Civil service?

The current story about our Home secretary has reminded me of the time when my brother in law, Fred was a very senior civil servant working at the heart of government. Years after the Falkland war he would sit late at night with a smile on his face as he recounted some of the deliberations around the cabinet office. The determination to actually go to war had not been taken lightly. But more telling was the way politicians either took the advice of their civil service or totally rejected it. I would love to hear Freds take on this present situation. I am sure he would have had quite a lot to say had he not died years ago. But I have also to admit that some of his observations were definately sexist. After all our then female Prime Minister could not possibly have understood the gravity of the situation in his eyes. I imagine a similiar set of ideas might still exist in the higher echelon of the civil service. What ever happens now it is interesting that our Prime Minister is backing his very attractive Home Secretary. Oh dear...I seem to have fallen into the trap! Sorry!