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…..