God, just the way, Arnold looks off into the distance when he delivers his 'minister with 2 ideas' comment as if he's trying to recall some half-remembered joke. Brilliant!!
"A minister with two ideas, I can't remember when we last had one of those" - given the stalling tactics, I'm guessing it has been a very long time since one was allowed to express a second idea.
always the men 'behind the curtains' dictating policy... they whinge about the secret government too much. two ideas they may give the public a idea the public service is too hard working...pun. I thought he was going for a sarcastic quip- 2 ideas- you sure the next idea- actually works or its just there to impress officials and the media.
Many comedies become old quickly as culture moves on. It just seems that 'Yes, Minister', and 'Yes, Prime Minister' improve with age like a good brandy as they were largely about fundamentals rather than superficial matters and therefore remain perpetually relevant
I agree, when it was first screened we just had a vague idea of how the government worked, in recent years this comedy classic has become more of a documentary on how exactly the Westminster establishment behaves.
These episodes will be eternal, not only because they hit home, but because they so well mock our all too human vaniety. Perhaps only a country that could bring on Shakespeare could do this.
I had never seen the original broadcasts, because I was too young. But watching them now, I would have to agree with your remark. This could very well have been made today, and in any country.
@@sarethuskami5082 Oh no! It's how best to ensure, nothing Political gets done. Alot of things will be happening, just nothing the government wants done.
@@TheDarkstormy Makes sense from the civil service standpoint. One government comes in makes a bunch of changes. Another one comes to power and changes them all back. Saves a lot of time and effort if you never start working.
It's about time this whole series was re-aired, not only is it extremely funny, still relevant, well written, well acted etc. it would also save us from the shit that now passes itself off as comedy - Gav n Stacey, Miranda, just naming 2
I acctualy find fascinating the contrast in the representation of the civil service from this series and the thick of it. Im sure someone smarter and with a background in sociology could write a whole thesis from the implications of that contrast
If they aired this on TV today, I'm quite certain that the BBC would be inundated with complaints about broadcasting a programme in a foreign language.
Nobody could accuse them of anything, by the time they got close enough to unearth any civil service corruption they'd have implicated themselves 20 times on the way there
@@rahulmodi8706 They are an island nation that survives by trade, either friendly, or by war like domination. They were the Kings of the Sea for centuries.
@@PointyTailofSatan indeed people keep thinking it was the government leading the trade but it was mostly the other way around, the government/crown had very good reason to support the trade (MASSIVE tax income and advantaged access to goods few others ever saw) So ruling the seas was the best defence and a way to maintain our economic and manufacturing advantages. besides, why invade when you can just pay someone local to do all the annoying stuff, Britain wanted to be the patron of trade not the landlord/admin of a bunch of endlessly fighting tribes/factions/warlords, we had already had enough of that in dealing with europe throughout history) it all worked out ok until steam/ironclads came in, the 2:1 sail advantage became worthless and the runners-up started to get aspirations. WW1 followed.
This is brilliant. Sir Arnold in Yes minister / Yes Prime minister is the equivalent of Genial Harry Grout in Porridge. Always there in the background. Although not in all episodes in person. But, their names being mentioned with gravitational reverence, but a level of fear if you didn't do what they expected you to do. When they do appear, they are the key person in any scene they're in. My personal favourite scene between Sir Arnold & Sir Humphrey is when Sir Humphrey has to get a Civil service Pay claim of 43% passed Jim Hacker. Whilst trying to save his job at the same time. Knowing full well that some very awkward questions have been asked, and will be asked to Sir Frank Gordon when the review is being decided. Brilliant, and fantastic comedy. Pity no one has the courage to show this on television today. So glad l have both of these series on DVD. Hours of enjoyment, and clean entertainment.
The long list of books on professional management that will go on till the end of time. You would have thought that humans would have figured it out by now, we have gone to the other planets, created clones and built AI but managing professionally is still a mystery.
"Once you specify in advance what a project is supposed to achieve and whose responsibility it is to see that it does, the entire system collapses. You're into the whole squalid world of professional management."
Hmm, I am still confused. This people donot seem evil so why is it that they do not want to indicate who is responsible for a future project. So hard to understand Sir Arnold. Can tou help me.
@@SafwanNet they may not seem evil, nor believe they are evil or necessarily say or do anything which in Britain would be stopped, but this 1980s comedy dramatises a state of play long believed to exist in civil services everywhere
If I'm not wrong, this episode marked the momentous occasion where Hacker outsmarted Humphrey for the first time in the series. Absolutely glorious to watch.
No, this episode was a resounding win for Sir Humphrey. It's the next episode where Hacker wins, but not for the first time. That episode is titled "the skeleton in the cupboard".
BBC 2 and 4 often has something interesting, but on the whole, the classic British comedy has gone forever. There's certainly never going to be anything on this scale for a very long time. If, ever.
And so he should. Senior civil servants would have attended Oxford, or at a push Cambridge, whilst ministers would have gone to relatively "lesser" establishments such as the LSE.
I' ve got and idea. Perhaps you should become and Minister chuckling. The withering look that Sir Arnold gives Sir Humphrey is enough to cut him in two. Sir Arnold reminds me a bit of a Warrant Officer Class 1 who is a sort of go between the Politicians and the Civil Servants who can make life easy or hard for you depending on how you respect him.
Arnold often gets forgotten about but he was an essential part of the ensemble, and so exquisitely played by John Nettleton, who outlived Hacker, Humphrey, and Bernard.
This scene came to mind recently when I was listening to the current Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, before the Defence Select Committee. He was complaining/observing that the SRO in charge of a Defence Procurement changed so often that during the duration you had about three different SROs. When things went wrong you could not find out who was responsible.
RIP John Nettleton, Sir Arnold is now reunited with Sir Humphrey, Bernard and Jim Hacker. You were perfect as Sir Arnold as were Nigel, Derek and Paul. ❤
In England u Learn to suppress your emotions and get on with things hard to do in hot countries but i have always made some sound decisions standing on the rain Drenched grey streets of London..
If you think _Yes, [Prime] Minister_ is just comedy or satire you've missed the point, it's as near to documentary as it gets without breaching the Official Secrets Act.
'Our mission is "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain".' They BBC still dares to have this as their mission statement.
JimShadyUK Ironically I believe YM, or YPM, referred to this as “disposing of the tricky part in the title”. as an example “East German Democratic Republic” was used.
Same set but Bernard is there as well. It is suggested that perhaps Hacker should become Prime Minister. Bernard looks at his watch. Humphrey"Dk you have somewhere to be Bernard? " "Bernard" Er, no, I was just making sure that it wasn't April the First! "
Funny, but considering the average Ministers silliness, and the considered experience of the bureaucracy (which these two represent here), I'd take the bureaucracy. At least! ;p
They know exactly what they are doing, unfortunately what they are doing is trying to secure a large as possible budget for themselves whilst implementing exactly 0 changes.
Is anyone able to briefly explain why this idea is a bad one? All I can think is that bureaucrats would extort each other for favours when they knew one HAD to get a job completed. That's the only bad bit I can think of though but I'm sure I'm missing something
The strength of British upper civil service is its ability to close ranks, they all work together to make sure no one can be held accountable. Adding names make this a lot harder as none of them want to do any work at all and most government projects fail so there would be a lot of investigating
There were only 4 series ever made. Two as 'Yes minister' and two as 'Yes prime minister'. They were made by BBC and only got shown on the BBC2 less viewed channel. I believe it started as a radio play type show at least at first. One of the writers was left wing the other right. They were both very well conected in parliament and had good contacts. Essentially the BBC always had to be neutral and had the first series when hacker is head of a ficticious beaurocratic office. The show was meant to be shelved but word got out and a next series comes out. Still the TV audience including Margaret Thatcher demanded more. That ensured the revival as YPM, but this time no topic could be left out. In many ways Hacker is Thatcher particularly because of the storylines that could easily be identified as 80s political issues and events. You can get the BBC radio versions from archives you should be able to get the videos and I am sure you can still pick up the books either as a set of two or set of four. Hope you get to enjoy all of this brilliant piece of satirical comedy.
We were under the assumption that there three series of Yes Minister and two of Yes Prime Minister, with the special "Party Games" episode, chronicling how Humphrey and the Civil Service engineered Hacker to be PM. That's what I've researched years ago and Wikipedia affirmed it?
@@RabbiHerschel Do they do that too? well we know of one down East St Kilda way, and now she is back from the promised land hopefully we shall soon see a trial.
@@adoreslaurel at least here in the US, it's incredibly common. Exponentially more so than the supposed prominence of it in the RCC, although you'll never hear the media say so. (Interestingly, that only became a thing itself after the Vatican started encouraging homosexuals to enter the priesthood, but again, not something you'll ever hear about in the media.)
@@RabbiHerschel I think the Priesthood has been full of them forever, Popes used to be married but then one of them ruled that Priests must put all their efforts into the religion, I think that Pope might have been gay. Stupid rule, so is the confessional. I am down under. the school in question was Adass Israel.
John Nettleton passed away on July 12th 2023, age 94. Marvelous actor, and brilliant casting for his role as Sir Arnold Robinson.
May he rest in peace...
im actually quite saddened to hear this, may he indeed rest in peace.
ValeJohn Nettleton, you were indeed a fine actor and fulfilled brilliantly your role as Sir Arnold. RIP John
He had no trouble getting past Peter at the pearly gates.
That's an impressive final score. Probably my favourite secondary character in the show - RIP Sir Arnold
God, just the way, Arnold looks off into the distance when he delivers his 'minister with 2 ideas' comment as if he's trying to recall some half-remembered joke. Brilliant!!
RIP John Nettleton - aka Sir Arnold - a great portrayal of a senior civil servant!
"A minister with two ideas?" wonderful
"A minister with two ideas, I can't remember when we last had one of those" - given the stalling tactics, I'm guessing it has been a very long time since one was allowed to express a second idea.
Just copy from the opposition, or your own party when last in government. A persistent pattern. Or from a 'think tank' secretly allied with your party
Sir Arnold is the only person who is *always* in control.....
always the men 'behind the curtains' dictating policy...
they whinge about the secret government too much.
two ideas they may give the public a idea the public
service is too hard working...pun.
I thought he was going for a sarcastic quip-
2 ideas- you sure the next idea- actually works
or its just there to impress officials and the media.
It is always that way
Until sir humphrey takes over as cabinet secretary =) then he's the one who's in control. They're very much a like.
yes, hes russian spy...
He has the wisdom that nothing realy changes.
Many comedies become old quickly as culture moves on. It just seems that 'Yes, Minister', and 'Yes, Prime Minister' improve with age like a good brandy as they were largely about fundamentals rather than superficial matters and therefore remain perpetually relevant
I agree, when it was first screened we just had a vague idea of how the government worked, in recent years this comedy classic has become more of a documentary on how exactly the Westminster establishment behaves.
Being a beaurocrat I can assure there's much truth in it and one can jolly well learn something.
It's a comedy?! I thoght it was documentary....
These episodes will be eternal, not only because they hit home, but because they so well mock our all too human vaniety. Perhaps only a country that could bring on Shakespeare could do this.
I had never seen the original broadcasts, because I was too young. But watching them now, I would have to agree with your remark. This could very well have been made today, and in any country.
Sir Arnold, “I have an idea.” Sir Humphrey, “Perhaps you ought to be a Minister.” LOL
Sir Arnold was my favorite character.
He truly was quite good. The master civil servant.
*icy glare*
Sir Humphrey:'Just a joke....'
If looks could kill Sir Arnold would be doing 25 years
Quite possibly the best short gag in any sitcom ever and so well acted with the death stare
@@madabbafan for that he'd have to be found guilty, an unlikely event.
How to summarize most of these conversations: Two or more government officials discussing how best to get nothing done.
I think you mean:
How to ensure that nothing gets done.
@@sarethuskami5082 Oh no! It's how best to ensure, nothing Political gets done. Alot of things will be happening, just nothing the government wants done.
Not "nothing", if you count maximizing cost and making sure as much money as possible flows into the right pockets.
@@TheDarkstormy Makes sense from the civil service standpoint. One government comes in makes a bunch of changes. Another one comes to power and changes them all back. Saves a lot of time and effort if you never start working.
Its called maintaining status quo
It's about time this whole series was re-aired, not only is it extremely funny, still relevant, well written, well acted etc. it would also save us from the shit that now passes itself off as comedy - Gav n Stacey, Miranda, just naming 2
I acctualy find fascinating the contrast in the representation of the civil service from this series and the thick of it. Im sure someone smarter and with a background in sociology could write a whole thesis from the implications of that contrast
ch 21 over the air in NJ just started it friday nights 930pm
The ideas put forward in this series has become a bit controversial since Trumps supporters started talking about the deep state.
If they aired this on TV today, I'm quite certain that the BBC would be inundated with complaints about broadcasting a programme in a foreign language.
If this was as widely aired as it should be... pollies would howl blue murder as it'd rip them to pieces.
Nobody could ever accuse the civil service of being involved in the squalid world of professional management!
@TheRenaissanceman65 Yes, Executive Officer.
Nobody could accuse them of anything, by the time they got close enough to unearth any civil service corruption they'd have implicated themselves 20 times on the way there
Then again, given what I've seen from corporate executives, I'm not sure which is worse.
"Always two there are... A Master and an Apprentice"
....a minister and his personal private secretary.
Arnold was fantastic
mr bojangles Always
As long as the UK has a parliamentary government, these two series will remain completely relevant.
Yes but even with such a system how on earth did Britain conquer so much of the world and make so much progress?
@@rahulmodi8706 They are an island nation that survives by trade, either friendly, or by war like domination. They were the Kings of the Sea for centuries.
@@PointyTailofSatan indeed
people keep thinking it was the government leading the trade but it was mostly the other way around, the government/crown had very good reason to support the trade (MASSIVE tax income and advantaged access to goods few others ever saw)
So ruling the seas was the best defence and a way to maintain our economic and manufacturing advantages.
besides, why invade when you can just pay someone local to do all the annoying stuff, Britain wanted to be the patron of trade not the landlord/admin of a bunch of endlessly fighting tribes/factions/warlords, we had already had enough of that in dealing with europe throughout history)
it all worked out ok until steam/ironclads came in, the 2:1 sail advantage became worthless and the runners-up started to get aspirations. WW1 followed.
This is so relevant even here in India since we too follow the Westminster form of government.
And honestly I wouldn't change Westminster system with anything ever
This is brilliant. Sir Arnold in Yes minister / Yes Prime minister is the equivalent of Genial Harry Grout in Porridge. Always there in the background. Although not in all episodes in person. But, their names being mentioned with gravitational reverence, but a level of fear if you didn't do what they expected you to do. When they do appear, they are the key person in any scene they're in.
My personal favourite scene between Sir Arnold & Sir Humphrey is when Sir Humphrey has to get a Civil service Pay claim of 43% passed Jim Hacker. Whilst trying to save his job at the same time. Knowing full well that some very awkward questions have been asked, and will be asked to Sir Frank Gordon when the review is being decided. Brilliant, and fantastic comedy. Pity no one has the courage to show this on television today. So glad l have both of these series on DVD. Hours of enjoyment, and clean entertainment.
Your analysis of the position of Sir Arnold and Harry Grout is spot on. And it's a lot of weight for the actor to carry and has to be carried well
Some sort of late 70s comedy zeitgueist resonanse going on there - good point
Past.
I must have watched this scene along with other scenes multiple times and I still find them so funny! Loved Sir Arnold!
The one person who instilled fear in Sir Humphrey 😱😅
"The squalid world of professional management"... this is funny on so many levels and in so many contexts 😂
True In some ways the reality is different .. professional corporate management is equally squalid ..
The long list of books on professional management that will go on till the end of time. You would have thought that humans would have figured it out by now, we have gone to the other planets, created clones and built AI but managing professionally is still a mystery.
"Once you specify in advance what a project is supposed to achieve and whose responsibility it is to see that it does, the entire system collapses. You're into the whole squalid world of professional management."
* "whose responsibility ..." Dear me! Sir Arnold would _never_ have made such a mistake.
One of my favourite quotes. I always smile when I think about it! 😃
Hmm, I am still confused. This people donot seem evil so why is it that they do not want to indicate who is responsible for a future project.
So hard to understand Sir Arnold. Can tou help me.
@@SafwanNet they may not seem evil, nor believe they are evil or necessarily say or do anything which in Britain would be stopped, but this 1980s comedy dramatises a state of play long believed to exist in civil services everywhere
@@lb9147 Thanks,
In your reslonse were you saying "long believed to exist " ?
If I'm not wrong, this episode marked the momentous occasion where Hacker outsmarted Humphrey for the first time in the series. Absolutely glorious to watch.
yes you are, Jim was trapped and had to ask Humphrey to help him to blackmail the BBC so they will not release his interview
No, this episode was a resounding win for Sir Humphrey. It's the next episode where Hacker wins, but not for the first time. That episode is titled "the skeleton in the cupboard".
Sir Arnold was the machevellinian spinmaster par excellence!!
RIP, Sir Arnold. John Nettleton, 1929 - 2023.
I love these two. One of the greatest comedies ever. Should be compulsory viewing for anyone starting work in a government department.
"the trouble is that he thinks has achived something" that line alone makes me wanne go and pay my tv licence
And i dont even live in uk.
40 years ago, definitely, not nowadays, the BBC has seriously gone downhill
it really has, there is nothing of this quality on nowadays
BBC 2 and 4 often has something interesting, but on the whole, the classic British comedy has gone forever. There's certainly never going to be anything on this scale for a very long time. If, ever.
Well, you can't make a comedy when you have to constantly worry about offending someone.
In the thick of it was the last good series BBC made, and I'm pretty sure that was over half a decade ago now
Fascinating how furious Sir Arnold became at the suggestion of being 'demoted' to being a 'mere' elected official.
John Nettleton and Richard Vernon brought so much to both series.
Sir Arnold takes offense when Humphrey says he should become a minister 🤣
Arnold looks so insulted to be called a minister.
Ministers come and go. They have to sell themselves to the people giving promising speeches. Imagine pyramid scheme seminar
And so he should. Senior civil servants would have attended Oxford, or at a push Cambridge, whilst ministers would have gone to relatively "lesser" establishments such as the LSE.
John Nettleton - 12th July 2023 and Nigel Hawthorne - 26 December 2001.... Both actors sadly missed.
Derek James Fowlds (2 September 1937 - 17 January 2020) and Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 - 4 November 1995).
Shows like this help me forget Mrs Browns Boys
Indeed. Shouting and swearing does not make a line funny.
It feckin does
That's nice
*"Perhaps you ought to become a minister. Just a joke, Arnold!"*
Cabinet Secretary thinks: We are not amused...
I' ve got and idea. Perhaps you should become and Minister chuckling. The withering look that Sir Arnold gives Sir Humphrey is enough to cut him in two. Sir Arnold reminds me a bit of a Warrant Officer Class 1 who is a sort of go between the Politicians and the Civil Servants who can make life easy or hard for you depending on how you respect him.
Arnold often gets forgotten about but he was an essential part of the ensemble, and so exquisitely played by John Nettleton, who outlived Hacker, Humphrey, and Bernard.
"You don't sound appropriately happy" that alone speak a lot of them lol😂
This scene came to mind recently when I was listening to the current Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, before the Defence Select Committee. He was complaining/observing that the SRO in charge of a Defence Procurement changed so often that during the duration you had about three different SROs. When things went wrong you could not find out who was responsible.
[Humphrey] "The system working as it should." [/Humphrey]
Best BBC documentary there ever was.
Rest in peace John Nettleton
Loved Sir Arnold..... Best character in the show
Sir Arnold. Is something else
Great tool for learning English. Just listen to Arnold.
Simply the best.
"...the whole squalid world of professional management." 😂
I am quite a fearless guy. However, i do get the sense that i would not be too relaxed if i ever met Sir Arnold in person.
RIP John Nettleton, Sir Arnold is now reunited with Sir Humphrey, Bernard and Jim Hacker. You were perfect as Sir Arnold as were Nigel, Derek and Paul. ❤
Sir Humphrey slipped once , after that look he wouldn't repeat it again .
John Nettleton is an actor of genius. He steals every scene he’s in.
It's always a pleasure watching these men discuss the affairs of the country 😂😂
The cabinet secretary is not amused!
A minister with two ideas... I can't remember ...
I love the way the English 'subversively' comment, blast and critique their own govt...without being overt about it....
In England u Learn to suppress your emotions and get on with things hard to do in hot countries but i have always made some sound decisions standing on the rain Drenched grey streets of London..
And then you watch The Thick Of It.
I love your voccabulary
@@yonisali3879
I am in London. Help me to make those cool decisions.
Sorry, but this is in no way subtle. It’s clear that they paint officials as afraid of achievement specifically to critique they government
Wonderful, just the best.
Two ideas - that's Prime Minister material right there
You don't joke with Sir Arnold!
The look on Arnold's face when Humphrey jokes that he should become a minister...!
RIP Sir.
Wonderful! Absolutely Wonderful!
Thank you so much for these!
Used to really love the series! :)
"Perhaps you should become a minister" - The room temperature drops 40° and ice starts forming on the chief civil servant's brow.
If you want something done give it to someone whose already busy.
If you want something stopped give it to a committee.
Ah , the policy of moving officials around every 3 years to avoid responsibility, that was mentioned by Cummings in his blog, so still happening
Love how the civil service holds precedent of the tries.
Still do! Just that I rarely ever see it to reminisce! :)
Brilliant.
If you think _Yes, [Prime] Minister_ is just comedy or satire you've missed the point, it's as near to documentary as it gets without breaching the Official Secrets Act.
Nothing has changed. Smoking should be trown to the dirt, and yet here we are.
Bertie Woosters brilliant comment could describe Boris and Raab . Two minds and not a single thought.
Timeless Will be relevant 100 yrs from now
Any guess on which Gentleman's Club the setting is based? Can't make out the portrairs? The Carlton, perhaps?
The Athenaeum - it is written in the Yes Minister diaries
@@johnking5174 Interesting!
@@mrpeel3239 It is where they went for lunch
@@johnking5174 always thought the Athenaeum was more about ponderous clergy than irreverent Torys!
@@mrpeel3239 Sir Humphrey was a member, as stated in the diaries
Is it true that in Britain with paying a TV licence fee [we used to have them in OZ] that you don't have to suffer commercial breaks?
john brown
Yes
Yes but only on the bbc channels
Sir Arnold Plagueis and Sir Humphrey Palpatine scheming.
amazing chemistry
Sir Arnold's Character Reminds Me of
☆ Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy ☆
"You should become a minister"
Humphrey is like the John Wick of the British Civil Service.
No, that would be Sir Arnold. All of his remarks were always on target and lethal.
Notice when Arnold says civil service moves everyone around each 3 years to make not possible to have "personal responsibility"...
RIP John
Humphrey! That old ols scheme of Cardwrightt
It's Humphrey, not Humphery.
Auntie used to be "dear". Now she goes to work in Washington without any knickers on. Saves time.
And for those who knew him since school, “Humpy.”
Wonderful! Btw, What drink do they have in those glasses along with their tea or coffee?
Brandy. It is traditional to serve after dinner tea or coffee with brandy and cigars in private gentlemens clubs.
John King thank you!
Absolutely classic
This was made when TV actually had a purpose. Then it went all cesspool.
'Our mission is "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain".'
They BBC still dares to have this as their mission statement.
JimShadyUK
Ironically I believe YM, or YPM, referred to this as “disposing of the tricky part in the title”.
as an example “East German Democratic Republic” was used.
Sir Humphrey was in Woodard.
Now, now Sir Humphrey, no need to be vulgar with your boss =)
The most comfortable chairs in the world
Same set but Bernard is there as well. It is suggested that perhaps Hacker should become Prime Minister.
Bernard looks at his watch.
Humphrey"Dk you have somewhere to be Bernard? "
"Bernard" Er, no, I was just making sure that it wasn't April the First! "
Funny, but considering the average Ministers silliness, and the considered experience of the bureaucracy (which these two represent here), I'd take the bureaucracy. At least! ;p
+theGhoulman That's good, because one of the points of the show is that the bureaucracy is what you actually get regardless of who the ministers are.
Lytrigian
Soooo, someone who actually knew what he or she was doing. ;p
They know exactly what they are doing, unfortunately what they are doing is trying to secure a large as possible budget for themselves whilst implementing exactly 0 changes.
@ otocan - Dude, whatever budget, etc., didn't make them rich or anything. WTF
But the bureaucracy has always been in charge. At least it is inefficient.
Now we understand what the swamp is really all about.
The "swamp" is basically this except that everyone has a long nose and a name ending in -berg or -stein.
Why do I remember Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes?
I read 2 ministers, 1 idea.
look at the table , do brits drink coffee (or tea or whatever ) and hard liquor at the same time ?
Sometimes yes. Usually coffee with a glass of brandy
Is anyone able to briefly explain why this idea is a bad one?
All I can think is that bureaucrats would extort each other for favours when they knew one HAD to get a job completed. That's the only bad bit I can think of though but I'm sure I'm missing something
The strength of British upper civil service is its ability to close ranks, they all work together to make sure no one can be held accountable. Adding names make this a lot harder as none of them want to do any work at all and most government projects fail so there would be a lot of investigating
Sounds like he says “ Just a joke Arthur” rather than Arnold. A blooper?
He says Arnold.
Sir Arnold Robinson is obviously based on former Civil Service Head Sir Robert Armstrong.
Do you have a source to support this statement?
The closest Humphrey have ever been to having his soundness questioned.
This is still a good idea.
Sir Arnold would solve the Brexit crisis....eventually.
at the appropriate junction, in the fullness of time.
@@olivinator Taking one thing with another, of course.
Sir Humphrey's tie is my old school tie!
Which school is that Sir John?
@@RasheedKhan-he6xx That was St. Paul's School, the British school in Brazil. www.stpauls.br
Sir Humphrey s old school tie would have been Winchester. If he'd worn his university ie it would have been balliol college(Bailei n the series)
@marypoppins2009 Used to !
What episode was this from. Would appreciate the help.
There were only 4 series ever made. Two as 'Yes minister' and two as 'Yes prime minister'. They were made by BBC and only got shown on the BBC2 less viewed channel. I believe it started as a radio play type show at least at first. One of the writers was left wing the other right. They were both very well conected in parliament and had good contacts. Essentially the BBC always had to be neutral and had the first series when hacker is head of a ficticious beaurocratic office. The show was meant to be shelved but word got out and a next series comes out. Still the TV audience including Margaret Thatcher demanded more. That ensured the revival as YPM, but this time no topic could be left out. In many ways Hacker is Thatcher particularly because of the storylines that could easily be identified as 80s political issues and events. You can get the BBC radio versions from archives you should be able to get the videos and I am sure you can still pick up the books either as a set of two or set of four. Hope you get to enjoy all of this brilliant piece of satirical comedy.
We were under the assumption that there three series of Yes Minister and two of Yes Prime Minister, with the special "Party Games" episode, chronicling how Humphrey and the Civil Service engineered Hacker to be PM. That's what I've researched years ago and Wikipedia affirmed it?
dsmscenester You're correct, I've got the DVDs to prove it.
Since nobody else answered, it's The Challenge from Series 3
Is it not truly marvellous that BBC Studios can't spell 'Humphry' despite the fact that is the name of a character in their own video!
Sounds like the Catholic church moving its non performing [or perhaps performing in an unsavoury manner] priests from one parish to another.
Or like secular public school teachers accused of molesting their charges being shuffled around.
@@RabbiHerschel Do they do that too? well we know of one down East St Kilda way, and now she is back from the promised land hopefully we shall soon see a trial.
@@adoreslaurel at least here in the US, it's incredibly common. Exponentially more so than the supposed prominence of it in the RCC, although you'll never hear the media say so. (Interestingly, that only became a thing itself after the Vatican started encouraging homosexuals to enter the priesthood, but again, not something you'll ever hear about in the media.)
@@RabbiHerschel I think the Priesthood has been full of them forever, Popes used to be married but then one of them ruled that Priests must put all their efforts into the religion, I think that Pope might have been gay. Stupid rule, so is the confessional. I am down under. the school in question was Adass Israel.
1.16 new responsibilities are for enjoying not exercising ha ha
"Used" to?