Jonathan Lynn on How Government Works (and "Yes, Minister")

The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk

News

4.6 • 907 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2024

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Lynn discuss why the dysfunctional relationship between politicians and civil servants made for great TV, and what that tells us about the nature of politics. Jonathan Lynn is an English writer, director and producer. Lynn is best known as the co-creator of the series "Yes, Minister" and its sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister." He also directed the films "My Cousin Vinny" and "The Whole Nine Yards." In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jonathan Lynn discuss how his television comedy about the inner workings of British government became Margaret Thatcher’s favorite show; how political satire has evolved over the decades; and the value of producing art with collaborators who hold different political views. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields, and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	And we were always very careful when we wrote this show not to take sides, not to comment.
0:09.0	We wanted the audience to make up its own mind.
0:12.0	And the result was, curiously, we thought everybody would hate
0:15.6	the program in government. The civil servants loved it because it showed that they were so
0:21.0	brilliant around the country. The politicians loved it because it showed that they were so brilliant around the country.
0:23.0	The politicians loved it because it showed that the civil service was an obstacle.
0:28.0	And liberals liked it because they thought it had a vaguely liberal sort of feel.
0:32.6	And so the strange result was the people
0:36.6	across the political spectrum and the civil service
0:41.3	really like the show because in some ways it reflected what all of them
0:46.3	thought.
0:48.6	And now the good fight with Yasha Monk.
0:58.8	Hi, my name is William De Resuitz. I'm an author essayist critic.
1:00.6	My most recent piece for persuasion is called how pseudo intellectualism ruined
1:05.1	journalism and the basic idea is that as journalists social position has changed
1:11.0	their relationship to ideas has changed. So journalism used to be a
1:15.4	working class profession and when you grow up working class you tend to develop a
1:21.2	distanced and skeptical relationship to ideas, to experts, to theories.
1:28.7	You see them as maybe misrepresenting reality, not close enough to the ground.
1:34.0	And that's what I encountered at the Columbia Journalism School
1:36.6	when I went there in the 80s.
1:38.5	I think that has problems, but I'm even more concerned about what's happened since.
	...

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