But wait - is it a bird, is it a plane? Its the Digital Inclusion Champion!

Good grief, as Charlie Brown might add...who is this Champion? Wasn't there meant to be a minister promised last January, a Mr Murphy who looks 107 years old? What's he championed in the last year? Where's Ofcom's Consumer Panel to poke these guys in the ribs?

More New Labour spin:

ACTION 19

We will encourage the development of public service champions of universal take-up. The Digital Inclusion Action Plan recommended the appointment of a Digital Inclusion Champion and expert taskforce to drive the Government’s work on digital inclusion. Clearly, the work of the Champion will be important in encouraging take-up.

???

ACTION 20

We are inviting the BBC to play a leading role, just as it has in digital broadcast, through marketing, cross-promotion and provision of content to drive interest in taking up broadband. With other public service organisations, the BBC can drive the development of platforms with open standards available to all content providers and device manufacturers alike.

??? LIKE THE WINDOWS-ONLY iPLAYER LAUNCH? THIS STUFF COSTS MONEY

Network Universal Connectivity on Digital Networks:

ACTION 17

We will develop plans for a digital Universal Service Commitment to be effective by 2012, delivered by a mixture of fixed and mobile, wired and wireless means. Subject to further study of the costs and benefits, we will set out our plans for the level of service which we believe should be universal. We anticipate this consideration will include options up to 2Mb/s.

ACTION 18

We will develop detailed proposals for the design and operation of a new, more broadly-based scheme to fund the Universal Service Commitment for the fully digital age – including who should contribute and its governance and accountability structures.

HOW LONG WILL THIS TAKE? EXPECT APPEAL AFTER APPEAL AFTER APPEAL, OR DELAY AFTER DELAY AFTER DELAY.