Abstract
The Conservative government has adopted a market-led and entertainment-led approach to the development of IT generally. It has privatised BT, established a competitor and has pursued a distinctive market philosophy towards the development of the new media. One of these media, cable systems, has attracted much interest because it contains within it the possibility of the creation of a so-called ‘national grid’, marrying communications and culture, business and entertainment in an intricate and complex way. But because all these developments have taken place in the private sector, the Left has been quick to criticise the government's approach and have pointed out the many consequences: in terms of employment, impact on culture, diminishing the public domain, reducing acountability and so on.
However, this article suggests that these critiques are by no means as complete as first appears since they themselves lack any coherent ‘alternative strategy’ that is ‘realistic’, plausible or meaningful. This, the article goes on to argue, will present a future socialist government with a serious problem. What will its own approach be and how much can it learn from these critiques?
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