back to article UK.gov crackpots: Let's build vapourware-based sharing economy CITIES

The creation of entire "sharing economy" cities, mandatory use of Airbnb and Uber for civil servants, and the "opening up" of UK.gov's vapourware Verify service to business are just some of the latest crackpot "sharing economy" recommendations from the government. The response from the Department for Business, Innovation and …

  1. Buzzword

    Sharing

    > a UK "sharing city", shared transport, shared office space ...

    That gives me an idea for a Bong! venture: Needlr, the needle-sharing app for sophisticated heroin users.

  2. maffski

    'The Sharing Economy UK trade body was established earlier this month.'

    Shouldn't this be other trade bodies bringing together their spare bodying capacity in new and innovative ways? Usually involving a monthly subscription and/or commission on transactions.

  3. Rich 11

    Share this!

    Whitehall should also "lead by example" by getting civil servants "to use sharing economy solutions to book accommodation and transport when travelling on official business".

    Never mind Whitehall, let's start with Downing Street. Next time Call Me Dave wants to visit the far-flung corners of his empire, he can cadge a lift up the M1 and sit in the back of Stanislaw's white van, sharing a bottle of kupnik and a joint with Stan's chippies.

  4. Rich 11

    Subversive

    Mark Field, Conservative MP for Cities of London & Westminster, said in a Parliamentary debate last week that it was "essentially a front for a commercial campaign".

    He said: "Frankly, it is akin to setting up a trade body of payday lenders to dictate financial services policy. I am sorry that the wool is being pulled over the minister’s eyes as these self-professed independent voices dictate a commercially advantageous landscape.”

    He sounds far too sensible to be in the Tories. That or his City constituency backers are running scared.

    1. Mage Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Subversive

      Rats. need to log in with alternate identities via my RBS enabled iPhone to multiply upvote this.

    2. charlie-charlie-tango-alpha

      Re: Subversive

      +1 and have an upvote.

      When I read that I thought "Fuck me, a thinking Tory. Whatever next."

  5. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Meh

    They've already got MPs email and documents on Office 365 and a budget crafted just before the elections to be a supply of Twitter soundbites taking the piss out of the opposition so it's a short step from there to AirBnB and Uber.

  6. David Pollard

    LoveHomeSwap

    At first glance I thought this was perhaps a scheme to claim expenses for keeping a mistress, pairing MPs so that they could charge each other rent while hiding details of their actual residence.

  7. John G Imrie
    Pirate

    residents are encouraged to share as part of their daily lives

    The last time I shared the RIAA hit me with a tone of bricks.

  8. Afernie
    Flame

    I think we've all done quite enough sharing

    With the government, and whether we like it or not.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Jesus fucking christ. Is it a mandatory requirement for politicians to sniff glue before making IT-related pronouncements?

    1. increasingly_irrelevant
      Holmes

      Not just IT I fear - its just that you listen to the IT ones and know something about it.

    2. dan1980

      Hah! Though perhaps the more appropriate activity is 'drinking the Kool-Aid'.

      Every time I see batshit ejaculations like these I worry that our 'me-too' brigade of politicians in Australia will take a nice big gulp* and jump on the band-wagon.

      * - Yes, I am alive to the ambiguity but think it works both ways.

  10. Mark 85

    Where have I heard this before....

    ah yes...."from each according to his abilities, to each according to is needs". And then there was the commune culture of the '60's and early '70's....

  11. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Facepalm

    "Frankly, it is akin to setting up a trade body of payday lenders to dictate financial services policy."

    Implying this is not what currently happens.

    At least payday lenders fill an actual need of the market (which is why they exist in the first place, even if all the world-improving wankers go all huffpuffy on them)

  12. ecofeco Silver badge

    Pork barrel

    In the US, this is called pork barrel spending because it serves no purpose but to enrich a few at the public trough.

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