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back to article UK.gov unplugs Lane Fox digiquango

A new technology quango due to be headed by karaoke investor Martha Lane Fox has been shut down by the new government less than three months after it was unveiled. Gordon Brown trumpeted the Digital Public Service Unit in March as part of a final spasm of webtastic announcements. It was to be located within the Cabinet Office …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pointless

    I've been to a conference where Martha was a speaker, what she was saying made perfect sense and a lot of people in the room nodded in agreement but afterwards I was still asking how she was going to go about the impossible task within the local gov circle. It all amounted to alot of hot air at the end of the day, what they want to achieve can't be done by central gov, by all means supply small pots of cash for local authorities to bid for if they have a good pitch for rolling out a programme of digital inclusion in their boundaries.

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  2. paulf
    Coat

    What scares me is that

    ...her initials sound like (and almost spell out) M(i)LF

    <shudders>

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      no shudders here

      See http://www.google.com/images?q=martha%20lane%20fox

      "MILF" would be entirely apt, but the wikipedia article mentions no children.

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  3. Natalie Gritpants

    "Given a more roving role"

    Is that a euphemism for being shown the door?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      I'd like to think...

      ... it was euphemism for her - and a lot of other quango folk - to try working for a living...

      Not much chance, though, I suspect. Another sinecure job will be along soon.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Ah yes, the proper citizen

    "I don't think you can be a proper citizen of our society in the future if you are not engaged online."

    The words "patronising" and "waste of space" spring to mind.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      @Ah yes, the proper citizen...

      "I don't think you can be a proper citizen of our society in the future if you are not engaged online."

      She of course forgot to add "Where of course we'll be watching you..."

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Or even ........

      Catronising punt?

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Errr...

    "What we hope to do is to come in and find some impetus, some deadlines, perhaps some outside thinking and some challenge to the way that things happen in government," she said, adding: "If you bring that together with what's happening in the commercial sector you can create something quite powerful."

    I understand all of the individual words.

    It the whole sentence that turns my brain to mush.

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  6. Jerome 0
    WTF?

    Karaoke investor?

    What the heck is a "karaoke investor"? It's so hard to keep up with all these Business 2.0 buzzwords. Is it someone who invests loudly in other people's projects in front of an audience while incredibly drunk?

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    1. Chris Williams (Written by Reg staff)
      Reply Icon

      Re: Karaoke investor?

      I'm much more literal than that. It's someone who invests in karaoke bars.

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      1. mmiied
        Reply Icon

        nice

        that reply made me laugh so hard my boss looked at my funny

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    2. I didn't do IT.
      Reply Icon
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: Kareoke investor

      That's It! You have found the The Next Big Thing to distract the Masses - a combination of X-Factor and Dragon's Den!

      Simon is available for contract now...

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  7. Greg J Preece
    Unhappy

    Damn it!

    For a minute there, I thought we'd gotten rid of the useless idiot. But it sounds like she's going to haunt Whitehall for some time to come.

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  8. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    FAIL

    What the f**k has MLF done anyway that...

    Makes her any sort of spokesman for any form of useful strategy on anything?

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  9. Rogerborg

    The primary effect of Celebrity Tsars

    Is that the low grade civil servants who will actually do the work get even more hacked off, surly and obstructive than usual.

    Leave administration to administrators. They may not be efficient, but they're still better than some posh tart waving her hands and gushing about how it's going to be so awesome when all the junkies and baby farmers can file complaints against their case workers via Facebook.

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    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      Raising the Game to Greater Levels ... Waiting Masses to Follow SMART Leader Tales and Trails

      ..... at their Leisure thus Circumventing Initiative Displeasure.

      Yes, Rogerburg, I imagine that MLF has already sadly realised that both low grade and high paid civil servants administering to administrators are not equipped to deal in high grade virtual matters and thus will they be naturally excluded by virtue of their own ignorance and/or arrogance from future leading foray fora.

      They can though always play catch up, if they wish or can be bothered, with the instructions and constructions which will be left for them to follow in the wake of CyberIntelAIgent Master Pilot Programs and Civil CyberSpace Projects ....... which you can be hereby assured will be taxing Government officials to furnish with Public Funding or explain their Reasons for Refusal in the Bright Light of all that has been Revealed in the Realm of Fantasy Financing with Quantitative Easing.

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  10. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Al Qaeda is Dead .... Live Long and Prosper with AI BasedD* CyberIntelAIgent NEUKlearer Feed

    .... Virtual Real AID

    .""What we hope to do is to come in and find some impetus, some deadlines, perhaps some outside thinking and some challenge to the way that things happen in government," she said, adding: "If you bring that together with what's happening in the commercial sector you can create something quite powerful.""

    Take care there, Martha, for doing that at all well has governments doing one's bidding ..... and the intellectually challenged elements within governments [and there can be/are always more than just a few] inventing phantom enemies in a new base/metadatamorph to fight as they battle against and try to repress new ideas and the quantum solutions which would embrace and engage and evolve with colossal underground participation ..... Sublime Support.

    D*..... http://www.digitalmars.com/d/

    Which all is perfectly transparently shared for InterNetional Comment and SMART Peer Review and Innovative Preview of Constructive Imaginative Edutainment and would Immaculately Challenge Intelligence Communities too ....... to Better Beta Stellar Performance.

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  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @The primary effect of Celebrity Tsars

    Hear hear!

    "Is that the low grade civil servants who will actually do the work get even more hacked off, surly and obstructive than usual.

    Leave administration to administrators. They may not be efficient, but they're still better than some posh tart waving her hands and gushing about how it's going to be so awesome when all the junkies and baby farmers can file complaints against their case workers via Facebook."

    ROTFLMAO. This says it all. In a long career, I've noticed several things along these lines.

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And her salary?

    How much are we paying her to live in the fashion she's accustomed to?

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