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The Latest Breaking News from Humphrey Appleby

Random Musing: Nixon wanted China to fight India-Pakistan War – and other new worms from Watergate

When Bernard asks why, Sir Humphrey explains: “Because once the Prime Minister knows, there will have to be an enquiry, like Watergate. The investigation of a trivial break-in led to one ghastly revelation after another and finally the downfall of a president. The golden rule is don’t lift lids off…

The Times of India

Random Musing: A brief history of the Church of England (as it gets its first woman Archbishop of Canterbury)

It begins, inevitably, with Henry VIII, who married Catherine but couldn’t produce a male heir. The Pope refused to annul the marriage because Catherine was the aunt of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor whose armies effectively controlled Rome — a man at whose snook the Pope could ill afford…

The Times of India

'Europe financing war against themselves': Why Trump ally Scott Bessent needs to watch 'Yes, Minister'

Bessent’s argument collapses the moment it is viewed through the prism of logic, because it mistakes activity for responsibility and motion for meaning. When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, India was importing barely 1–2% of its crude oil from Russia. It was not a factor in the global energy…

The Times of India

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Perhaps only civil servants and I believe it, but ‘networking’ is the stuff life is made of

The Cabinet Office wants to ban ‘networking meetings’ in working hours. Call me an interfering Sir Humphrey, but isn’t actually talking to colleagues the way to get things done, asks comedian and author Viv Groskop

The Guardian - UK

All civil servants in England and Wales to get AI training

Officials are piloting package of AI tools called Humphrey – named after character in TV sitcom Yes, Minister

The Guardian - UK

Griff Rhys Jones returns to stage in I'm Sorry, Prime Minister

Jones is taking on the part made famous by Paul Eddington and tells us: "Politics ought to be the art of the possible but it seems to be about is the art of the impossible.”

Evening Standard

Government AI assistant named after ‘machiavellian’ sitcom legend

Chillingly, in the BBC sitcom, Humphrey emerges as cabinet secretary, the most powerful position in the civil service

The Independent UK

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Civil Service ‘Humphrey’ AI tools aim to cut back spending and speed up work

Some of the tools, named after the fictional Whitehall official Sir Humphrey Appleby from the BBC’s Yes, Minister, are ready for use straight away.

The Independent UK

Warning: countryside at risk. Ministers are pulling a fast one over the threat to pristine green-belt land

Proposals for potential development go much further than anyone first thought. A revolt may follow, says environment writer Geoffrey Lean

The Guardian - UK

Restoring faith in flawed decision-making process

Quality of external investigations into local government scrutinised.

Newcastle Herald

I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember: Hacker and Sir Humphrey’s last hurrah

Jonathan Lynn’s new play finds the political double act in their 80s, in a suitable final chapter to a magnificent comic project

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