[Ombrageux]

Save yourself some money and take the only Poli Sci 101 class you need: Watching "Yes Minister."

Enjoy!

1. Politician's logic
[youtube]vidzkYnaf6Y[/youtube]

2. The media:
[youtube]DGscoaUWW2M[/youtube]

3. Polls:
[youtube]G0ZZJXw4MTA[/youtube]

4. Nuclear deterrence & the Cold War:
[youtube]IX_d_vMKswE[/youtube]

5. European integration:
[youtube]qVrN-gkzVYI[/youtube]

BONUS: British foreign policy & "Europe"

6. Euroscepticism:
[youtube]bIYP1ibYdZI[/youtube]

7. Compromise candidates:
[youtube]G5P34nJzsaY[/youtube]

8. Education:
[youtube]yeF_o1Ss1NQ[/youtube]

9. Democracy & elitism:
[youtube]gmOvEwtDycs[/youtube]

10. Agreement "in principle":
[youtube]OhZRDoGZg00[/youtube]
BONUS: Women in the civil service.

11. Meetings:
[youtube]85fx0LrSMsE[/youtube]

12. Image control:
[youtube]Agw0Qccp2b8[/youtube]

13. Bureaucratic fiefdoms:
[youtube]on2I1U-F3BY[/youtube]

Bankers, conflicts of interests, civil servants vs. politicians:
[youtube]KgUemV4brDU[/youtube]

BONUS I: The Intro
[youtube]zdzJdGkpSug[/youtube]

BONUS II: Yes Real PM (Thatcher sketch)
[youtube]cwaX_DgHZkM[/youtube]

PS: I recommend pointing the n00bz in this general direction. Might save them some time.

[Otebo]

Yes, Minister was fantastic and spot on in most regards.

I've always thought that the 'Who reads the papers?' clip is the best summary of the British press ever:

Hacker: The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; And The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.

Sir Humphrey: Oh and Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

Bernard: Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits.

Did you know that it is set for a return?.

[Decky]

Did you know that it is set for a return?.

Oh dear. It will never live up to the original.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

This must be one of my all-time favourite TV shows. British television at its best.

[Beren]

If the British leave the EU, then it will be left without a real sense of irony.

[Ombrageux]

Decky/Otebo - This could be very good! I thought In the Thick of It was an excellent updated take on the idea.

Beren/Kaiser - The Brits have some excellent television. I love a lot of American TV, but the Brits are so brutally honest and sarcastic it's really something else. How is German or other Continental TV? French output tends to be pretty mediocre, despite the fact it has a similar-sized market..

[Kaiserschmarrn]

I have not followed German TV recently but going back a few years, I can't really remember anything particularly great. They did have some decent series comparable to, for example, the bbc's Midsummer Murder.

Much like the French, they do certain kinds of movies very well. I very much enjoyed The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), Head On (Gegen die Wand) and still have to watch the adaption of Buddenbrooks (one of my favourite German novels). They also have to be given credit for making the best war mini-series of all time, Das Boot: When it comes to realism, atmosphere, acting, and production (for its time) it doesn't get any better than that.

[Potemkin]

The TV series Heimat was pretty damn good too.

[Kman]

Ahh the good old days when the british had some skill and intelligence when it came to comedy and television series, I always loved watching Yes Minister when I was younger.

I thought the segment on compromise candidates was pretty funny, the whole time I was thinking ''that is Mitt Romney they are talking about''.

[Wolfman]

Why in the name of god is this a thread?

[Siberian Fox]

Because Wolfman, Yes Minister was the greatest political TV series ever made. For example, in the above clip "If the right people don't have power..."

They talk about things worth protecting:
"...the Universities!?"
"Both of them."

Even to this day British government is dominated by the old-boys-network from Oxford and Cambridge, and it always has been. Thats just how Britain works. If anyone wants to learn about British politics Yes Minister is a great and easy place to start.

[Potemkin]

Yes Minister was the greatest political TV series ever made.

Quoted for transcendent truth.

Even to this day British government is dominated by the old-boys-network from Oxford and Cambridge, and it always has been. Thats just how Britain works. If anyone wants to learn about British politics Yes Minister is a great and easy place to start.

It has always seemed to me that Britain is the Imperial China of the modern world - an ancient, essentially unchanging and incredibly corrupt society feeding off its bygone glory days. We don't call our civil servants 'mandarins' for nothing, you know.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

The TV series Heimat was pretty damn good too.

I had never heard of this series before but I've seen it now. Thanks for the tip, it was excellent.

[Potemkin]

I had never heard of this series before but I've seen it now. Thanks for the tip, it was excellent.

A German who'd never heard of Edgar Reitz's Heimat?

Seriously, though, Heimat is an amazing achievement - half TV soap opera, half cinematic epic, and all masterpiece. I knew I was watching something extraordinary during the first episode when the ghost of the soldier killed in the First World War appears in the kitchen, as though it's the most natural thing in the world. From then on, it just got better and better....

Did you watch the second series of Heimat as well, Kaiserschmarrn?

[Tainari88]

I never heard of Yes Minister at all. I wonder if I can download the series if it is that good and funny. Sometimes comedy though is ethnic specific. Is it mostly universal truths about politics though? If it is then I will enjoy it a lot.

Heimat is German? Can one get a Spanish version for my husband?

[Potemkin]

I never heard of Yes Minister at all. I wonder if I can download the series if it is that good and funny. Sometimes comedy though is ethnic specific. Is it mostly universal truths about politics though? If it is then I will enjoy it a lot.

Some of the jokes will be specific to British culture, but most of them reflect 'universal' truths about how politics works. I think you'll enjoy it, Tainari.

Heimat is German? Can one get a Spanish version for my husband?

Heimat is very German. I have no idea if a Spanish version exists (I doubt it), but it's available on DVD with English subtitles. It'll give your husband a chance to improve his English.

[Tainari88]

I just listened to a "Yes,Minister" on the internet. I laughed. I like it very much! But I tried to show it to my husband? He told me in Spanish Potemkin, "They have a distinct accent that I have a hard time understanding. You know that "Henry V" movie you loved? I did not understand a damn thing. I won't understand that darling. No Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh, Australian, New Zealand, Deep American Southern stuff, etc. etc. My English is limited to whatever standard English that is Gringo that I can figure out. That English will not be understood." And he is right. He learned English in his late twenties Potemkin. I happen to think the Jamaican lady who tried to teach him English in eighth grade turned him off. If the kids did not pronounce the English right? She would hit them with a ruler!

I will enjoy it though. And Heimat too. Gracias!

[Kaiserschmarrn]

I was surprised myself, Potemkin, although I'm not German.

I haven't seen the second or third series yet, but certainly will.

[Potemkin]

I was surprised myself, Potemkin, although I'm not German.

Well, you're Germanish, aren't you? From one or other of those places where they speak Kraut-talk, anyway.

By the way, I've just looked up 'Kaiserschmarrn' on Wikipedia. I am now seriously considering changing my own username to 'Spotted Dick'.

I haven't seen the second or third series yet, but certainly will.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Much like the Scottish object to being called English, we Austrians always point out that we are not German. Not that anybody cares.

On the other hand, it seems this is serious when it comes to the Irish: I remember sitting in an Irish pub in Vienna calling it English pub and talking about the nice English breakfast. The 2 English guys I was with got really nervous and started to look around to make sure nobody was listening.

As for changing your user name, I think it may be difficult for Tainari88 to swoon over 'Spotted Dick'.