Lap dogs

The latest FoI answer from the BBC, on lost or stolen laptops, mobiles etc, is instructive on the price Auntie pays for technology. 146 laptops have disappeared since April 2008, at a cost of £219k. That produces, very neatly an average cost of £1,500 per machine.

You and I could buy much more cheaply, of course, but the BBC supply contract is with Siemens, not PC World, and includes support for the machine and software, plus very scary firewalls and abstruse log-in procedures. However, when most staff issued with laptops only use them for emails and surfing, rather than video editing or audio production, there ought to be a much lower average.