Letter: Royal technophobia

Sir: Jojo Moyes, reporting the Queen's speech to Pakistan's parliament (9 October), suggests that the Queen and many others of the not so young feel bewildered and even frightened by the fast-changing world we live in.

The point is that we harbour a healthy scepticism towards all things new and a desire a proper evaluation and discussion of new ideas and new technologies before adopting them. Information technology is being introduced simply because it is there and because we must make sure we are not left out. To this day there has been no evaluation of the costs and benefits.

Why should I spend the resources on making my home into a local area network (reported on the same page) to be able to e-mail fridge@home to see I need milk when I can just open the door and ascertain that fact. The possibility is absolutely fascinating, but the costs seem to grossly outweigh any benefits.

K V MOLLER

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire