I am reminded, reading Antony Jay’s obituary (24 August) of the popularity of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister outside the UK. In 1996, I had the great pleasure of meeting Eric Molobi. He was a South African businessman, who was brought up in a township, and who, in his youth was a political prisoner on Robben Island at the same time as Nelson Mandela. During our conversations, he mentioned that his favourite television of all time was Yes Minister. Upon my return to the UK I sent him the full sets, which were then on tapes, and they gave him many hours of enjoyment.
Given Margaret Thatcher’s sanctions policy, it is interesting that the machinations of our civil service and the wonderful Sir Humphrey were appreciated by two such different political personalities.
David Shannon
Woore, Shropshire
• I’m glad to see it now acknowledged that Antony Jay, co-creator of the 1980s BBC comedy series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister was a “rightwing free marketer” because such political leanings were denied at the time.
Both series were hugely popular but I always found it hard to enjoy them, regarding them as subtle propaganda for Thatcherism, repeatedly reinforcing key assumptions about the pointlessness of government intervention in the economy or public services. The sitcoms had a lasting effect on the way the public viewed politicians and bureaucrats, with consequences that have lasted to this day.
A typical line from Yes Minister found Jim Hacker assert, without contradiction, that the NHS was “an advanced case of galloping bureaucracy”. Both series were peppered with claims like that, never seriously contested. No wonder Margaret Thatcher loved the series.
Giles Oakley
London
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