Under the regime of Sir Robin Butler, its head since 1988, the civil service has been adept at resisting fundamental change to its constitutional functions and accountability but hopeless at evolving a modern model for its ethos and operations.

ECONOMIST: Struggling for the prince��s ear

"This is out of step with modern surgical practice, where a true team ethos and the need for constructive challenge are prerequisite, " the report said.

BBC: Hospital sign

But in his public life, Kennedy was the kind of politician who seems absent from modern politics, one who was loyal to an ideological outlook -- an ethos, as Sobchak would say -- and who devoted his career toward fighting for that cause.

CNN: Commentary: Ted Kennedy was a true believer