2006-03-22

Meow, Minister

This is just about as bad as losing Sir Nigel Hawthorne...worse maybe, as I think the cat was heterosexual:

Sir Humphrey the 10 Downing Street cat has died.

Canada.com addresses the death with a bit less British assumptions (that is, they explain what 10 Downing Street is).

Just in time for Austrailian bureaucracy impeding Opposition attempts to learn the financial state of a Children's Hospital.

In fact it seems Sir Humphrey's spirit is alive and well:
"Ethical advice is no job for Sir Humphrey" screams The Guardian earlier in the month. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate "has 70 people handling correspondence with ministers and MPs, although even Sir Humphrey could not have devised 70 ways to say “I don’t know”." sniffs The Times. The Express and Star writes: "nstead, Mr Bradbourn said Advantage West Midlands came up with a Sir Humphrey-style reply "worthy of the worst excesses of Yes Minister." All he wanted to know was would The Public have to pay back all or some cash the European Commission gave to the West Bromwich project."

It seems "Sir Humphrey" is now a euphemism for bureaucracy. Not bad coming from the guy who directed My Cousin Vinny.



Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister are two other sitcoms; along with Corner Gas, Seinfeld and South Park which are exceedingly funny. Married With Children is another example, but like the BritComs was neglected in this post. With the exceptions of Seinfeld and South Park I am collecting [or have collected..."Yes, Minister" went off the air almost 20 years ago -ed] the rest on DVD. South Park eps are just too convenient to download, while Seinfeld I have (except for about 7 episodes) on DVD-ROM. I would love the series on DVD, but its a bit pricey: $318.33 for the first six seasons from Chapters.ca, or $140.76 for the first three seasons on box set, another $140.76 for Seasons 5&6, plus the $59.19 for Season 4 (total: $340.71! What a clever trick there Chapters!). And remember the 7-9th seasons are still in waiting.

Meanwhile there's still no word on the Fifth Season of MWC... though if you believe these people its no big loss anyways.