Julia Hartley-Brewer

Robert Webb takes down journalist's 'privileged' claim

Robert Webb has deconstructed journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer's claim that her acceptance into Oxford was unaffected by privilege, demonstrating how the discussion about privilege shouldn't be interpreted as a personal attack on an individual's ego.

Left-wing - not gender - bias is ruining a hit BBC show

If you think women aren't able to cope on TV comedy panel shows, then have I got news for you: you're wrong.

And so is Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who has turned down all requests to appear on the BBC panel show Have I Got News For You since her one and only appearance in 2012 because, she claims, it is "too vicious" for most female guests.

Radio Times review

The panel show that's a cross between QI and The Moral Maze returns with former Sunday Express political editor Julia Hartley-Brewer proving that ethical absolutes are hard to pin down when she is asked whether she would sever investment ties with a company caught in nefarious deeds. This prompts host Sue Perkins to offer the memorable threat. "I'm gonna hashtag the cack out of you!"

The delight of the show is that everyone is given space to expand their ideas and come up with recurring motifs, which gives former chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association Clark Carlisle the opportunity to prove that not only should he hold the title of the most intelligent footballer but also that of the funniest. It's something quite gross to do with his feeding his cats.

John-Luke Roberts gets to live out his dream pretending to be a gay man in public, while anyone who's not seen the films When Harry Met Sally, Bambi, Dumbo, Se7en, Sixth Sense and Titanic should steer clear of Kerry Godliman's spolier section.

But I can reveal that this show ends with a moral quandary that stumps all the panel. It involves Miley Cyrus and Bono. Enough said.

Professing to "expose the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and kick back at knee-jerk reactions", Heresy has a rather sober brief for a comedy panel show, which is probably one of the reasons it keeps getting recommissioned by the serious folk at R4. It returns for a seventh series tonight, with host Victoria Coren welcoming comedian Rufus Hound, artist Grayson Perry and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer to the studio. They'll be disputing the received wisdom that women look better in men's clothes than vice versa; and that an artist who doesn't make his own work is a fraud.

Interesting to note how Radio 4 handles the debate show: in the blue corner you have the newest contender, David Aaronovitch (Devil's Advocate, Sat 10:15pm) with his serious slant, and in the red, we welcome back Heresy, which is just seriously funny. Victoria Coren takes on such topics as "an artist who doesn't make his own work is a fraud" and "women look better in men's clothes than men do in women's". The three challengers take such received wisdom, mangle it, and see what comes out in the wash. Grayson Perry, the cross-dressing Turner Prize-winning ceramicist, is possibly the best person to argue against both. Also on the new series debut panel is fearless comedian Russell Hound and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer. It is not just comedy, it is a poke in the brain and most welcome on this radio at any time. Ding, ding. Round one!