ABSTRACT
The Government are on record to scuttle-a betrayal and a surrender; that is what is so shocking and serious; so unnecessary and wrong. Somebody introduced dog-racing into England, we know who, for he is proud of it, and proclaims it urbi et orbi in the columns of Who’s Who. And somebody introduced Christianity and printing and the uses of electricity. And somebody introduced smallpox, bubonic plague and the Black Death. Somebody is minded now to introduce sponsored broadcasting into this country. (Lord Reith, House of Lords Hansard, 22 May 1952)
Another concern that has been voiced has drawn attention to the extent to which the new information technology will encourage the individual to withdraw into his home. There will be no need to go shopping in person, to cash a cheque at the bank, to place a bet at the bookmakers, or, that most sacred of British passions, standing in queues to buy theatre tickets, train tickets, etc. The possible social effects of information technology have hardly begun to be counted. (Lord Thompson, Chairman of the IBA at Bath University, 3 March 1983)
Fifty million television sets in America; and now the coaxial cable! (Tom Ewell [in extremis], The Seven Year Itch, 1955) The messiah has foretold the coming of the post-industrial society and his disciples in Canada, Britain, France and Germany are locked in competition to induce the earliest birth of a viable infant. The spectacle of governments of diverse political colours across the world throwing money up in the air or into holes in the ground should give pause to those sceptical of the power of ideas.
