Educational publishers were the first group to say they hoped that Gordon Brown’s new mandate that students must stay in education until 18 would boost their market.

If all students have to stay until 18 there will be some increase in spending on resources but, if many of these students are disengaged then we can’t see them wanting to read many new books.

Perhaps it will be different for software producers but if we were investors in print publishers we wouldn’t be feeling too bullish just yet.