Full-fibre broadband by 2033? I wish I could believe you, minister

I bought BT’s offer of an upgrade to ‘superfast’ broadband because the standard service seemed to be deteriorating just as the daily quota of sales calls from India was increasing. But the improvement is barely perceptible. The blue light that tells me the hub is working turns orange to tell me it’s not with irritating frequency, while the sales calls keep coming. Am I pleased with new service? ‘No, not really.’ But wouldn’t I like to buy an even more elaborate contract? ‘Click.’

All this provokes a thin smile when I read the claim of the new Culture Secretary, Jeremy Wright, that ‘the UK’s digital landscape has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years’ with superfast broadband reaching ‘95 per cent of homes and businesses’. The inadequacies of our internet services are a stain on BT and its Openreach division as well as a drag on the economy; no amount of ministerial rhetoric makes it better.