Ian Hislop

Ian Hislop to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop will put forward his ideas for the future of press regulation when he gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry next week.

This is one Christmas special from which you can't expect to hear too much goodwill to all men. It may have the jovial Martin Clunes returning for his tenth stint as guest host, but his hearty chuckle will not dull the sharp edge of Ian Hislop's satirical swipes at captains of industry, bankers, the Government, the opposition - anyone he feels he can accuse of hypocrisy basically.

Paul Merton's rants at the absurdities of the lighter side of the news should see Clunes's face crumple into paroxysms of laughter - he's always served as the lighter side to Hislop's more serious tone, but as the series has progressed the steady accumulation of idiocy in the world has proved enough to really get his goat.

Martin Clunes is a veteran host of the topical news quiz - and clearly a favourite, as he is invited back here to present the Christmas special. Never short of material, team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have had almost too much to play with in 2011, what with the phone-hacking scandal leading to the public airing of the tabloid media's laundry.

Ian Hislop: "Philanthropy is to be encouraged"

The Have I Got News for You star says greed isn't good any more - but what does he believe in?

Ian Hislop wants Tony Blair to be on HIGNFY

Ian Hislop wants Tony Blair to appear on Have I Got News For You - saying he would make a "terrific" guest.

Ian Hislop blasts protestors camped outside St Paul's

TV pundit says: "So far the protestors have managed to get three quite well meaning priests removed - and no bankers at all."

Audio: Private Eye celebrates 50 years

Private Eye is celebrating 50 years of satire, scoops and a few lawsuits.

To mark the anniversary, the magazine's editor Ian Hislop told Radio 5 live's John Pienaar what he made of today's politics.

Private Eye and Peter Cook's finest hour

Ian Hislop regaled the audience with the tale of the time he, the late proprietor Peter Cook and others invaded the office of arch enemy Robert Maxwell.

It seems unlikely that the ultimate question to the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything is: "How many series of Have I Got News for You have there been?" But this week saw the start of the 42nd series.

Jo Brand hosted the first episode back, with Victoria Coren alongside Ian Hislop and Graham Linehan with Paul Merton. When I learnt about the line-up my immediate reaction was, "Thank God!" It's something of a rarity for HIGNFY to have a line-up consisting of people who are all essentially humorists. No politicians, no journalists, just people who are paid to be funny for a living. That is who we want. It's generally one of the advantages that Mock the Week has over HIGNFY, in that all the people on MTW are nearly always comics.

Everyone on this week's show had their moments, whether it's Coren on her hatred of cat lovers, Linehan's in-depth knowledge of Twitter, or Merton suggesting confusion between Michael Winner smoking a cigar and a picture of a seagull doing a poo. What a wonderfully awful image.

However, the best bit was that this episode was the first in a while which didn't make any lazy jokes about Eric Pickles being fat. It won't last...

It's the big daddy, the elder statesman of satire shows. As Panorama is to current events, Have I Got News for You is to taking the mickey out of them.

Other shows (Mock the Week, say) may be faster-paced and more densely packed with gags but this is the satire show of record, the point on a Friday night where politicians and celebrities are enjoyably cut down to size and media storms dispatched with a curl of Ian Hislop's lip or a surreal quip from Paul Merton.

For the first of this new ten-part run - their 42nd - Jo Brand is tonight's guest host.