The Tangled Web
Apr. 27th, 2022 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: Yes, Prime Minister – the diaries of the Rt Hon James Hacker, Volume 2, edited by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay
The Prime Minister can react [to PMQs] in a number of ways: honestly, dishonestly, with a mass of figures. He can counter-attack, flatter, or make jokes. The latter is the most dangerous and least recommended response.
Completing the series with a re-read of the book adaptation of the second and final series of Yes, Prime Minister. I realised now that the footnotes to which I referred in the previous books become more relevant over time, as the characters make references to popular culture now long expired - Mike Yarwood, Wogan, and Dirty Den inter alia. There are many strong moments, but I think it's clear the show had passed its peak - you simply can't go on writing at such a high standard for ever. Although there's an attempt to wrap up Hacker's perpetual confrontation with the Civil Service at the end of the final chapter, it doesn't really have the sense of a season finale. It might have required some tweaks for continuity purposes, but I would have moved The Patron of the Arts and The National Education Service into the middle of the series; Official Secrets, A Diplomatic Incident or The Tangled Web would have been better stories on which to conclude.
The Prime Minister can react [to PMQs] in a number of ways: honestly, dishonestly, with a mass of figures. He can counter-attack, flatter, or make jokes. The latter is the most dangerous and least recommended response.
Completing the series with a re-read of the book adaptation of the second and final series of Yes, Prime Minister. I realised now that the footnotes to which I referred in the previous books become more relevant over time, as the characters make references to popular culture now long expired - Mike Yarwood, Wogan, and Dirty Den inter alia. There are many strong moments, but I think it's clear the show had passed its peak - you simply can't go on writing at such a high standard for ever. Although there's an attempt to wrap up Hacker's perpetual confrontation with the Civil Service at the end of the final chapter, it doesn't really have the sense of a season finale. It might have required some tweaks for continuity purposes, but I would have moved The Patron of the Arts and The National Education Service into the middle of the series; Official Secrets, A Diplomatic Incident or The Tangled Web would have been better stories on which to conclude.