Another fine mess

The inquiry by the House of Lords Select Committee on superfast broadband continues to provide excellent entertainment.  Last week saw Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and Robert Sullivan, CEO of BDUK, appearing before the Committee as a double act.  Vaizey even volunteered their dual performance as a Laurel and Hardy routine but, with all the backslapping going on, it was difficult to work out which one was doing the jokes.  Judge for yourself… 

Ed Vaizey on the demise of the idea to locate ‘digital hubs in every village’:

“ No. Perhaps I was a little naive at the beginning, when I first became the Minister, that community broadband would play a major part in procurement projects of this scale. But I have supported community broadband as and when I can. My door has always been open… I think that community broadband is viable in small local communities where people are prepared to put the work in and make the difference, but it is not necessarily the solution for a large-scale, countywide project”.

Well, no… 

Robert Sullivan on achievement of the EU Digital Agenda targets:

“The 50% take-up at 100 Mbps is challenging because achieving 50% take-up is going to be difficult…. As I said at the beginning, we are very confident we have a very robust plan for getting to the 2015 targets, and I think we will be well on the road to the 2020 targets but there is going to be further work necessary to work out the most efficient mechanism and route to deliver that”.

Well, yes...