Champion: Martha Lane Fox fits the bill

Martha Lane Fox is dominating technology news headlines this week and for good reasons.

I'd thoroughly recommend that everyone watch the BBC's HARDTalk interview with her on the iPlayer.

Having watched the whole interview, I can't help being caught up by the Digital Inclusion Champion's enthusiasm. She gives the impression of being someone with the good sense, energy and people skills to really make a difference.

Given the size of the task - engaging some 10 million UK citizens that have never used the web, 40 per cent of which come from the lowest income bracket - she's going to need all the help she can get.

This is why she suggested to the Guardian that web-based storylines in soaps such as Eastenders and Coronation Street could have a positive effect.

I must confess, I thought this was a ridiculous idea initially - people sitting around a computer is hardly compelling TV. And anyway, soaps have already used the web in scripts, such as Corrie's grooming storyline - not the kind of thing that portrays the web in a good light.

But it's growing on me - Dot Cotton realising she can pay her council tax and access local services online or Jack Duckworth's slow evolution into an eBay Power Seller could work. It's no more silly than many of the storylines soaps regularly throw up.

However, this was far from Lane Fox's only idea. She's keen to persuade households without computers and a web connection that the cost will turn into long-term savings.

She is also attempting to persuade the government that giving poorer households computer equipment for free is a way to save money in years to come - the argument being that if certain local and national services can be run online in the future, rather than requiring a physical presence, this will cut costs.

She's certainly a realist - referring to her "ridiculous title", Lane Fox seems clear that fine words and rhetoric are worthless. It is actions that will count. Her thoroughly sober assessment that there is much that can be done to persuade people to use the web that won't cost millions is another good point - throwing money at a problem won't solve it. Solid plans and practical efforts will.

She will be judged ultimately by her actions in her role, not by this interview. But I am now of the opinion that, ridiculous job title aside, we have precisely the right person for the job of Digital Inclusion Champion.