Yes, Minister..
Was watching the old favourite on DVD today.. Suddenly got to thinking.. My god, the British are crazy..
Some of Humprey's gems
Well briefly, Sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary, I too have a Principal Private Secretary and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, 87 Under Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretary are plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Under Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary
MY GOD and then one wonders at the inefficiency of the bureaucracy!
Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 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, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now when it's worked so well?
My history teacher could never have put it so succintly and so aptly!
Sometimes one is forced to consider the possibility that affairs are being conducted in a manner which, all things being considered and making all possible allowances is, not to put too fine a point on it, perhaps not entirely straightforward
Which basically means - You're lying!
And my absolute favourite
Minister, the traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has always been so determined as to liberate the ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose experience and qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations which are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position.
Which by the way means - Need to know basis, you don't need to know..
The real scary part - after my MBA, I actually understand Humphy's dialogues quite easily..
Some of Humprey's gems
Well briefly, Sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary, I too have a Principal Private Secretary and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, 87 Under Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretary are plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Under Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary
MY GOD and then one wonders at the inefficiency of the bureaucracy!
Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 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, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now when it's worked so well?
My history teacher could never have put it so succintly and so aptly!
Sometimes one is forced to consider the possibility that affairs are being conducted in a manner which, all things being considered and making all possible allowances is, not to put too fine a point on it, perhaps not entirely straightforward
Which basically means - You're lying!
And my absolute favourite
Minister, the traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has always been so determined as to liberate the ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose experience and qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations which are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position.
Which by the way means - Need to know basis, you don't need to know..
The real scary part - after my MBA, I actually understand Humphy's dialogues quite easily..
Hey!!!
ReplyDeleteU got DVD's of Yes Minister??? I'e heard its an awesome series!!!
I admit that I don't even know how funny Yes, Minsiter really was. I used to watch it agesss ago.....of course then I didn't understand a word. My dad and mom were the one's laughing at things which I couldn't even comprehend...!!
I soo wanna watch it now...!! Waise awesome writing...:D.