I think the argument that Internet access is limited by cost is non-existent. The satellite and cable networks in the UK couldn't survive without their working class base. Considering you can get basic broadband for a tenner a month, the extra cost is trivial.

It would be almost unheard of for all but the absolute poorest families not to have at least one PC now. It's practically a school requirement.

I was talking to a friend who does front-line adult ed in some of the rougher part of London earlier in the week, and she was saying that many of her pupils have surprisingly solid basic IT skills.

What they don't have is the ability to write and spell well enough to get a job that lets them use them.