Have I Got News For You

Jo Brand makes her 35th appearance on the programme as this episode's guest host, with comedian Nabil Abdulrashid and parliamentary sketch writer for The Times, Tom Peck, completing the panels.

This week, chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled the Labour government's first Budget in 14 years, which featured tax rises worth £40bn to fund the NHS and other public services. Alongside the measures, Reeves also told the House of Commons how 'deeply proud' she felt to be the first female chancellor.

"This is the budget which seems to have been coming for about the last ten years. But it's out today and people are incredibly shocked, cause the Labour party are in power, and they've tried to redistribute some wealth... unbelievable! You could have blown me away with a feather," Hislop exclaimed, feigning surprise. "Tom was there... you sat through it all!"

"I was there, yeah," replied journalist Tom Peck. "I can tell the grandkids I was there. Can't leave them any money, but they will have the anecdote... I'm sure that's what they would rather have."

"It wasn't that bad," comedian Nabil Abdulrashid chipped in. "I mean, bus fares are more expensive, BUT... pints are cheaper" he said, to cheers from the audience. "Which means the night buses are going to be less crowded, but the people on it will be drunker!"

"It was a £22bn black hole... now it turns out you need £40bn to fill it," Peck continued. "Well now you've got to add on the VAT, the labour, parts... these things go up and up and up..."

"And they inherited the black hole from the Tories... so you've got to pay tax on that as well now," joked Hislop. "It is funny watching all the former chancellors saying 'this budget really isn't very good'... Liz Truss criticised the budget, and you thought, 'look, the country's still standing... a day later... it's a good budget!'"

Across the pond, the final attempts to win votes in key swing states have been making the news this week, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump prepare for next Tuesday's US election.

Joe Biden got into hot water this week by appearing to call Trump supporters 'garbage'. But attempting to emphasise that he was actually speaking about the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who had initially called Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage" at a Trump rally, Biden's team issued a transcript of the president's remarks, inserting an apostrophe between the 'r' and the 's' of 'supporter's'.

"This is the American election on Tuesday. The polls are very close, which seems unbelievable from this side of the Atlantic, but there we are... Trump had a fairly disastrous, or brilliant rally - depending on who you're listening to - at Madison Square Garden," stated Paul Merton.

"People seem to be getting depressed by this American election. I mean, I say just enjoy it... there's not going to be another one!" joked Peck. "Get involved, really drink it in!"

Turning attention to the 'garbage' debacle, Tom Peck continued. "Trump got in a real pickle because someone said something completely inappropriate about Puerto Rico, calling it a 'floating island of garbage'. Now Joe Biden has come back and accidentally said his supporters are garbage. This is a guy who is no longer in the race because he got Zelensky and Putin the wrong way round.... which, if you're sending $150bn of weapons to one of them, you've got to get that exactly right..." he joked. "We are now in a situation whereby the free world depends on whether or not Joe Biden said 'supporters' or 'supporter's'..."

"Yeah they're adding in an apostrophe," Hislop concurred.

"Yeah, is it the plural or the possessive noun...? America decides... and we all suffer the consequences" quipped Peck.

"All he had to do was shut up..." Hislop said of Biden. "It's incredible that his only contribution will have been to win the election for the other side."