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The TV show "Yes, Minister" was a truly amazing show because of the brilliant writing, and how humorously it could speak the truth: Sir Humphrey Appleby: The F

The TV show "Yes, Minister" was a truly amazing show because of the brilliant writing, and how humorously it could speak the truth: Sir Humphrey Appleby: The Foreign Office is pro-Europe because it’s really anti-Europe. The civil service was united in its desire to make sure that the Common Market didn’t work. That’s why we went into it. Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least 500 years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, French and Italians against the Germans, and the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it’s worked so well? Jim Hacker: It’s all ancient history, surely. Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn’t work. Now that we are inside, we can make a big pig’s breakfast of the whole thing! Set the Germans against the French, French against Italians, Italians against Dutch —The Foreign Office is terribly pleased! It’s just like old times! Jim Hacker: Surely we are committed to the European ideal! Sir Humphrey Appleby: Really, Minister! Jim Hacker: If not, why are we pressing for an increase in membership? Sir Humphrey Appleby: For the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact. The more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes. Jim Hacker: What appalling cynicism! Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes. We call it diplomacy, Minister.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37iHSwA1SwE

ur-whale 6y ago
> The TV show "Yes, Minister" The entire show is a jewel. Highly recommended.
- kstenerud 6y ago
  Just don't watch the modern remake of "Yes, Prime Minister". It lost everything that made the original special and turned it into your standard low-brow buffoonery show.
pbronez 6y ago
There’s also a book based on the show, which is roughly one chapter per episode. I found it enlightening, honestly. It’s like a set of fables about bureaucracy. They’re not true stories, but they highlight patterns and tendencies that crop up all the time.
kristianc 6y ago
> Jim Hacker: If not, why are we pressing for an increase in membership? Sir Humphrey Appleby: For the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact. The more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes. Jim Hacker: What appalling cynicism! Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes. We call it diplomacy, Minister.” This was more or less exactly what happened with the 2004 and 2007 enlargements. Britain pushed for the EU to enlarge as a way of slowing down decision making - and the resulting migration from Eastern European countries ended up being a key factor for people voting to Leave.
throw0101a 6y ago
> The TV show "Yes, Minister" […] Was basically written as ideological propaganda, per the show creator: > The fallacy that public choice economics took on was the fallacy that government is working entirely for the benefit of the citizen; and this was reflected by showing that in any [episode] in the programme, in Yes Minister, we showed that almost everything that the government has to decide is a conflict between two lots of private interest – that of the politicians and that of the civil servants trying to advance their own careers and improve their own lives. And that's why public choice economics, which explains why all this was going on, was at the root of almost every episode of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.[17] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister#Politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister#Politics

ur-whale 6y ago

> The TV show "Yes, Minister" The entire show is a jewel. Highly recommended.

kstenerud 6y ago
Just don't watch the modern remake of "Yes, Prime Minister". It lost everything that made the original special and turned it into your standard low-brow buffoonery show.

pbronez 6y ago

There’s also a book based on the show, which is roughly one chapter per episode. I found it enlightening, honestly. It’s like a set of fables about bureaucracy. They’re not true stories, but they highlight patterns and tendencies that crop up all the time.

kristianc 6y ago

> Jim Hacker: If not, why are we pressing for an increase in membership? Sir Humphrey Appleby: For the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact. The more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes. Jim Hacker: What appalling cynicism! Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes. We call it diplomacy, Minister.” This was more or less exactly what happened with the 2004 and 2007 enlargements. Britain pushed for the EU to enlarge as a way of slowing down decision making - and the resulting migration from Eastern European countries ended up being a key factor for people voting to Leave.

throw0101a 6y ago

> The TV show "Yes, Minister" […] Was basically written as ideological propaganda, per the show creator: > The fallacy that public choice economics took on was the fallacy that government is working entirely for the benefit of the citizen; and this was reflected by showing that in any [episode] in the programme, in Yes Minister, we showed that almost everything that the government has to decide is a conflict between two lots of private interest – that of the politicians and that of the civil servants trying to advance their own careers and improve their own lives. And that's why public choice economics, which explains why all this was going on, was at the root of almost every episode of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.[17] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister#Politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister#Politics