The 650 politicians who win seats at the U.K.’s House of Commons on May 7 are set to be given iPad Air 2 devices as part of a new deal.
Not everyone is happy about it, though. Shadow Cabinet Office minister (and possible Android user?) Chi Onwurah has attacked the plan — saying that, “Locking some of the most powerful people in the country into a platform that most of my constituents can’t afford seems like a mistake.”
“Our requirements are for a secure, SIM-enabled tablet with a good life expectancy and capable of supporting future upgrades,” Liberal Democrat politician John Thurso said, defending the taxpayer-funded trip to the Apple Store. “The Apple iPad Air 2 meets these requirements and is competitively priced when compared with similar models.”
iPads have been used in the U.K.’s Parliament since 2012, although currently just 209 MPs have the device. The move is controversial for reasons other than locking politicians into the Apple ecosystem. Back in late 2014, controversy ensued when a British politician was fingered sneaking a quick game of Candy Crush Saga on his iPad during a parliamentary debate.
That’s not as bad as 2011, however, when 67-year old Italian politician Simeone Di Cagno Abbrescia was caught using his iPad to browse for escorts during a parliamentary session. He later argued something to the effect that the pics were pop-up ads which “came up suddenly” while he was perusing a respectable news outlet. As happens all the time, naturally.
Source: Mirror
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
8 responses to “U.K. politicians get free iPads, and not everyone’s happy about it”
Playing a game and browsing porn is going to happen no matter what device they have. To relate these things just because they’ve happened while using an iPad is stupid.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Oh like Mac users aren’t pissed off when they get forced to use Windows in the workplace.
Is it just me or is it ironic that while I’m reading this I saw an ad for dating Asian women?
I don’t think psychosis means what you think it means.
Agreed. That is a much better definition than “appeal to poverty,” whatever that means.
Thank you so much, for confirming, again, the appeal to poverty has nothing to do with psychosis.
You completely misused the “appeal to poverty” fallacy.
This is not at all confusing, or misleading, so you are also misusing the word obfuscation. I understand English is not your native language.
Finally, you write something coherent. “whining about using the better product is idiocy.”
Don’t try to impress people by using terms you do not understand.