David Quantick

Tonic of the week was Westminster Side Story, the first in a new run of 15-Minute Musicals. The pastiche of West Side Story was inspired, and the political jokes were convincing as two gangs, Gordon's Goodies and the Hugger Hoodies, battled to dominate the centre ground.

Written by Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb, performed by Webb, David Lamb and Mel Hudson, it was just the thing to blow away gathering clouds of conference-season cant.

Then, in the comedy buffer zone, came The Blagger's Guide, half an hour of comedian David Quantick, a sort of mock-lecture on various musical genres (last weekend: prog rock, from Pink Floyd to Kate Bush), with just too much solemn expertise showing through for the mockery quite to work. In other words, it was an anorak pretending to be a torn T-shirt.