So the Great Gordon is to give 270,000 free laptops and broadband connections to the poor.

My immediate thought was to wonder how much of this kit – which you and I are paying for – will be quickly flogged off on eBay to pay for booze, fags, Sky or even food and fuel.

Intel's immediate reaction seemed to be to treat it as an opportunity for some free publicity.

“Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction,” announced someone from the Digital Inclusion Taskforce, which Intel has apparently set up. “We fully support the Government’s commitment to give access to technology to some of the most disadvantaged segments of society.

“But we need to act quickly and much more work needs to be done if we are to deliver the benefits of technology to all of the 1.3 million low-income families that are in need of assistance, to enable those children to reach their full potential.”

Perish the thought that Intel simply sees this as a way to get you and I to pay for another million chips.

The two announcements reminded me of two things.

Intel used to do very useful briefings for the technical press. Then they stopped for several years, until a briefing was arranged towards the end of last year. This was then cancelled with no real explanation. By way of compensation, the press were promised a free quad-core i7 processor chip.

“Hopefully instructions will be included – I certainly wouldn’t know what to do with one! Although I’m told it’s actually a fairly simple process…” said an Intel spokesman, when I asked what I was supposed to do with a computer chip without a computer.

The chip duly arrived, with no useful advice but complete with giant fan. It now sits lonely on my desk as a paperweight, sadly looking for a computer to power, and a very poor substitute for a technical briefing at which the press can learn things to write about.

Gordon's great laptop giveaway announcement also reminded of my abortive meeting and correspondence with Minister for Creative Industries Sion (pronounced Shaun) Simon.

I met Mr Simon at a British Video Association event, where he'd shown apparently genuine concern over the risk of virus infection on computers owned by people who don't understand virus risks and connect them to broadband.

But Mr Simon's interest quickly evaporated once he left the event. Well, Simon and his staff do, of course, enjoy free protection provided by government IT departments and paid for by you and me.

So how is Gordon going to educate the people who are given free laptops and broadband about the risks from viruses? Needless to say, the Government's laptop announcement says nothing on something so basic. Perhaps Minister Simon will advise them?

Barry Fox