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Frame from Welcome to the Private Police | A Bit of Fry and Laurie | BBC Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Welcome to the Private Police | A Bit of Fry and Laurie | BBC

12 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
Cited on HN 5 times, 2010–2025, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN commenters use it as a joking reference when discussing privatization, outsourcing and absurd bureaucracy.

A short Fry and Laurie sketch in which a man returns from vacation to find his local police station has been privatized, with paid tiers of service. It satirizes privatization of public services.

5 jokes · Comedy

5 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@jamii Aug 2010 Makes a joke
on HN thread Why I'm not hiring
This is what the USA looks like from socialist-land (aka Britain): [this video] Whilst the idea of the government paying for healthcare may seem ridiculous to you it seems just as ridiculous to us that you might be ill and not be able to afford treatment.
@parennoob Oct 2014 Makes a joke
on HN thread New Tube for London
Having used some of the best and worst public transport systems in India, I wish they would consider their passengers customers. Most of the times, people who run public transport systems where their jobs are guaranteed treat you like an annoyance to be somehow tolerated, and often yelled at. I guess there is a golden median between that and something like this ( [this video] ).
@roywiggins Jun 2016 Makes a joke
on HN thread Blockchains and Buzzwords
You can't sell yourself into chattel slavery even if you are an "expert." For good reason. Either you allow those sorts of contracts or you acknowledge that some contracts are unconscionable. Being able to opt out of the legal system would result in private "security" forces with the legal right to hold you upside down by the ankles and shake until you pay up (but, hey, the interest rate was better than the payday loan company that didn't make you sign away your rights, so you took the one with the opt-out). The result would be something out of "Snow Crash." Or a TV sketch: [this video]
@heurisko Jul 2022 Makes a joke
on HN thread Why we’ve decided to decommission Gov.uk PaaS
They qualify their usage of business-speak: > Our growth strategy is obviously not about making profit, but we are a small team at the centre of government and we need to make sure our people and our money are focused on services that have the biggest reach and the most impact. It's not quite Fry and Laurie yet. "Oh, you have shares in the Royal Family?" [this video]

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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