Civil Servant 1: "Something should be done about this!" Civil Servant 2: "Agreed. So who's the poor bastard that takes the lead?" **crickets chirping**
"The Noble Order of the Garter was established in 1348 by King Edward III.I think perhaps it might be coming towards the end of its trial period now." This is the kind of humor that makes you laugh driving down the highway when you remember it.
Any actor who complains about learning their lines should be made to watch Nigel Hawthorne playing Sir Humphrey. They would be hard pushed to complain then. A master at work.
@TheRenaissanceman65 Not really. Without the Civil Service the government is toothless. They don't work for the government, and they're the ones who actually make sure people are notified of meetings, and have the correct paperwork etc. Bureaucrats have a lot of power.
Yes. Fantastic writing and acting. I watched the series back in the 80s, as a teenager. Now I'm watching it on dvd with my 15 year old son who loves it as well.
Szaam The reason that voting systems don't change isn't because of conservative politics. It's because whoever gets in power through the system would want to have it remain as it is since they're currently winning.
I was in the civil service once. I am now Malcolm Abram DSc, MPhil, DipTh, GBE, UFO, BBC, GCSE, AFSE, DPhil, KBE, GBE, TNT, NG, BT, UKIC, MBP, SMB, SAS, CAE, OAE, PO, PhM, DVLA, BTECH to name but a few. Didn't get paid much but got lots of letters. Not really sure what I did to deserve them. Pain to write on letter heads. Just call me Malc.
Malcolm Abram DSc, MPhil, DipTh, GBE, UFO, BBC, GCSE, AFSE, DPhil, KBE, GBE, TNT, NG, BT, UKIC, MBP, SMB, SAS, CAE, OAE, PO, PhM, DVLA, BTECH and bicycles repaired by appointment. {For reasons unknown your comment reminded me that there was a shop in a village near Bournemouth in the 1960s which was a fishmonger and bicycle repairer.)
Genius programme, way ahead of it's time...amazing that it's 40 years old but still hugely relevant. I bet in 1980 the general public trusted politicians more, and probably saw these characters as a bit far fetched. Given the last 20 years, it all rings so true
Remember in 1980 parliament was not televised, and so MPs didn't care about public image in the Commons chamber. Radio broadcasts had only started in 1978. MPs were not seen on TV often compared to now, where we have a 24 hour station devoted to parliament, so trust was a bit more available.
@@johnking5174 It had also been only 30 some years since the end of the war. Many brits still had the wartime image of Churchill in their mind. It had only been about 20 years since the perspective on WW1 had shifted to that of a useless slaughter. You add the ever present fear of the soviets and the need for some perceived unity in society.
Many of the story ideas were inspired by anecdotes told to the creators by current and former politicians. In fact, some story ideas were rejected as being too unbelievable despite being perfectly true.
Yes. I was part of an advisory committee that proposed several relatively small projects for the local health services executives to consider. Over ten years after we recommended it the least expensive one is still not completely finished. To be fair it is mostly finished but there are many little details that were either overlooked or never got funded. The largest one should have had long-term funding but only received operating funds for one year, and even then only becasue a wealthy individual donated $1M to get it built. Even then the executives funded it by redirecting funding from other programs, something we had advised against. We had to fight to keep the program ongoing after that. I resigned becasue I couldn't take the frustration anymore. The most frustrating part was the never-ending changes to the leadership positions, resulting in a never-ending change in what the priorities were. For all our hard work, all we could do is hope and pray that someone at the top would read our advice and take it seriously.
rumor is that new Ministers are STRONGLY encuraged to watch this show and its sequil and take notes durring (and that fact that that rummor made it to the states even before the internet was a thing says a lot)
It's even funnier when you watched the whole episode; the reason Bernard is hiding away is Hacker forced him to share Humphrey's stalling tactics beforehand. Hence the Order of the Garter example lying right there.
Brilliant comedy. The term 'Earn your Honours', was also used in the 'Yes Prime minister' series, when Sir Humphrey was trying to get a civil service pay claim done, whilst trying to save his job. The suggestion that time came from the political advisor, whom Sir Humphrey moved away from the prime minister, so that they didn't cause any issues (conflicts) against civil service advice, in the episode 'The Key'. Wonderful comedy. Also, still valid today.
“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams..................
"It may interest you to know, Humphrey, that The Most Noble Order of the Garter was founded 1348 by King Edward III. I think perhaps it may be coming towards the end of its trial period now, don't you?"
najhoant The order of Garter is only awarded to members of the Royal family and few other foreign Royal families. It's not awarded to civil servants on a regular basis only 24 maximum members at any time .. Only a few non royals like Churchill got it .
The appointment of the Knights and Ladies of the Garter is in The Queen's gift, without Prime Ministerial advice. At the moment, 8 "foreign" Royals, 10 British Royals and 23 "non-royals", the 24th place being vacant.
Its the wonderfuly dextrous and agile use of the English language that i just love so much. Many other shows are funny and even political but this is linguistic prestidigitation of the first water. 😁 kinda like posh rap.
I love how Sir Humphrey turns the tables on Hacker at the end. Hacker gets an honor that he didn't "earn" Hacker said "I'm a minister. Humphrey respond "isn't that what you are paid for?
"In industry, if you screw things up, you get the boot." How charmingly quaint! The idea of corporate executives being held accountable... it must have been a different age.
Sorry but most CEO positions could wreck the company and then they would get the golden parachute only hedge fund companies try to get rid of bad management.
@@GerackSerack They might get the boot, but after they screwed up, not before. Then they get Millions so they go away and a few months later they have a nice position in another company.
This was broadcast at a time when a large part of industry was in public ownership. Thats how they were got rid of. Ive neve heard of a shareholders meting ever voting out any board members. Especially not in banking!
When I came across this show I had to get the whole series on DVD each actor brought something special but my favorite had to be Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphry Appleby
You lot and your precious English language. I also hate it when my mother tongue is messed around with, but with English, I reckon it deserves it for being so ubiquitous.
Permanence is power, Humphrey was always there, ministers came and went, the permanent secretary remains. That is why he got more money than the minister. Still happens today.
There's a good reason for that. Institutional memory is important to any system and especially to government. Keeping the people around who built the machine and know how it works is critical if the machine ever breaks down, and that counts for political machines as well as mechanical ones. That much cheaper young hotshot you could replace the old tried-and-trues with will have to reverse engineer everything the old fella already knows how to do, resulting in confusion and inefficiencies that could have been avoided by simply spending a little more money. That's why generational transitions should never be handled lightly and should never be undertaken at all unless an organization is prepared to undergo a full overhaul.
One the many instances where you can see Hawthorne glancing sideways to look at his lines of long rants. They even set up a camera and keep him out of the frame in order to avoid us noticing it too much.
Yet another perfect example of human beings at work. Everybody wants the prize but doesn't want to do anything for it. Look no further than your local CEO. They love to brag and brag about how they work 100s of hours a week, but at the end of day they still get their separate package worth millions and it doesn't matter if the corporation made money or went bankrupt.
Humphrey has been running this department for many years while ministers rotate offices and get voted out of office every couple of years. Each one coming in with their hairbrained notions and populist promises. Humphrey has seen them come and go and knows the next one always immediately tries to undo everything the last one achieved. Has your job ever brought in a new manager who knew nothing about the department and yet wanted to change everything?
The whole basis of the show is the civil service is the government. They run the country, and it is these stupid, idiotic MPs who come in every five years who try and change it.
Simple enough way for Humphrey to defeat this policy idea. If you link honours to achieving a specified cut in a department you encourage the civil servant concerned to achieve the cut in the quickest, easiest way. That will, almost inevitably, lead to nasty consequences of a political nature. Example Civil Servant in the Department of Health can find 5% by reducing expenditure on medication. 5% cut, honours duly bestowed, 6 months later people are dying in winter because the hospitals don't have enough medicine. Civil Servant in the M.O.D gets an MBE by cutting expenditure on body armour. A year later soldiers in one of the UK's interminable wars, die in larger numbers because they are more vulnerable to sniper fire. Who gets blamed? The relevant minister obviously.
I think I like the ones wher Jim and Humphrey clash over civil service issues best. They get Humphrey wound up enough to come up with some inspired stuff.
Singapore has the most impressive roster of ministers but only because they get paid at the industry rate for CEOs. I remember watching the public hearings on certain data privacy concerns on Facebook. The minister who headed the inquiry (he seemed to be of Indian descent) was truly formidable in the questions he asked and how he asked them, the whole duration of the session. It was fascinating to watch. Of world leaders, I can only think of one, Netanyahu, who exuded that same self-assured intelligence that was intimidating. (Although, I suppose Merkel must have been of the same calibre she never had that menacing look. It must have been because of how Germany democratic process which relied on consensus building over very thin majorities.).
@@anthonycunningham8116 We take responsibility of our own affairs now. These few youtube morons from india may make you think otherwise who still have colonised mindset. Boris Johnson rushes to congratulate modi on his re-election. ICJ has our judge instead of Brits', we threat to leave commonwealth if things are not done our way,and british govt has no choice but to accept it. Pax Britannica is over and you must come at terms with it.
The sheer audacity to compare his salary with Elizabeth Taylor is enough to get me laughing - I guess maybe she didn't get an Oxford 1st, but she got her D.B.E. ! :)
To anyone who cares, Sir Humphrey's salary in US dollars, today, would be about $140,000. Not bad at all. 30000 pounds in 1982 = 54000 dollars at 1.8 exchange rate. factor in 158 % inflation since 1982 = ~140k
Published salary figures show that a Permanent Secretary (Humphrey's job) today gets roughly £170,000 - £180,000, though it varies between departments and some get a bit less or a bit more. The Cabinet Secretary (head of the Civil Service, the job Humphrey is promoted to in Yes Prime Minister) gets just over £200,000. £200,000 is just under US$264,000 at time of writing this comment. Cabinet ministers today get about £150,000. The Prime Minister gets about £160,000.
The problem with the Ministr's proposal is the assumption that budget cuts are the only measure of government improvement. Doing more with the same budget is a wonderful thing, and there are even times when a legitimate increase in spending (leading to clearly measurable improvements) can be a good thing. On the other hand, if you slash your budget by 5% and as a result, genuinely necessary work doesn't get done, that is hardly an achievement.
L He wouldn't have got a chance. LKY would have seen through him and put him under ISA! But seriously, under LKY there wouldn't be a bumbling minister like Hacker. LKY's ministers were all good foot soldiers who executed his plans well and helped Singapore be what LKY wanted it to be.
@@MichaelGGarry I suspect it's a joke; the series itself (or at least Sir Humphrey) loves to dunk on Hacker for being educated at the LSE. (That said I grant you that Sir Humphrey would have (begrudgingly) respected the Cambridge degree. As an Oxford alum he probably feels obligated to look down on it, but considerably less than he'd look down on anything else.)
He made £23,000 a year in Britain in 1978. Consider this.....Median weekly earnings for full-time employees reached £30,420 yearly in April 2019, an increase of 2.9% from April 2018. 41 years to gain an extra £7,420.
@TheRenaissanceman65 But if everyone who wants to vote for him because of the policies votes for him and didn't think about what other people are doing then that wouldn't be an issue.
I have a number of English ancestors who were knighted and held various titles. One who I am named after actually has a tomb at Westminster Abbey. But even after several attempts to understand the English peerage system, I've pretty much thrown in the towel. lol
The problem with asking for department cuts of 5% is the department staves itself of funds to do the job and the job even the important parts of the job just don't get done. You have to use zero based funding and you fund for the job or you allow the department to keep a percentage of the budget left over as a reward for doing the job below the costed department cost.
Watching this on the day that it was announced that Alan Bates- scourge of incompetent, corrupt Post Office management and champion of the little man- is to be knighted makes me think all honours should be earned
No civil servants get Order of the Garter honours. They tend to get Order of the Bath, Royal Victorian Order or Order of St Michael and St George honours. Off the top of my head.
I think most get the Order of the British Empire. The Order of St Michael and St George is I believe mainly FCO and the Royal Victorian Order is in the personal gift of the Monarch and is given for service to the Monarch.
The knoight of the Garter is an honour in the gift of the sovereign and is not awarded on the recommendation of HMG. In the case of Lord Butler the award was not because he was a former civil servant.
"Many things should be done, but nothing should be done for the first time." Absolute gold
Civil Servant 1: "Something should be done about this!"
Civil Servant 2: "Agreed. So who's the poor bastard that takes the lead?"
**crickets chirping**
Yes, many years ago I worked in the public service. One of the key reasons for inaction was that whatever it was hadn't been done before.
The writers were true geniuses
Jep, totally agree
@@punkat13 AND---the actors who spoke the script so perfectly. What a dream team. sadly now all dead. we will not see their like again.
And the actors..
George D Lambert Again, go to Parliament. There you’ll find many actors putting on new episodes.
Absolutely
"The Noble Order of the Garter was established in 1348 by King Edward III.I think perhaps it might be coming towards the end of its trial period now." This is the kind of humor that makes you laugh driving down the highway when you remember it.
I assume by “highway” you mean The King’s Highway?
Sir humphrey’s monologues were always a highlight of each episode.
Any actor who complains about learning their lines should be made to watch Nigel Hawthorne playing Sir Humphrey. They would be hard pushed to complain then. A master at work.
Whenever Sir Humpy says: "we should set a committee" , you know your cause is a lost one.
[you mean no!]
@TheRenaissanceman65 Not really. Without the Civil Service the government is toothless. They don't work for the government, and they're the ones who actually make sure people are notified of meetings, and have the correct paperwork etc. Bureaucrats have a lot of power.
@TheRenaissanceman65 The Civil Service works for the Crown, not for the government.
your discussion here is just lovely!
from Hong Kong, a former British colony and suppose a standing bureaucratic government
@@John_Smith. enter the digital era. 😌👌🏻
A testament to the writers that the show is still as fresh today as it was in the 80s. The three principle actors are immortal.
Yes. Fantastic writing and acting. I watched the series back in the 80s, as a teenager. Now I'm watching it on dvd with my 15 year old son who loves it as well.
Well, 30k being a high salary dates it a bit.
@@teh-maxh 'Yes, Minister' ran from 1980 to 1984
@@teh-maxh Money was probably worth more back then, though.
"Where will it end? The abolition of the monarchy?"
I love how that's the conclusion Humphrey reaches.
+Szaam that's the conclusion he always reaches :D
A sophist.
Just like any conservative.
Proportional representation?
Conservatives: AGAINST TRADITION!!!!!!!! WILL NOT WOrk
Szaam The reason that voting systems don't change isn't because of conservative politics. It's because whoever gets in power through the system would want to have it remain as it is since they're currently winning.
You've got it backwards. Conservatives want to keep the status quo, and are against anything constructive.
I was in the civil service once. I am now Malcolm Abram DSc, MPhil, DipTh, GBE, UFO, BBC, GCSE, AFSE, DPhil, KBE, GBE, TNT, NG, BT, UKIC, MBP, SMB, SAS, CAE, OAE, PO, PhM, DVLA, BTECH to name but a few. Didn't get paid much but got lots of letters. Not really sure what I did to deserve them. Pain to write on letter heads. Just call me Malc.
Topman then I guess!
I am sure you earned all of them.
Reminds me of a Monty Python sketch
Malcolm Abram DSc, MPhil, DipTh, GBE, UFO, BBC, GCSE, AFSE, DPhil, KBE, GBE, TNT, NG, BT, UKIC, MBP, SMB, SAS, CAE, OAE, PO, PhM, DVLA, BTECH and bicycles repaired by appointment. {For reasons unknown your comment reminded me that there was a shop in a village near Bournemouth in the 1960s which was a fishmonger and bicycle repairer.)
Still not as good as the Rt Hon. Jim Hacker, MP, Dlaw (Oxon.). He got a Doctor of Law from Oxford without even needing to read it.
Genius programme, way ahead of it's time...amazing that it's 40 years old but still hugely relevant. I bet in 1980 the general public trusted politicians more, and probably saw these characters as a bit far fetched. Given the last 20 years, it all rings so true
Remember in 1980 parliament was not televised, and so MPs didn't care about public image in the Commons chamber. Radio broadcasts had only started in 1978. MPs were not seen on TV often compared to now, where we have a 24 hour station devoted to parliament, so trust was a bit more available.
@@johnking5174 It had also been only 30 some years since the end of the war. Many brits still had the wartime image of Churchill in their mind. It had only been about 20 years since the perspective on WW1 had shifted to that of a useless slaughter. You add the ever present fear of the soviets and the need for some perceived unity in society.
Also goes to show how little has changed in the methods and methodologies of the political structures,
Politics is a shitshow since men decided to raise walls and taxes.
It's shocking how contemporary all of this is! I only started watching clips of this show YESTERDAY!
If only it was just humour. Having worked in both the private and public sector, this is almost a 'fly on the wall' documentary
???
Many of the story ideas were inspired by anecdotes told to the creators by current and former politicians. In fact, some story ideas were rejected as being too unbelievable despite being perfectly true.
As it was intended.
Yes. I was part of an advisory committee that proposed several relatively small projects for the local health services executives to consider. Over ten years after we recommended it the least expensive one is still not completely finished. To be fair it is mostly finished but there are many little details that were either overlooked or never got funded. The largest one should have had long-term funding but only received operating funds for one year, and even then only becasue a wealthy individual donated $1M to get it built. Even then the executives funded it by redirecting funding from other programs, something we had advised against. We had to fight to keep the program ongoing after that. I resigned becasue I couldn't take the frustration anymore. The most frustrating part was the never-ending changes to the leadership positions, resulting in a never-ending change in what the priorities were. For all our hard work, all we could do is hope and pray that someone at the top would read our advice and take it seriously.
rumor is that new Ministers are STRONGLY encuraged to watch this show and its sequil and take notes durring (and that fact that that rummor made it to the states even before the internet was a thing says a lot)
It's even funnier when you watched the whole episode; the reason Bernard is hiding away is Hacker forced him to share Humphrey's stalling tactics beforehand. Hence the Order of the Garter example lying right there.
@MusicManMaurice The line Sir Humphrey said with smile and surprise in his face, "an i-d-ea minister! "
@TheRenaissanceman65 Controversial will lose you votes, courageous will lose you the election.
Brilliant comedy. The term 'Earn your Honours', was also used in the 'Yes Prime minister' series, when Sir Humphrey was trying to get a civil service pay claim done, whilst trying to save his job. The suggestion that time came from the political advisor, whom Sir Humphrey moved away from the prime minister, so that they didn't cause any issues (conflicts) against civil service advice, in the episode 'The Key'.
Wonderful comedy. Also, still valid today.
Brilliant writing, brilliant acting.
R. I. P. Derek fowlds (Bernard). Sadly missed
then there was none--so sad.
All of the three men in this video are dead...
RIP all, thanks for the memories and continuing to give us so much pleasure with your superb performances.
Man, such intelligent and witty comedy. Such a pity I never got to see it on TV. It didn't air in my country.
Flagfalls I heard you can now watch it on that new fangled UA-cam thing 😂
“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams..................
"It may interest you to know, Humphrey, that The Most Noble Order of the Garter was founded 1348 by King Edward III. I think perhaps it may be coming towards the end of its trial period now, don't you?"
najhoant The order of Garter is only awarded to members of the Royal family and few other foreign Royal families. It's not awarded to civil servants on a regular basis only 24 maximum members at any time .. Only a few non royals like Churchill got it .
The appointment of the Knights and Ladies of the Garter is in The Queen's gift, without Prime Ministerial advice. At the moment, 8 "foreign" Royals, 10 British Royals and 23 "non-royals", the 24th place being vacant.
Its the wonderfuly dextrous and agile use of the English language that i just love so much. Many other shows are funny and even political but this is linguistic prestidigitation of the first water. 😁 kinda like posh rap.
Posh rap 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 best description I've ever heard😂😂😂
I wanna go back in time to watch this live again.
Same here
2:48 i do love bernards expression
This episode aired in 1981. £30,000 with inflation would have the same buying power as £122,359.32 now. A modest sum indeed Sir Humphrey
I think in the episode where Humphry talked about parasites "off thw record", it was mentioned that he earned 70k by that point...
I love how Sir Humphrey turns the tables on Hacker at the end. Hacker gets an honor that he didn't "earn" Hacker said "I'm a minister. Humphrey respond "isn't that what you are paid for?
Quoted this show in one of my final university exams. & passed!
The gold standard of first rate writing and excellent casting
This show is a classic.
What are "honors". Do you mean HONOURS?
"In industry, if you screw things up, you get the boot."
How charmingly quaint!
The idea of corporate executives being held accountable... it must have been a different age.
No, they do get the boot. The shareholders do not want to see their money wither away. If there's one thing shareholders care about, it's money.
Sorry but most CEO positions could wreck the company and then they would get the golden parachute only hedge fund companies try to get rid of bad management.
@@GerackSerack They might get the boot, but after they screwed up, not before. Then they get Millions so they go away and a few months later they have a nice position in another company.
This was broadcast at a time when a large part of industry was in public ownership. Thats how they were got rid of. Ive neve heard of a shareholders meting ever voting out any board members. Especially not in banking!
@@HDreamer why would someone get the boot for... Not screwing up?
Love it when Hacker gets one over on Sir Humphrey, then it's gets turned back, priceless
"Only contrary, many many things must be done, but nothing must be done for the first time!"
I'd love to be able to watch proper full episodes of this again.
Hahaha Bernard Woolley is so funny
When I came across this show I had to get the whole series on DVD each actor brought something special but my favorite had to be Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphry Appleby
Disappointed.....BBC and they used "Honors" rather than the correct British spelling of Honours!
Yet they spelt it right in the description which is strange. Worse than being wrong, they were inconsistent!
@@joshebarry Exactly!
@Pirabee its the thin end of the wedge. Where will it end?
@@jamesmccann5644 for the amsricans i think it ended with the abolition of the monarchy
You lot and your precious English language. I also hate it when my mother tongue is messed around with, but with English, I reckon it deserves it for being so ubiquitous.
Well..face it...Humprey got more seniority then any living prime minister.
Permanence is power, Humphrey was always there, ministers came and went, the permanent secretary remains. That is why he got more money than the minister. Still happens today.
There's a good reason for that. Institutional memory is important to any system and especially to government. Keeping the people around who built the machine and know how it works is critical if the machine ever breaks down, and that counts for political machines as well as mechanical ones.
That much cheaper young hotshot you could replace the old tried-and-trues with will have to reverse engineer everything the old fella already knows how to do, resulting in confusion and inefficiencies that could have been avoided by simply spending a little more money.
That's why generational transitions should never be handled lightly and should never be undertaken at all unless an organization is prepared to undergo a full overhaul.
Rotation is castration
Bernard's face at 1:12 - 'Here we go . . .'
I liked this scene so much I've pretty much memorized it 😂
I love you, Sir Humphrey! ❤❤❤
Brilliant! Just as relevant today as it was then.
Amazing series.
It's hilarious to see Humphrey at a loss for words! What episode was this?
+synth on a plinth Series 2 episode 2 I think
Thanks very much. I purchased it on DVD a couple of months ago. It's not the only time Humphrey gets his arse handed to him! Cheers
synthonaplinth The Key is Real arse giving 😎
@@davidboon5906 how true. Hum[y looks completely off of his rocker at the end of that episode.
I can’t get enough of this !
These men were brilliant.
Purchased the complete series of this.
The reason old shows like these are so good is because they weren't afraid to write both sides well.
2:30 - Thirty seconds of civil service waffle all to say NO
It's a shame that the BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation can't tell the difference between British English (honours) and US English (honors).
how do you know?
@@MrDaiseymay look at the video title and the uploader
Ah! Thank God, someone noticed that.
It's to get more views because nobody gives a shit how Brits spell.
@@Camcolito Well, the US is litterally the only country that uses US-spelling.
total genius. As the man said - the series was basically a documentary
One the many instances where you can see Hawthorne glancing sideways to look at his lines of long rants. They even set up a camera and keep him out of the frame in order to avoid us noticing it too much.
Yet another perfect example of human beings at work. Everybody wants the prize but doesn't want to do anything for it. Look no further than your local CEO. They love to brag and brag about how they work 100s of hours a week, but at the end of day they still get their separate package worth millions and it doesn't matter if the corporation made money or went bankrupt.
American here: At some point in Humpry's suggestion, it occurred that he basically wanted a department of obstruction.
Humphrey has been running this department for many years while ministers rotate offices and get voted out of office every couple of years. Each one coming in with their hairbrained notions and populist promises. Humphrey has seen them come and go and knows the next one always immediately tries to undo everything the last one achieved. Has your job ever brought in a new manager who knew nothing about the department and yet wanted to change everything?
The whole basis of the show is the civil service is the government. They run the country, and it is these stupid, idiotic MPs who come in every five years who try and change it.
After another one of Humphreys long mumbo jumbo dialogs - "You mean no"
And they give honours out these days like it's candy to a child
I am currently preparing for Civil Services examination in India and I write Sir Humphrey's recommendations as conclusion in my answers😛
I've no idea if that will make you fail the examination or pass with flying colors.
Did it work?
@@cynicalskeptic I got one of the highest marks in Essay paper of the Civil Services Examination. I had used those only in essay paper
It just to me, classic 😂
If only they could make a contemporary version featuring the DC swamp monsters.
Simple enough way for Humphrey to defeat this policy idea.
If you link honours to achieving a specified cut in a department you encourage the civil servant concerned to achieve the cut in the quickest, easiest way. That will, almost inevitably, lead to nasty consequences of a political nature.
Example
Civil Servant in the Department of Health can find 5% by reducing expenditure on medication. 5% cut, honours duly bestowed, 6 months later people are dying in winter because the hospitals don't have enough medicine.
Civil Servant in the M.O.D gets an MBE by cutting expenditure on body armour. A year later soldiers in one of the UK's interminable wars, die in larger numbers because they are more vulnerable to sniper fire.
Who gets blamed? The relevant minister obviously.
Wonderful punch line. :)
Glad to see this kind of behaviour is almost universal.
Good documentary
Fully apprised of Microcosmographica Academia...
Civil servants are the real power center
By yes prime minister Humphrey is on 81,000 hell of a pay rise
"You mean 'No' ?" 🤣
Did you see Bernard's face when Sir Humphrey was talking about the inter departmental committee?
I think I like the ones wher Jim and Humphrey clash over civil service issues best. They get Humphrey wound up enough to come up with some inspired stuff.
Honours* come on BBC
This is the international commercial arm of the BBC and not the home BBC who uploaded this clip.
@@johnking5174 So?
Brilliant.
Singapore has the most impressive roster of ministers but only because they get paid at the industry rate for CEOs. I remember watching the public hearings on certain data privacy concerns on Facebook. The minister who headed the inquiry (he seemed to be of Indian descent) was truly formidable in the questions he asked and how he asked them, the whole duration of the session. It was fascinating to watch. Of world leaders, I can only think of one, Netanyahu, who exuded that same self-assured intelligence that was intimidating. (Although, I suppose Merkel must have been of the same calibre she never had that menacing look. It must have been because of how Germany democratic process which relied on consensus building over very thin majorities.).
how aptly this reflects Indian realities too. of course we inherited this system from you Britishers.
Marry Christmas But those books were reintroduced to the Indians by guess who?
No one forced you to use them
i don't think you understand how colonization works.
You've had 70+ years to change things. Time to start taking responsibility for your own state of affairs.
Also, who uses the term 'Britishers'?
@@anthonycunningham8116 We take responsibility of our own affairs now. These few youtube morons from india may make you think otherwise who still have colonised mindset. Boris Johnson rushes to congratulate modi on his re-election. ICJ has our judge instead of Brits', we threat to leave commonwealth if things are not done our way,and british govt has no choice but to accept it. Pax Britannica is over and you must come at terms with it.
The sheer audacity to compare his salary with Elizabeth Taylor is enough to get me laughing - I guess maybe she didn't get an Oxford 1st, but she got her D.B.E. ! :)
I so miss watching clean shaven men in suits and ties!
I swear this is real life 🤣
This is a British show from a British based YT channel, shouldn't it be Honours?
But that's unheard of!
Earn Your *Honours*
W.M.D (Westminster? Monarchy Decide) - in : privy - time for proper - *Charles I* - style : CUTS - about *7.30%* - _cud_ be right *_R > G_*
Shame that the title cannot spell 'Honours'!
Perhaps spell-check struck.
The 'u' has disappeared from a lot of words... neighbor... labor... color
@@Sunshineat3 Not from the English language it hasn't!!!! And how do you spell the number four, for?
2:32 to 2:58 - My God, How can we not laught at Humphrey's monologue!
£30,000 in 1980 is worth about £130,000 today, I wonder how much would an employee like Sir Humphrey make in UK now?
£180,000 to £200,000 per year in 2020
@@johnking5174 in Australia, they are making 500-600k Au dollars
Bernard grinning in the back...
To anyone who cares, Sir Humphrey's salary in US dollars, today, would be about $140,000. Not bad at all.
30000 pounds in 1982 = 54000 dollars at 1.8 exchange rate.
factor in 158 % inflation since 1982 = ~140k
Published salary figures show that a Permanent Secretary (Humphrey's job) today gets roughly £170,000 - £180,000, though it varies between departments and some get a bit less or a bit more. The Cabinet Secretary (head of the Civil Service, the job Humphrey is promoted to in Yes Prime Minister) gets just over £200,000. £200,000 is just under US$264,000 at time of writing this comment.
Cabinet ministers today get about £150,000. The Prime Minister gets about £160,000.
I just googled it. £30,000 in 1980 is about £140,000 pounds in today's money.
In 2017, Permanent Secretaries earn around £180,000 a year.
John King
So they have gotten a net increase in their pay even after inflation.
That is pretty acceptable. Humphrey worked 30 years in the civil service to earn half of an average CEO's salary.
we DESPORATLY need a us version of this show for educational reasons
Gold comedy
The problem with the Ministr's proposal is the assumption that budget cuts are the only measure of government improvement. Doing more with the same budget is a wonderful thing, and there are even times when a legitimate increase in spending (leading to clearly measurable improvements) can be a good thing. On the other hand, if you slash your budget by 5% and as a result, genuinely necessary work doesn't get done, that is hardly an achievement.
Dear BBC Studios the word is "Honours".
Most of this clip was taken up by Humphrey's concluding sentence.
I wish I knew more people like Humphrey.
Imagine Humphrey trying to get past Lee Kwan Yew.
L He wouldn't have got a chance. LKY would have seen through him and put him under ISA! But seriously, under LKY there wouldn't be a bumbling minister like Hacker. LKY's ministers were all good foot soldiers who executed his plans well and helped Singapore be what LKY wanted it to be.
I don't see why not. He also went to the London School of Economy. He must not have been able to afford a university education!
@@andrew7taylor Err, you mean LKY? The guy with a double starred 1st from Cambridge in Law?
@@MichaelGGarry I suspect it's a joke; the series itself (or at least Sir Humphrey) loves to dunk on Hacker for being educated at the LSE. (That said I grant you that Sir Humphrey would have (begrudgingly) respected the Cambridge degree. As an Oxford alum he probably feels obligated to look down on it, but considerably less than he'd look down on anything else.)
Hilarious.
What you give you get .
That's life .
He made £23,000 a year in Britain in 1978. Consider this.....Median weekly earnings for full-time employees reached £30,420 yearly in April 2019, an increase of 2.9% from April 2018. 41 years to gain an extra £7,420.
This was filmed in 1981 just for clarification
You haven't taken inflation into account
A Bennite solution? Well then, let's have more of them.
@TheRenaissanceman65 Unelectable = the media don't like him so I won't vote for him because I'm a gullible dupe.
@TheRenaissanceman65 So what does it mean?
@TheRenaissanceman65 But if everyone who wants to vote for him because of the policies votes for him and didn't think about what other people are doing then that wouldn't be an issue.
Dear BBC, the word is Honours, with a U.
This was uploaded by the commercial arm of the BBC and not the home BBC.
0:53 what do you mean "earned it"? LOL
calculating for inflation, £30,000 pounds a year in 1980, becomes £123,235.61 pounds in 2023.
For Americans, that's $156,288.02 a year, in 2023
I have a number of English ancestors who were knighted and held various titles. One who I am named after actually has a tomb at Westminster Abbey. But even after several attempts to understand the English peerage system, I've pretty much thrown in the towel. lol
Whoop de doo
The problem with asking for department cuts of 5% is the department staves itself of funds to do the job and the job even the important parts of the job just don't get done. You have to use zero based funding and you fund for the job or you allow the department to keep a percentage of the budget left over as a reward for doing the job below the costed department cost.
Watching this on the day that it was announced that Alan Bates- scourge of incompetent, corrupt Post Office management and champion of the little man- is to be knighted makes me think all honours should be earned
No civil servants get Order of the Garter honours. They tend to get Order of the Bath, Royal Victorian Order or Order of St Michael and St George honours. Off the top of my head.
I think most get the Order of the British Empire. The Order of St Michael and St George is I believe mainly FCO and the Royal Victorian Order is in the personal gift of the Monarch and is given for service to the Monarch.
What about The Lord Butler of Brockwell KG GCB CVO PC
Former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
The knoight of the Garter is an honour in the gift of the sovereign and is not awarded on the recommendation of HMG. In the case of Lord Butler the award was not because he was a former civil servant.
pix046
Order of the Bath?