What about the vast armies of people who, like me, want a job, can't get one and can't afford to move?

Is it my fault that Labour and the Tories have decimated manufacturing in this country?

I spent four years at uni, got an engineering degree and I'd have been better off not bothering. I went on the promise of a verdant job market that simply didn't exist when I graduated. Whose fault is that? Not mine.

The entire northern half of Britain has been sacrificed on the altars of the Service Industry and the South-East. We hear constantly that the British education system is the best in the world; tell that to a child from the Springfield estate in Rochdale whose choice of schools is the worst school in the county or a Foundation school that specialises in P.E. If you went to schools like this you're pretty much consigned to the economic scrapheap. Very bright kids might be able to work their way out but everyone else is doomed to rot. And what about vocational training or apprenticeships? They pretty much don't exist up here. Even if you can find a college with places for your particular trade the chances of finding a decent placement are low to nil.
The top tiers of education might be wonderful but for everyone else it's [LIFTED].

There may be many who are taking the micky when it comes to benefits (I don't claim benefits btw) but there are many, many more who are in the jobless quagmire through no fault of their own. Don't believe everything you read in the Daily Mail.

As for the laptops, why can't we provide computers in schools? Allowing kids to take them home will be a support and logistics nightmare.

Anyone would think the government has money to burn.

If any of that is in response to my comment then I did say too

Bee in bonnet. Apologies.

I didn't express in very well but wouldn't that £300M be better spent helping the poorest be not so poor? That way they could contribute and pay for their own internets.

Minister: Home laptop worth two GCSE grades

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/education/3 ... cse-grades

Eh?

Sure. If the GCSE's in question are 'Facebook Proficiency', 'MSN -and how to make every letter into a stupid picture' and 'Downloading music 101.'

To be fair almost all school homework now requires a PC and/or internet access, which is impossible if you don't have one at home or a public library nearby.

This is in complete contrast to when I was at school - as recently as 1998-2003 - where if you submitted work that had been typed on a computer - let alone work that contained material from the 'net - the reaction was less than favourable.

Thankfully things changed when I made it to (FE) college.

I would be very surprised if textbooks and libraries didn't have all of the information required for most subjects. I would also be very surprised if students couldn't submit handwritten work.