While many perceive the British secret service as a bunch of gizmo mad 007's, the reality is that a large chunk of MI5 can't use the world wide wibble. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Security Service is launching an unprecedented round of redundancies to improve the overall level of computer skills among its staff.

The layoffs are because the current class of James Bond's might be able to jump off cranes, and avoid bollock vaporising lasers, but they do not know their way around a modern operating system. Jonathan Evans, the director-general of MI5, told a Parliamentary committee that he is concerned that his agency’s overall IT skills are not up to scratch, leading him to get rid of some employees.

He said some of the current staff are not the people he needs for the future. As a result, a programme of “both voluntary and compulsory redundancies” is being introduced. No indication if any of these will involve a walk in a Berlin forest.

Redundancies will be made across the organisation and not confined to specialist IT staff.