The Northern Ireland Assembly has managed to avoid doing any governing for over a year at this point, after significant philosophical disagreements between the DUP and Sinn Féin caused the collapse of the Executive following recent elections. Of course, Northern Ireland can't simply stop, so the emergency services, general governance and the smooth bureaucracy of society needs to continue.
And that's where the Civil Service comes in.
Despite political party leadership and control of relevant government bodies changing (relatively) frequently, the day to day organisation of a country continues in a fairly stable manner. This is because it would be a very small country that could be properly maintained by a few hundred people (some of whom couldn't organise a drinking festival in a brewery). There are hundred of thousands of people involved, many of whom have lived through parliaments on both sides of the political spectrum, who mostly "keep the wheels turning".
Where parliament are the rudder, the civil service are the engine. Which means that when the rudder breaks off, the engine keeps the boat travelling in more or less the same direction it was going when it all fell apart. Or at least, that's the idea. But what happens if the engine sees an iceberg up ahead? Is it permissible for the civil service to engage in a little bit of "Left hand down a bit"?
That's the question Mark Lawson asks in this radio play, with the framing device of a new special advisor going to watch some role-playing that the NI civil service are doing, as part of their ongoing efforts to work out what their political actions should be. This is mostly of the form of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister being thrown into situations that are both troublesome and comic. There's a new fluffy-haired PM, a "rise of the zombies" style pandemic, and the suggestion that they might stop being paid.
It's an interesting piece. It blurs the line between fiction and (fictional) reality - how can you roleplay being the First Minister, when part of your day job is literally running parliament? What internal politics of the civil service are going to have an effect on the executive result? Is the civil service biased more towards nationalist or unionist politics? Can it have its own falling out, resulting in a breakdown of all governance entirely?
The play asks a lot of questions, but perhaps unsurprisingly offers very few answers. Like the opinion of more or less everyone involved, the response to "how do we solve a problem like Northern Ireland?" (use your best Lloyd Webber voice) is "god knows". There are many options, all considered - more elections, direct rule, sheer bloody catastrophe.
And those on the fringes of the debate maintain their positions with a religious fervor that those of us in the rest of the United Kingdom are only just beginning to truly understand, via the medium of Brexit. (You hope we'll never see a Brexit version of the Troubles, but some days you just have to wonder.)
There's a few more pointed remarks in this, such as Amaka Okafor's special advisor Ali's reference to "the will of the people", which was delivered such that I'm still not sure if it was meant to be satire or serious. I particular enjoyed a moment of bureaucratic legalese, which could have come straight out of the mouth of Yes Minister's Bernard, and Anton Lesser has a nice line in dry comedy as the Belgian facilitator.
It perhaps tries to do a bit too much in the time allowed, bashing rapidly through the different political approaches to the issues, which can lead to a certain amount of confusion. It may have done better as one of the 15 min dramas of the week just to allow some of the ideas to percolate somewhat, but in its current form it needs a rather attentive listen. It's worth that listen though, as you'll either learn something or enjoy the cynical twist put on a complex issue. (Perhaps it could be recommended to Karen Bradley?)
Tagged: Radio Comedy Cast Fiction News/Political