A small gathering of VIPs who aim to put themselves in the forefront of the UK's e-government plans have started off small with the launch of a Web site where you can apply for a fishing licence online.

So while you're surfing, pop along to www.fishinglicence.co.uk, grab yourself a licence and go out fishing - the old ways are the best. It claims to deal with an application within minutes but we couldn't tell you if that's true because it's not actually there yet - we hope it won't go the same way as other government Net projects.

There's Heather Rabbats, chief exec and ex-head of Lambeth council (one of the hardest jobs in local government), BBC and LSE governor; Gavyn Davies, non-exec director and chief economist at Goldman Sachs, ex-adviser to the prime minister; Robert Deveraux, non-exec director and co-founder of Virgin; Alasdair Liddell, renowned top government bod behind modernisation of the NHS; and Peter Mead, founder of Abbott Mead Vickers, one of the UK's biggest advertising agencies.

I bet Britain's fishers didn't realise the strength of backing behind them. ®