Ian Hislop Rides Again

You only need to search on YouTube for 'Ian Hislop Question Time' to see demonstrations of what an eloquent, passionate and witty debater he is.  But for a while now, he seems to have been cruising on HIGNFY.  Too happy to go for a one-liner, a quick laugh.  I say this with the rider that it may well just be down to the editing of the show, but whatever the case the impression given on Friday's episode was of a slumbering beast being awoken.

The stick that did the prodding was Tory MP Louise Mensch. The two, sitting side by side (which only served to heighten the impact of what was to come), had already clashed over innuendo in the media coverage of Liam Fox, and again when she somewhat undermined her own position with her comments about Mike Hancock. But the main engagement came on the subject of the Occupy protests.  Mensch made a flippantly cynical comment about the protesters tweeting on iphones and queuing for Starbucks whilst complaining about capitalism.  On the face of it this might seem like a fair comment but of course it vastly oversimplified and then disingenuously misrepresented what the protests are about.  Mensch took some flack from Paul Merton and, er, Danny Baker but maybe thought she was going to get off lightly.  Then, off to starboard, HMS Hislop hove into view bringing all guns to bear on the hapless foe. But just as he seemed primed to strike, he hesitated.  What was this?  Surely not doubt or, heaven forbid, mercy?  Fear not, for he was merely preparing himself to unleash a mighty blow.  A pause, a stutter, a shake of the head: "......no.......it's just so obvious, I can't be bothered"....... 

A more withering put-down I have seldom heard.  How to destroy someone's credibility in 8 words.  Of course, he could be bothered actually, and explained to the nice Tory why she was wrong with the weary patience of a frustrated school teacher.  I struggle to remember Louise Mensch saying much of any substance after this.  Again it could be down to the editing, though I'd appreciate the karmic justice if it did turn out that she's been misrepresented.  She kept beaming and laughing in all the right places though, the brave insubstantial face of modern politics.

This is the kind of passionately scathing performance we need from Hislop but so rarely seem to get.  I hope there aren't reams of gold dust left in the editing suite and that the move to BBC1 hasn't neutered the show as a satirical force, or that the producers are more focused these days on producing a half hour of punchy prime time comedy above all else.  The satirical edge is needed, and Hislop needs to be delivering that with all the skill of his QT appearances and all the nous and wit of Private Eye. Because, HIGNFY - dear old HIGNFY - cheap jokes about Eric Pickles and Nick Clegg will not cut it if satire is to remain part of the job description.  We all might as well go and watch Mock The Week otherwise.  There,  I said it.