You had an allowance ? Lucky bastard ! ;-)

On a more serious note, I can totally understand this mobile-phone-for-kids craze. Of course, in this age of parenting-by-TV and fear of pedophile/terrorists/anything the Government says, it follows that equipping one's child with a mobile phone is a logical necessity - right before chipping them with a GSM marker and getting a real-time Tango unit on a shoulder mount to check on their location all day long.

lol, at 8 i could barely afford candy on my allowance.

Yes we already have that law for mobile phone. In France for a least 5 years all phones are sold with hand free cable.

The UK Dept of Trade (or whatever it's currently called) is firmly in the pockets of Vodaphone -- as was shown in the debacle over the EU trying to curb ridiculous roaming charges. According to an ex DoT employee, many of his former senior colleagues now work for mobile phone companies, doubtless to help lobby for regulation favourable to their new employers.

Hey, I'm 14 (Yr 10) and you don't see me 'needing' a mobile phone. I have lived 14 without one, I can live a few decades more without one.

C'mon what 8 yr old child 'needs' a mobile... You guys just spoil our generation!