Have I Got News For You

Jo Brand makes a return to the chair for this week's edition, in what will be her 28th time as guest host on the show.

Making his debut on tonight's show is Feargal Sharkey - the Northern Irish former punk singer with The Undertones, who has gone on to become a prominent environmental campaigner against pollution in Britain's rivers.

Comedian Zoe Lyons completes the panel, alongside regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton.

With the Covid Inquiry rumbling on in the UK as the Israeli Palestinian conflict continued in the Middle East, and with Elon Musk paying a visit to Rishi Sunak's AI summit at Bletchley Park while Nigel Farage was rumoured to be on this year's line up for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here, it was a busy week of news for the panellists to dissect.

Attention turned first to this week's Covid Inquiry, where Dominic Cummings has been giving evidence.

"Dominic Cummings is giving evidence talking about what an absolute mess the whole government approach to Covid was. Worse than people even realised at the time. An absolute disaster," said Paul Merton.

"Yes, this is the latest from the Covid Inquiry and the shocking revelations that the Government was rubbish. Who knew?!" joked host Jo Brand.

"Watching Cummings give evidence is terrible, because he's learnt absolutely nothing. He's equally arrogant and then he starts calling other people liars. You think - you're the man who gave us the story about having your eyesight tested, in a car, when you were breaking the rules. He still doesn't admit he was breaking the rules. I just thought, 'I don't care if I agree with everything else you say, you're a liar'," said Ian Hislop.

"When he was giving evidence, I don't know what a body language expert would say but he kept his hand in front of his mouth most of the time. I think later he'll probably try and deny it was him talking..." joked Merton.

"In the middle of Covid, at one point Paul asked why on earth is this man, who is entirely unelected, dictating policy on vaccines, or indeed on lockdown, or on anything else? It beggars belief that he could sit there writing WhatsApp messages saying 'let's sack Matt Hancock', 'let's sack the head of the NHS', 'let's sack everybody'... says who?" continued Hislop.

"But in your current guise of a 1950s East End gangster..." Merton joked, referencing Hislop's dark suit, "...do you think you should pay him a visit?"

"Yeah I'd like to go round and give him an eyesight test," quipped Hislop.

Later in the episode, attention turned to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Given his experiences of growing up in Derry/Londonderry through the Troubles, and subsequently experiencing life following the Good Friday Agreement, Feargal Sharkey was asked for his thoughts and gave a message of hope to the people of Israel and Palestine.

"Feargal, you grew up in Derry. Is partition a good idea in your opinion?" asked Brand.

Feargal Sharkey replied: "This is the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, this year, and for 25 years the people of Northern Ireland have been able to prosper and grow and develop and blossom and have discovered that this thing 'peace' is a very delicate, beautiful little flower that needs nurturing, caressing and supporting.

"I do wish that the people of Gaza and Palestine and Israel get to discover what 25 years of peace, prosperity, diplomacy and democracy looks like, and that those people can blossom into a much more confident, much brighter future for everyone involved, as it has worked for Northern Ireland."