Last night’s ‘new’ series of Have I Got News for You was truly awful, hosted by the parody of Jeremy Paxman that is Jeremy Paxman these days [see here too] and the in-grey-decline that is the bitterly unfunny Ian Hislop and the only occasionally make-you-smile Paul Merton, but not when pulling his trademark ‘I am incredulous’ face. One other guest, the lively Josh Widdicombe, needs to watch this episode again and start thinking now about how he avoids becoming a has-been like at least two of the already mentioned three.

The fourth guest was Steph McGovern who held her head buoyant just above the general parapet of poo, at one point rightly calling Paxman a patronising git, a tag he later threw back at her, proving only how it had clearly got under his pompous skin when initially applied and what a pathetic hurt child he can be.

I know this programme is shite and yes I could have avoided watching it to have this confirmed. In my defense, I did first watch my recording of the excellent The City and The City, and after this with half an hour until bedtime I thought I would dip into the recording of Hasbeen I Got News… because I had that time to kill. What does strike me on reflection is how HIGNFY could be like a television programme that is still clever and good but exists only in one of the parallel worlds of The City… [a premise I am, like many, still trying to understand fully] yet it can’t be seen by those not privy to that other existence.

Or it could just be crap there too.