back to article Queen's Speech slammed by small biz

Small business groups were less than impressed with Gordon Brown's fantasy list of what he would do in the unlikely event that he is re-elected as Prime Minister. Although many were shocked at the lack of action on MPs' expenses, small business groups were unimpressed at the lack of promised action on improving internet access …

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  1. Daniel Wilkie

    The FSB said:

    Bloody Russians, they stick their nose in everything these days!

  2. Mr Pedantio

    Faster than you think

    Of course I didn't listen to the actual speech, as I have a life, but did they really promise universal "two megabite" broadband? I will be holding them to that. Sixteen megabits per second is not to be sniffed at, you know.

  3. It wasnt me
    Pint

    Theres an error in the first line:

    "Small business groups were less than impressed with Gordon Brown's fantasy list of what he would do in the unlikely event that he is re-elected as Prime Minister."

    --- should have read :----

    "Small business groups were less than impressed with Gordon Brown's fantasy list of what he would do in the unlikely event that he is elected as Prime Minister."

    Fixed it for you.....

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yum

    Two megabite broadband sounds tasty!

  5. Peter2 Silver badge

    Megabite?

    "A commitment to two mega-BITE-"

    What's a Megabite? I've heard of most units, but this one seems to have evaded me thus far. Is it the same as a Megabyte?

    "a minimum 2mbps"

    At least one of them is capable of looking up what the standards of measurement are.

  6. Nigel Callaghan

    Winge, winge...

    Another daft knee-jerk comment from business spokesperson desperately seeking something to criticise: "A new telephone line levy will add to business costs at a time when they can least afford it." - if a business can't afford an extra £6/year in 'broadband tax' then they should already be in receivership!

  7. Marvin the Martian
    Stop

    That's a relief

    If small business is happy with things, that would be very worrying indeed. They must moan, it's their role in society. Would be unnatural otherwise.

  8. BB
    FAIL

    Eats, shoots and leaves

    "Megabite broadband"? Ladies and gentlemen, the state of Britain today - where even the boss of the Chamber of Commerce can't spell.

  9. mrlumpy
    Flame

    @ It wasn't me

    This country has never had an elected Prime Minister - the concept of an elected Prime Minister is as notional as a megabite.

    Now, to the matter of the pathetic target of 2mb broadband. If you set your goals low enough and constantly fail to achieve them you become what we are today, a miserable little country. We used to think big, set ourselves ambitious targets and meet them if not surpass them, we couldn't establish the Empire today, build the railways or create the NHS and it sickens me.

    Years and years of successive crapness throughout the country has lead everyone from the powers that be to the man in the street thinking small and delivering smaller.

  10. Jonathon Desmond
    WTF?

    Standards of Measurement?

    "a minimum 2mbps"

    Two millibits per second? Sounds about right.

  11. Ben Tasker
    FAIL

    Re: Peter2

    What's a Megabite? I've heard of most units, but this one seems to have evaded me thus far. Is it the same as a Megabyte?

    Presumably, which will be a great improvement considering that I currently have an 8megaBIT link.

    It's one of my pet hates, people confusing bits and bytes, but when the ISP's do it in their adverts it's ten times worse!

  12. Ted Treen
    FAIL

    @mrlumpy

    Since we 'develeoped' professional politicos who've rarely had a proper job and usually have no real experience in the real world, we have had a succession of useless, otherwise-unemployable nonentities standing for public office.

    Joe public sees this, becomes disillusioned with politics, doesn't think it's worth voting, so candidates for office become more & more useless and gain office with the support of a coterie of activists.

    Joe public becomes even more disillusioned, and we have the downward spiral which leads to NuLab & their ilk...

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They outlawed Floods

    FFS, what do they want??

    Labour make FLOODS illegal, POVERTY illegal, INEQUALITY illegal, CONGESTION illegal, that's a hell of a program of legislation there. I wonder why no other leadership in history, (bar King Canute) hasn't simply tried that.

    And they want petty things fixed? Geez!

  14. mrlumpy
    FAIL

    Trouble is though Ted

    The next lot who no undoubtedly will be voted in have had even less exposure to the real world having lived off Mater and Pater's inherited wealth and have no concept that not everyone else does.

    Us scruffy oiks will have it even worse once they're polluting Whitehall with WebCameron, helping Uncle Rupert charge for webcontent, legitimate torrenters being put in stocks and re-implementing the failed model of capitalism that got us into the mess in the 80s, 90s and ultimately today.

  15. Ihre Papiere Bitte!!
    WTF?

    Reality calling!

    "How to fund this infrastructure without financially impacting on businesses is not yet clear. A new telephone line levy will add to business costs at a time when they can least afford it."

    But it's ok for every householder in the country to be financially impacted, adding to household costs when they can least afford it, right?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @itwasntme (sort of echoing mrlumpy)

    Actually, our PM *is* elected. He was elected by the Labour MPs after TB stepped down. Granted our current one didn't have an opponent, but leadership elections have always been the same. Tony Blair went through his election in 1994, effectively becoming PM-in-waiting.

    I assume itwasn'tme is one of those many, many, dumbasses who lives in this country but really think they live in 'Mer-ka, land of the free. Did you know that 60% of voters didn't vote for Labour in the last election? Go and get yourself knotted up about that before figuring out the maths involved. But first get it into your head, you vote for your MP - nothing more.

    Complain about the electoral system all you like, but don't make silly snide "oh I'm so cutting edge" comments - you just make yourself look a fool.

  17. This post has been deleted by its author

  18. mmiied

    @mrlumpy

    so don't vote for them eather I rember therebeing at least 5 partyes on my last balote sheet (I am p[robley going to vote pirate) at least that way when the pepol screw up the contry and we go for our hidden armourys we can say we tryed to dot he right thing

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    @ mrlumpy

    Bit out of date, like our politicians

    Actually, the labour ones seem almost more like your out-moded stereotype. People like Heath, Thatcher, Portillo and others came from backgrounds that one could have thought on the modest side. Blair, Benn and many of their friends are toffee-nosed lawyers, academics and aristos..

    Actually, the best times seem to have been when we had quietly well-off types doing it for a hobby or similar. The modern lot do it for the money and d-n the rest of us.

    Anyway, why should any background, rich or poor, be against one in a true democracy, other than criminal (tendancies to which seem almost obligatory)? The big advantage of those born to wealth and privilege is that they seem to be marginally less easy to buy than the rest. Or do you believe in the dictatorship of the proletariat, as in former Eastern Europe, USSR, China? Oh, perhaps you are right.

  20. This post has been deleted by its author

  21. call me scruffy

    @mrlumpy

    Regarding the falling targets in the UK at the moment.

    Around about 2003 Blair had a bold and cunning plan to get Broadband to the masses...

    "Redesignate Broadband as being 128KbPS or better. "

    If you really want to suffer pain, pick up a current A level maths book and compare it to the same material of 15 years ago. Or look at A level sciences where a lot of material's been ripped out because 16 year olds can't cope with calculus. Incidentally Cancer prognosis's will look very much better when they start measuring patient's lives in dog years.

    Still the great unwashed are very happy with the DVD players they bought on benefits, and the cars they've had cheap, and so on and so on, and will vote labour back in again and again.

  22. mrlumpy
    Black Helicopters

    @Anonymous Coward @14:54

    Not as out of date as you think I am:

    http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/10/oxford-universitywealth-school

  23. No, I will not fix your computer

    @call me scruffy

    Actually Blair said 'Our new strategy will focus on driving up access in key categories in the NHS, education, transport, benefits, tax and criminal justice' which, to be fair happened, and he didn't want to redesignate broadband as 128k and above, he said if you can't get broadband then they should be able to get 128Kbps (like me, couldn't get broadband but got dual channel ISDN instead, lower latency than broadband just less bandwith, fine unless you're a big downloader).

    Oh and don't dis' the great unwashed, in this great big pyramid sale that is an overpopulated democracy, without the great unwashed kept on the breadline, starved of ambition and education you would have 10 times the people competing for your job and that would drive your self esteem and salary down.

  24. John Wheatley
    FAIL

    Megabite

    Either it's Bits or Bytes. 2Mbps (bits) is a lame target. 2 MBps (Bytes) is decent, being 16 Mbs.

    Clearly they wanted to say bits, but sound like bytes, so, yeah, it's a soundbite.

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