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South Wales Argus
27-06-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Senedd hears civil servants ‘obstructed' public appointments inquiry
Mike Hedges likened the Senedd's public accounts committee inquiry to an episode of political satire sitcom Yes Minister, only 'without the humour but with the obfuscation'. Mr Hedges, a Labour member of the committee, was critical of senior civil servants in the Welsh Government following the two-and-a-half year inquiry which found serious failings. He said: 'We met with senior government civil servants who were at best unhelpful or – in my view and possibly that of other members of the committee – positively obstructive.' During a debate on the committee's damning reports – which made 23 recommendations – Mr Hedges said he was annoyed and disappointed by the Welsh Government's response. He said: 'I, like other members, consider the response disgraceful to an inquiry about public appointments, showing disrespect bordering on contempt – not just for those of us who are members of that committee but for the Senedd itself.' He told the Senedd: 'Scrutiny means trying to make things better. It's very difficult to try and make things better when you're dealing with people who don't want to.' Plaid Cymru's Peredur Owen Griffiths told the Senedd: 'At a time when public confidence in our institutions is lower than ever, often for valid reasons, it's vital that high standards are maintained in terms of public appointments.' Warning of complacency, he said: 'The conclusions of the report are extremely critical…. Worse still, the government's weak responses to the committee's recommendations undermine any belief that it will learn any lessons… and this is part of a wider pattern.' Mr Owen Griffiths expressed concerns about almost a quarter of appointees in Wales in 2020-21 having declared political activity, compared with less than 6% in Westminster. He called for a dedicated public appointments system as in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where country-specific arrangements exist. Jane Hutt responded to the June 25 debate for the Welsh Government: 'It is regrettable that historic delivery in this area has fallen short of expectation. That's why I've asked for and we are delivering a root-and-branch reform programme.' The Labour minister pointed to data, which had not been interrogated by the committee, showing 'encouraging' progress on ensuring appointments are truly reflective of Wales. 'The direction is clear,' she said. 'We're taking action. We're listening. We are improving.'
Time of India
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Why Frederick Forsyth was the greatest spy thriller writer of all time
Growing up, this writer's mother often lamented that if one spent as much time poring over textbooks as one did perusing the collective works of Frederick Forsyth, one might have amounted to something worth writing about—instead of writing about worthless things. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Tautologies, masquerading as jokes aside, Britain too has long mastered the art of making its hypocrisy sound like high wit. Take Yes Minister. There's a hilarious episode where Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby team up to pressurise a BBC director into pulling an embarrassing interview. The BBC man initially refuses—until Sir Humphrey gently reminds him that failure to cooperate might result in budget cuts and, more scandalously, the loss of seats at Wimbledon and Royal Ascot. They all then solemnly agree that while the BBC mustn't appear to give in to government pressure, they won't air the interview due to 'security implications.' The brilliance of the scene lies in how comfortable the British—for all their lack of tastebuds—are with poking fun at the very institutions they hold dear. A taxpayer-funded broadcaster that can satirise both the government and itself without missing a beat. But Yes Minister —as brilliant as it is—is perhaps only the BBC's second greatest contribution to the literary arts. The top spot, without contest, belongs to a former Royal Air Force pilot with an eye for detail and a knack for turning geopolitical chaos into page-turning precision: Frederick Forsyth, who departed for Elysium on June 9. And here's the kicker: Forsyth might never have become an author at all had it not been for the BBC. Fate—disguised as institutional cowardice—had to intervene so that he could stumble into his true dharma. The story goes that once his flying days were over, Forsyth joined Reuters , before moving on to the Beeb. However, disgusted by BBC's denial of genocide – a custom in which the Albion has shown a lot of promise – during the Biafra War in Nigeria, Forsyth quit in disgust and started covering the war as a freelancer. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now However, freelancing, as every freelancer worth her salt will tell you, led to penury. Broke, and living on a friend's sofa he wrote the first manuscript of the book that came to be known as The Day of the Jacka l, ostensibly within only 35 days. The Day of the Jackal was initially rejected because it dealt with a rather sticky subject – the attempted murder of a very much alive Charles De Gaulle – not to mention that the cold, journalistic style of writing, lack of a traditional Herculean hero, overt detailing, and a plot whose ending was preordained. The rest as they say is history. The Day of the Jackal sold over 10 million copies, become the inspiration for two movies, and a limited race-swapped limited series, but to reduce Forsyth's legacy to The Day of the Jackal is like calling Bob Dylan the poet who wrote Blowing in the Wind. It's simply one arrow in a quiver full of masterpieces. Forsyth was a masterful storyteller, an author who brought a journalist's eye-for-detail with a poet's gift for storytelling without getting into the literary quagmire of a that could alienate those with more limited grasp of the King's. In his youth, this writer spent much more time perusing the words of Forsyth than one's textbooks, much to one's mother's chagrin. In fact, today, it's almost hard to explain to a generation that has grown up on C-Bag, Instagram reels or TikTok videos, the magic that Forsyth produced on his vintage Olympia typewriter (he used them till his death). His attention to detail was legendary and reading his novels wasn't just a walk through a story but a tour through space-time, a history lesson more enthralling than anything in one's textbook. Take one's favourite Avenger where we move from The Battle of Britain to Vietnam to Milosevic's Yugoslavia to an unnamed South American republic with dodgy leaders ending on the night of September 10, 2001 with a plot twist that would boggle your mind. In The Dogs of War , we meet mercenaries with a plan that it's almost a Cliff Notes on how to carry out a coup d'etat on an African nation. The fact that some mercenaries actually thought they were going to carry out an actual coup bears testimony to its hyperrealism. In The Fourth Protocol , we see the future of Labour politics and Leftism in Britain which will ally with any force inimical to the Western order. In Icon , Forsyth astutely predicts the rise of a Putin-like figure whose expansionist ways will become a threat to Europe if not stopped in time. Unfortunately, Forsyth's protagonists only exist in the pages of novels whose effete real world versions pale in comparison. Today, as the world grapples with Putin trying to increase his sphere of influence, the book reads like a prophecy. Forsyth's protagonists are a breed apart—neither the brooding intellectualism of Le Carré's George Smiley nor the martini-drenched bravado of Ian Fleming's James Bond. They are men of method, mission, and moral ambiguity—shaped more by bureaucracy and battlefield scars than by tuxedos or existential crises. Take Calvin Dexter, the tunnel rat turned avenger, who channels quiet rage into legal vigilantism, or Cat Shannon, a professional mercenary with a conscience honed in Africa's cruel geopolitics. Jason Monk, ex-CIA and emotionally flayed by betrayal, stands at the cusp of East-West collapse in Icon. Then there's Mike Martin, the SAS ghost who reappears across Forsyth's work—first infiltrating Iraq in The Fist of God , then the Taliban in The Afghan. Paul Devereaux, the cold, calculating CIA man in The Cobra , is the closest Forsyth comes to a Bond figure—minus the glamour, doubled on ruthlessness. Even the teenage hacker Luke Jennings in The Fox is a far cry from traditional spy fiction—a vulnerable savant weaponised by Adrian Weston, a spymaster who knows the game is rigged. They're professionals in a bureaucratic wilderness, soldiers of shadow wars and moral compromise—proof that in Forsyth's world, heroism is about precision, not panache. And in The Outsider, Forsyth's memoir is a debrief confirming the many things we already know and a few we didn't like the fact that he did covert work for MI6, had a dalliance with an East Bloc spy and was part of back-channel talks to de-nuclearise post-Apartheid South Africa. Forsyth's memoir is not a celebrity confessional—it's a debrief. He writes of his time as a fighter pilot, his disillusionment with journalism during Biafra, and his covert work for MI6. He describes his writing method with the same precision as his fictional operatives. You finish the book understanding that Frederick Forsyth didn't write thrillers. He lived them. Then redacted just enough to publish. And in that, Forsyth was a journalist through and through. And maybe reading his books was far more entertaining, if not useful, than reading one's textbooks.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
All civil servants in England and Wales to get AI training
All civil servants in England and Wales will get practical training in how to use artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up their work from this autumn, the Guardian has learned: More than 400,000 civil servants will be informed of the training on Monday afternoon, which is part of a drive by the Cabinet Office minister, Pat McFadden, to overhaul the civil service and improve its productivity. At the same time, the size of the civil service is being reduced by tens of thousands of roles through voluntary redundancy and not replacing leavers. The government said officials would be tasked with figuring how they could use AI technology to streamline their own work wherever possible. Officials are already piloting a package of AI tools known as 'Humphrey' – named after the senior civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby from the 1980s TV sitcom Yes, Minister. In March, it was announced that officials will be told to abide by a mantra that says: 'No person's substantive time should be spent on a task where digital or AI can do it better, quicker and to the same high quality and standard.' The practical training, set to roll out this autumn, will give all civil servants a working-level knowledge of AI and show how it is already being used to cut the time spent on every day tasks. A recent pilot of AI by the Scottish government used a Humphrey tool to sift consultation responses about regulating cosmetic surgery such as lip filler and found that its results were similar to those produced by humans but quicker. No decision has yet been taken on its wider rollout but the government said across 500 annual consultations the tool could help spare officials from as much as 75,000 days of analysis every year, which costs the government £20m in staffing costs. The Department for Work and Pensions is also using AI to understand high volumes of correspondence, which used to take weeks. This allows benefits or pensions recipients to be identified as potentially vulnerable and in need of urgent support. In a message to all staff, Sir Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, said he was 'proud' of the civil service's 'ability to continuously adapt to new challenges' as he urged them to consider how it 'needs to evolve and reform'. He said: 'The prime minister has set us an important task in building a productive and agile state, which will involve us preserving and championing everything that is great about the civil service while changing to meet the challenges of an uncertain world.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion He added: 'We need to seize the opportunities of artificial intelligence and other technological developments to continually modernise everything that we do. The training will be provided through the One Big Thing project, which develops officials each year on a key skill that has been identified as valuable for the organisation's future. While the government is rapidly embracing AI in Whitehall, some are sounding the alarm about its potential to introduce or reinforce errors and bias without adequate human oversight. The Guardian revealed in December that an artificial intelligence system used by the UK government to detect welfare fraud had been showing bias according to people's age, disability, marital status and nationality.
Herald Sun
18-05-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
Backroom Baz: Dan Andrews' team throws city gath without him
Time flies when you're having fun. It's already been a year since the mighty team behind Daniel Andrews joined forces to start a new consultancy, and what a party they threw to celebrate. Andrews' former chief of staff Lissie Ratcliffe, her deputy Jessie McCrone, ex strategy guru Ben Foster, and one longtime spin doctor formed FMRS Advisory last year to flog their corporate and government knowledge to cashed up clients. After what Baz is told was a slow start to get up and running they must be doing OK, given the swish party at QV's No Vacancy Gallery on Wednesday. It was a who's who of Labor-aligned politicos from Lord Mayor Nick Reece to MPs Danny Pearson, Michaela Settle and Belinda Wilson. VCCI boss Paul Guerra was there as were a slew of former advisers to top ministers including Lisa Neville, Tim Pallas and Martin Pakula. Royal Children's Hospital comms boss Kog Ravindran was among the crowd as was current staffers from Jactina Allan's office. One person noticeably absent from the do? Dan himself. Which made Baz feel better for not getting an invite. Maybe next year. Jaclyn goes green for maiden budget When she delivers her first budget this week, Jaclyn Symes will be only the second of our top bean counters to be granted permission of the lower house to appear in its glorious green chamber to do so. Symes is just the second upper house MP to hold the position, following Brumby government treasurer John Lenders. Manager of government business, Mary-Anne Thomas, said she was looking forward to welcoming Symes. 'I will reflect that I am a person that normally does not really welcome those from the other house into this place,' she said. 'I think that this is the people's house and that we are the engine of government here in the Legislative Assembly. 'The house of review does its job, but seriously we are the people on the ground every day responding to the needs of our constituents. However, in this case, I want to make an exception because I do very much look forward to welcoming our Treasurer.' Baz is told it's still to be decided whether Jac will be allowed to bring her knife in, or be forced to leave it at the door. Watch this space. Unearthing the past The federal election might be over, but Baz couldn't let this one go. First-time Labor candidate Tully Fletcher ran a troubled campaign in the Bass Coast seat of Monash, which led to a rare swing towards successful Liberal candidate, Mary Aldred. But why? Could it have been locals unearthed some of his controversial statements: like publicly describing Hillary Clinton's personality as being akin to a mythical creature renowned for its unpleasant stench, comparing Julia Gillard to a character from TV show Yes Minister and sternly criticising the party's factional system? The comments were made in newspaper editorials he co-authored when he was a law student and co-editor of the Australian National University student newspaper, Woroni. Mr Fletcher declined to comment this week, including on whether his comments about Ms Clinton were sexist. 'It's a no comment from me,' he said. Mr Fletcher and his co-editor also called for Australia to dump the Royal Family, calling the Monarchy 'patently ridiculous'. Mr Fletcher's view on the monarchy was in stark contrast to the people he sought to represent on the Bass Coast, who in 1999 voted overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the monarchy. Mr Fletcher was, until the campaign, working as a director at consultancy firm Deloitte. Before that he worked as a staffer to Andrews government minister Martin Pakula. He declined to comment on his future plans. $600k annual pay salary up for grabs It's been a couple of weeks since Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss, Paul Guerra, announced he was moving on to greener pasture with Melbourne Football Club. So it begs the question, who will fill the big shoes and flash jackets he'll leave at VCCI's Collins St headquarters? Former Property Council head turned podcaster Danni Hunter's name keeps getting mentioned, as does that of Committee for Melbourne boss Scott Veenker. Long running VCCI chief of staff, and sometime acting boss, Chanelle Pearson, is also considered a contender, if only an outside chance. Baz is told the field of candidates is growing slowly, but among the small grouping there is some fierce competition for the coveted job which boasts access to Melbourne's top movers and shakers, and a $600,000 annual pay packet to boot. Nice work if you can get it. Great debate back for more Spring St's newest and greatest annual event is back. After the huge success of the inaugural Great Debate between pollies and journalists last year, it's back for a second go in what has become one of the Victorian Parliament's most anticipated nights. Baz can hardly think of a better way to raise money for charity. Last year more than $15,000 was raised for the Lions V District Skin Cancer van which provides a free skin testing service across the state. This year all funds will go to Need for Feed to support drought-stricken farmers. The question? That AI politicians would be better than real politicians. The Australian Financial Review's Sumeyya Ilanbey, ABC's Raf Epstein and 3AW's Tom Elliott will take on minister Gabrielle Williams, the Liberal Party's David Hodgett and Jade Benham from the Nationals. Baz reckons the debate is fast on its way to becoming Spring St's own entertainment and networking opportunity with charity the big winner. Tickets here. Credlin: Why didn't the Libs call out Labor's super tax? Read related topics: Daniel Andrews
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Griff Rhys Jones 'honoured' by Yes, Prime Minister role
Griff Rhys Jones has entertained the nation for five decades. He is best-known for his comedy sketches as a regular on Not The Nine O'Clock News and the iconic series Alas Smith and Jones. But now Cardiff-born Rhys Jones will step into the shoes of beloved character Jim Hacker as I'm Sorry, Prime Minister heads to the West End. "The great TV series, and latterly the plays, are part of my architecture of British comedy," said Rhys Jones. Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, ran from 1980 to 1988. Set in the private office of a British cabinet minister in the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, the show follows the ministerial career of Hacker, played by Paul Eddington. Rhys Jones said he was "delighted and honoured" to be taking on the role for the "final, funny and poignant episode of [Hacker's] long career". "They have always been the first and last word on the shenanigans that we call politics. "Sorry, Prime Minister is as acute and apposite as ever. It will be a hoot," he said. Speaking on his love of the show, Rhys Jones said Yes, Minister had the basis of a great play, especially a comedy. "It is one of the greatest comic inventions of the last 50 years. It manages to be human and satirical, and full of character, charm and insight. "You never left an episode without going 'oh that's really fascinating'," he said. 'I love making people laugh' The stage adaptation of Yes, Prime Minister premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre in May final chapter of the series, I'm Sorry, Prime Minister, will head to the West End next year following runs at The Barn Theatre in Cirencester, Theatre Royal in Bath and Cambridge Arts Theatre. "The great thing about this play was I read it and it made me laugh. The truth is, I love being onstage and making people laugh. It's a joy to do," he said. I'm Sorry, Prime Minister follows Hacker as he hopes for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford. Instead he finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Clive Francis, who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases, and well-timed rehearsals for the play start in January 2026, Rhys Jones said he had started thinking of inspiration for the role. "I have been studying older people and prime ministers that date from that period because I don't want to try and do an imitation of Paul Eddington."But there's a little of John Major and there's little bit of David Cameron. "There's a little bit of everybody in there."
