A report by the Olivetti company asserts that one-third of British homes already have a personal computer, compared with 28% in the U.S. and 20% in Germany. The report also says that Britain has an average of one computer for every secondary 8.5 secondary school students (double the number in Germany and better than Japan, France and Italy).

However, only 6,000 schools in Britain are connected to the Internet, so Prime Minister Tony Blair wants all students connected via the Internet in a "national grid for learning" by 2002 &£45;- a plan greeted with skepticism by teachers' unions.

(c) Christian Science Monitor