It was a meeting between Derek Wyatt, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, and Steve Moore of Policy Unplugged, that sparked the idea of the Bricking it? event ... so Derek was ideal as one of three people asked to warm up the meeting with some challenging issues.
Outside Channel 4 I asked Derek to recap - and he explained the profound impact of a trip he made to India.
He said he had gone with a slight prejudice that India was a country of cheap labour and calls centre - but that had turned out to be completely wrong. He found a society that is skilled and smart, where students are being educated to levels often above those in the UK. And, of course, they speak English.
"Fundamentally I think we have got to change the way that we educate at every level - at schools and even at university. I think we are in for a hell of a shock."

The New York Times reports that 'socialism is reduced to a single, short chapter' (1 of 57) in the new Chinese High School history course. A focus on the cultural revolution is being eschewed in favour of one focused on the information revolution and colourful tutorials on economics, technology and globalisation. This experiment is being conducted initially in Shanghai where local authorities have freedom to change the currriculum.

Peers rule ok?

It's been said recently that there is a spectre 'haunting' mankind, the spectre of peer to peer. It's certainly haunted the music industry in the last seven years. Napster first and then KazAa, which at one point was growing at the rate of two Napster's a year. And this was after the introduction of the most draconian legislation ever conceived to curb copyright infringement. The United States government led the onslaught and lobbied by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), introduced the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Despite high profile, well publicised arrests and fines for twelve year old download junkies, the music industry continues to haemorrhage revenues, lost by the continuing, insatiable consumer appetite for free music and film. Apple's iPod/iTunes combination has been a successful, legitimate alternative, welcomed by the industry but has still not significantly reduced the pain.