The Daily Mail went hard onto the Chairman of BT for being the only person in a Hampshire village to be invited to be part of an experimental rural broadband test – other villagers say they are in a broadband dead zone.

Prince Charles complained of rural areas becoming digital “deserts”

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: “Too many rural households are currently unable to access the internet at satisfactory speeds.”

Naturally the Telegraph, always the “voice of the countryside” – or, to be more truthful, the voice of the “second homers” – applauded Charles demand for “action” which, of course, is media code for taxpayers money.

I have another idea – maybe these people could use mobile broadband and pay for it themselves…..and while they are about it they could dig into their pockets to subsidise the shops and pubs they are always losing.

Let’s get it straight – these people are always saying they love living in the countryside because they are not hemmed in by the crush of city life. They want the space and the slowness of pace. Fine. But they must also be ready to put up with the inconvenience of rural living – the isolation, the lack of services, the absence of crowds…

You want shops, pubs, facebook, hospitals, schools……then live in the city where they can be provided by the score. You want to be nearer to nature? Then enjoy the silence – but don’t expect me to fork out extra cash to smooth the rough edges of your rural retreat…..

Remember over the last few months when all the pundits, strategists, consultants and RNC  hacks were busy giving Governor Palin advice about what moves she should make if she wanted to return to the political stage?

Well I’m pleased to say she totally ignored them and decided to do it her way – the Palin way…and guess what – it has worked to perfection. Interestingly enough SamHenry at ON MY WATCH agrees.

Sarah Palin’s timing and strategy should be in a required reading political text: “Palin on Politics – How to time it; how to move in the political and media morass.”

…

Now, in a time of deep distress and uncertainty in our nation, Sarah Palin is a beacon of survival and of creative self-initiative. She is now the master-in-chief of her image and her message. She is now poised at the brink of, well, her next strategic, well-timed move.  The suspense builds; the speculation continues – Sarah, what a success you are and on YOUR terms!

Read the rest here including a perceptive analysis of how she controlled Oprah and how she has managed to align herself alongside the Tea Party movement without sacrificing her own freedom of manoeuvre.

I know she is a runner and a hunter but I am not so sure I would want to play chess with the ‘Cuda…

cross posted at C4P