interesting question though as its not 'a computer' or 'the internet' which is being provided, its 'information'. In which case, there is an argument (even if i cant do it justice here) which says that access to the wealth of human knowledge and information that exists online (which has a marginal cost of zero to the user, therefore not subject to scarcity) can be equated to basic rights like health and education.

[ewerk 31596]

Yeah, they have access in libraries and also in school I imagine. At least 95% of their usage will be non-educational. Seems like a pointless handout to me, NJS called £5m peanuts, in the overall picture it may be but £5m could make a hell of a difference to a school or hospital.

 

As I said, I think the 5m is "good value" for 10000 people to benefit.

 

I'd also say having access at home is a lot easier and likely to be used far more than an "inconvenient" trip to the library - ie they aren't going to go there every day.

 

It is easier of course but how much of it will be used for educational purposes? Not much I reckon. It just seems like one of these pointless giveaways that get a minister some good coverage. By the sounds of things it was first implemented under Labour.

[ChezGiven 0]

Yeah, they have access in libraries and also in school I imagine. At least 95% of their usage will be non-educational. Seems like a pointless handout to me, NJS called £5m peanuts, in the overall picture it may be but £5m could make a hell of a difference to a school or hospital.

 

As I said, I think the 5m is "good value" for 10000 people to benefit.

 

I'd also say having access at home is a lot easier and likely to be used far more than an "inconvenient" trip to the library - ie they aren't going to go there every day.

 

500 quid per person is good value iyam.

[Happy Face 29]

Government support for Britain's banks has reached a staggering £850bn and the eventual cost to taxpayers will not be known for years, the public spending watchdog says today.

 

 

The National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that £107m will be paid to City advisers called in to work on the rescue because the Treasury was too "stretched" to cope with the sudden financial crisis which broke in the autumn of last year.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/polit...ut-1833830.html

 

So this will cost 0.000588% of that.

 

BUT THEY'RE POOR!!!!!! THEY DESERVE NOTHING!!!!!!!!

 

I'm actually getting a little bit angry as i think of people objecting to this.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Happy Face

[ewerk 31596]

Government support for Britain's banks has reached a staggering £850bn and the eventual cost to taxpayers will not be known for years, the public spending watchdog says today.

 

 

The National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that £107m will be paid to City advisers called in to work on the rescue because the Treasury was too "stretched" to cope with the sudden financial crisis which broke in the autumn of last year.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/polit...ut-1833830.html

 

So this will cost 0.000588% of that.

 

BUT THEY'RE POOR!!!!!! THEY DESERVE NOTHING!!!!!!!!

 

I'm actually getting a little bit angry as i think of people objecting to this.

 

So because £850bn was spent on the banks it's okay to waste £5m?

[Happy Face 29]

Government support for Britain's banks has reached a staggering £850bn and the eventual cost to taxpayers will not be known for years, the public spending watchdog says today.

 

 

The National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that £107m will be paid to City advisers called in to work on the rescue because the Treasury was too "stretched" to cope with the sudden financial crisis which broke in the autumn of last year.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/polit...ut-1833830.html

 

So this will cost 0.000588% of that.

 

BUT THEY'RE POOR!!!!!! THEY DESERVE NOTHING!!!!!!!!

 

I'm actually getting a little bit angry as i think of people objecting to this.

 

So because £850bn was spent on the banks it's okay to waste £5m?

 

There's not one service the government provide that you could not portray as waste. All you can do is compare the value for money one service provides compared with others.

 

The original cost was £300m to give 270,000 kids internet access at home. I think that's excellent value. Just over £1000 per child.

Edited August 12, 2010 by Happy Face

[peasepud 59]

Personally I think the concept is a good one, giving those kids from poorer families a chance to keep up with those better off, trouble is just as in everything else that targets those most at need it will be abused.

 

I dont understand why it needs to be £500 worth of equipment. Ive bought PCs and laptops for way under 500 notes and thats without any kind of discount. Surely in this case, the government should have entered into a deal with the likes of Dell and have them create a fairly basic machine which would more than easily cope with day to day stuff but no need for anything more. A standard processor, 250Gb Hard Drive, 1Gb of Ram an a basic keyboard, monitor and mouse would cost peanuts. Add in the huge bulk order and the cost would drop dramatically.

 

Even better however is the fact that there will soon be thousands of PCs going to waste in the Civil Service, wipe them of any data and pass them out to these families.

 

What will happen unfortunately is that some parents will simply sell the vouchers, in some cases to waste but in others to buy clothes, food and stuff just to get the kids to school. If you're on the bones of your arse then £500 for a computer or £200 to spend on essentials is no competition.

 

Some other kids may find however that the PC is bought, set up, used lovingly for a few weeks and then suddenly one day they come home to find dad pissed up and a gap where the computer was.

 

 

Maybe it would have been better to buy schools another 10,000 laptops and have it that they loan them out to the kids as and when required?

[AgentAxeman 199]

waste of money. yet another excuse not to bother getting a job.

[ewerk 31596]

There's not one service the government provide that you could not portray as waste. All you can do is compare the value for money one service provides compared with others.

 

The original cost was £300m to give 270,000 kids internet access at home. I think that's excellent value. Just over £1000 per child.

 

But my point is that it isn't a right, why should we pay for others to get on the internet? I still feel that the money could have been better spent in other areas.

[peasepud 59]

There's not one service the government provide that you could not portray as waste. All you can do is compare the value for money one service provides compared with others.

 

The original cost was £300m to give 270,000 kids internet access at home. I think that's excellent value. Just over £1000 per child.

 

But my point is that it isn't a right, why should we pay for others to get on the internet? I still feel that the money could have been better spent in other areas.

 

Again though, you could say that about anything. Why should we pay for other peoples food, petrol, shoes. I do see that giving poor children access to the internet could have benefits in the long term ie increase their knowledge, get better grades and ultimately get out of the poverty bracket when they leave school.