Digital radio is a great advance in scientific technique. Unfortunately under capitalism even the best scientific advances can be manipulated to the advantage of big business and the detriment of the working class.
So the changeover to digital is likely to leave hundreds of thousands of the poorest in the community – especially old age pensioners – with no access to the wireless. A massive leap backwards.
In the UK most people regard the radio as their prime source of news. Over 90 percent of the population listen to the radio. Many of them listen in the car and most cars of course have analogue radios. These will all fall silent in five years time and will need replacing with massively overpriced digital sets. Many people cannot afford the changeover and will simply be left behind.
Yet the electrical shops are still cynically selling off analogue radios to old age pensioners without any warning of their limited lifespan.
At the same time Mandelson (or whichever Conservative Party clone takes over from him in May!) is also seeking to cut off the internet from anyone who cannot afford the extortionate prices charged by the CD and record manufacturers. File sharing technology is another modern miracle which capitalism is incapable of accommodating it seems.
The profiteers corrupt and hinder every advance in science and technology which gets in the way of their greed. The politicians aid and abet them. After all they can all afford digital radio... or at least charge it to their expenses :)
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