Latest news with #YesMinister
The Guardian
15 hours ago
- 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."
Scroll.in
08-05-2025
- Science
- Scroll.in
From the memoir: How a mathematician was inspired to think creatively at Cambridge University
Our first-year lectures were held in a massive lecture hall with more than two hundred students squeezing into one room. The lectures were university-wide, bringing together students from different colleges, and all the maths students entering Cambridge had to attend mandatory courses. The air would become fetid, and there were bouts of sneezing and coughing. Once a girl even fainted in the lecture hall and the students had to be evacuated. We had to take both pure and applied mathematics courses, and I did not enjoy being made to study fluid mechanics and mathematical physics. In fact, the applied mathematics courses made me almost regret not going to Yale or another US university in which one did not specialise right away, and where I could have done pure maths courses and supplemented them with other courses in literature and philosophy and languages, subjects much more to my taste. Some of our lecturers were charismatic, like Dr JME Hyland, who taught linear algebra, and was a logician. He imbued some of the material with a philosophical and mysterious air, and even now these concepts carry for me the charge he endowed them with. He riffed on the notion of 'dual of a vector space V' and the fact that 'the dual of the dual of a vector space V is canonically isomorphic to V'. Isomorphism between two objects means that they can be identified with each other. Confusion and controversy raged amongst students about what 'canonical' meant. It had a religious charge to it and stood for the mathematical ideal of being independent of all choices. Many of the students were befuddled by Hyland's lectures on duality. He was probably guilty of playing up and exaggerating greatly the depth of things on which he discoursed. But the lectures took on the mad comic air of an episode of the 1980s political sitcom Yes Minister with Hyland tying the students up in knots of confusing, tongue-twisting statements reminiscent of Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby confusing his boss, Minister Jim Hacker, with his excessively complicated formulations. Like Appleby, Hyland invariably came out on the right side of debates. He managed to point out something an objecting student had not considered in a putative counterexample to his assertion. I enjoyed the drama of Hyland's lectures, the back and forth between him and his students and the confusion he sowed in our minds that led to animated discussions. His polar opposite was Professor Alan Baker, who did not engage with students at all, and took to his heels after every lecture, almost fleeing in fear from any student who might want to ask him a question. He was a very distinguished mathematician, someone who had won a Fields Medal (as exalted as the Nobel prize for mathematicians) for his work in an area that, believe it or not, is called transcendental number theory. The university-level lectures were complemented by college 'supervisions' in which pairs of students went to meet with a supervisor to discuss homework assignments and have their work checked. There were varying levels of sincerity among the supervisors. Some barely engaged with their students while others went above and beyond, and enthused students with their infectious love of the subject. The supervisions took us into the untidy homes of young couples with children bawling in the bedroom, at other times to basements with the footfalls of passing pedestrians falling like summary judgements. In my second year, I got to do more pure maths and my most memorable experience was learning group theory. The course was taught by Professor John Thompson, an American and an éminence grise in group theory. One of the most prominent mathematicians in Cambridge, he had won a Fields Medal for his work in group theory in the 1970s. It was an introductory course in group theory, and so the material was totally trivial for him. Yet he mumbled at the board and copied onto the blackboard from a textbook that he held open before his eyes. Students grumbled and complained about him. In spite of his lecturing style, I found Professor Thompson very inspiring. He had a heavy beard and a fierce intensity in his eyes and persona. I would see him sometimes cycling down King's Parade with his head full of groups, I imagined. Though most of his audience probably found him excruciatingly boring, I found myself listening to him carefully. In the mumble of the lecture, he would sometimes drop a phrase that blazed in its evocativeness. 'You have to be really careful of this. It seems innocuous, but at times it can bite!' This was apropos of a definition that was easy to misunderstand, and could lead one into making a grievous error. Something that seemed rather trivial in the text would become portentous: 'This simple thing can really build on itself, and the whole shebang could impose itself on you.' I imagined him in the American prairies, looking at distant horizons across limitless acres of cornfields, his thoughts resonating in those vast empty plains. A good definition brings together many examples under one roof, identifying key structural elements which are common across them. The mathematical definition of 'group' is economical, and yet it allows for a rich array of examples. Long before groups had been defined formally in the first half of the nineteenth century, they had already been an implicit, unnamed presence in many mathematical developments. Fermat, Euler, Legendre and Gauss had used what one now recognises to be group-theoretic ideas, related to multiplication of numbers in mod N arithmetic. Groups had arisen informally in Galois' study of symmetries of roots of polynomials and became one of the master topics of modern mathematics. Group theory studies symmetries for their own sake and is a vital area of pure mathematics. After groups were formally defined, there arose the taxonomical task of classifying them. This turned out to be too hard a problem to solve completely, but by the 1980s, after decades of strenuous efforts by mathematicians working all over the world, the classification of all finite groups that further have a special property called simple (which does not mean 'easy'!) was completed. Without defining 'simple group' formally, we can just say that they are to groups what prime numbers are to numbers. Simple groups are the atomic elements in group theory, and all groups are made by 'combining' simple groups in a certain way. Around the time I studied there as an undergraduate, the massive programme of 'classifying finite simple groups' had been completed, with significant contributions by Cambridge mathematicians. One of Professor Thompson's landmark theorems is the Feit-Thompson theorem, a cornerstone in the classification of finite simple groups. It says: 'A finite group G whose size is an odd composite number is never simple.' The proof of this one-sentence theorem takes up more than two hundred pages. The Feit-Thompson theorem reflects a surprising interaction between the size of a finite group G and a property like it being simple which is internal to the group G. The axioms defining a group are spare but, as illustrated by this theorem, lead to an unexpectedly rich structure. I thought of a basic question in group theory and wrote a note to Professor Thompson about it. I went and dropped it off in his pigeonhole near the main office of the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics (DPMMS) on Mill Lane. I must have given him my address as, to my delight, there was a note for me a few days later in my pigeonhole at Trinity College. Professor Thompson suggested that I go meet him in the common room of the DPMMS. When I went to the common room, I felt like an impostor. There were models of the five regular polyhedra discovered by the Greeks in antiquity – cubes, tetrahedrons, octahedrons, dodecahedrons and icosahedrons – dangling from the ceiling. On worn sofas and low tables, people sat drinking tea or coffee and playing games like chess and Go. The best minds in the country were locked in bloodless combat. Knots of people formed around an ongoing game, watching and commenting. This scene before me seemed like the Kingdom of Symmetry with citizens sipping cups of tea, consuming orange-flavoured Pims biscuits and absorbed in board games. Professor Thompson retained his mystique at close quarters. So many decades later I remember neither the question nor his answer, although at that time it must have been burned into my mind. The atmosphere in the common room of the mathematics department on Mill Lane reminded me of the chess club in the compound of Zandu Pharmaceuticals that I had frequented in Bombay. In both places one felt a narrowing down of the world to something hard, intricate and specific, which needed and consumed all of one's attention.
Telegraph
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The BBC's output is no longer of a standard that justifies the licence fee
SIR – I agree with much of what Simon Heffer says about the present output of the BBC (Hinterland, April 19). With a few notable exceptions, such as the documentaries of David Attenborough and Simon Schama, it offers little that interests or instructs, and spends too much time attempting to appeal to younger viewers. The BBC also shoots itself in the foot when it shows older programmes, reminding us what the standards used to be. It was such a joy to watch reruns of Yes Minister, say, or Porridge, which assumed an intelligence in their audience. Meanwhile, the daily news bulletins, although essential viewing, do not always concentrate on the most important matters, and occasionally display bias in favour of one side or the other, rather than the impartiality that we expect from our national broadcaster. What is the solution, now that the corporation has to compete against ever more dominant streaming services with deeper pockets? I wish I knew. Alan Reeve Taunton, Somerset SIR – Simon Heffer's suggestion that there has been no good content on the BBC this century is laughable. Line of Duty? Happy Valley? The Office? Fleabag? All of them woke to the hilt, as I recall. There's an argument for getting rid of the licence fee, but it has to be made in the context of secure funding and editorial independence. 'Parliamentary scrutiny' is a Trojan horse for state censorship, from whichever party is in power at the time. Conservatives should beware of what they wish for. Daniel Karlin Bristol SIR – One way for the BBC to improve its intellectual and cultural standards would be to revive The Brains Trust. This has been tried before, with little success, but another attempt is definitely in order. The BBC has an obligation, under its 'inform, educate and entertain' remit, to allow younger generations – along with their parents and grandparents – to hear the most fertile minds and articulate speakers debate the issues of our time, just as we were able to listen to Bertrand Russell, Isaiah Berlin, Jenny Lee, Jacob Bronowski and many others in the 1950s. John Birkett St Andrews, Fife SIR – Simon Playle (Letters, April 19) rightly notes the increasing number of popular pieces by Ravel, Debussy and Handel being heard on Radio 3. I don't object to this in the case of Handel – he is my favourite composer – but I do wish we could hear more from his numerous operas, especially the less well-known ones, in which Radio 3 seems to have curiously little interest.
