Keeping Up

Have I mentioned how much I adore The News Quiz? Well, I do. It's a superb way for me to keep in touch with politics at home (meaning I am a) informed and b) relieved of having to listen to John Humphreys haranguing people*), and this week I was laughing so much at the Buckfast thing I got very, very strange looks on the subway as I tried to hold back the tears of mirth. The weeks when it's not on are bleak for me, as I make do with whatever ersatz topical entertainment Radio 4 places in TNQ's stead, trying desperately to convince us that it's just as good. Not that I don't enjoy the other ones; they just pale in comparison to Toksvig** et al.***


* I used to podcast The Today Show, but it was unbearable after a while. I stopped after he was utterly out of line and abusive to a poor politician from Northern Ireland, whose name escapes me, but Humphreys was even more overtly aggressive than normal and utterly unreasonable. I'm less concerned when the politicians deserve it, but this was completely uncalled for and ridiculous.
** Did you know, I had no recollection whatsoever that she used to be on No. 73. But she was. A stalwart hero of entertainment.
*** I am also clearly onto a good thing, as there's a wonderfully ridiculous Telegraph article contemplating whether Radio 4 is alienating its "core audience" by having, according to commenters, Jeremy Hardy as a regular on TNQ, what with him being of the Socialist Alliance. It's terribly "smutty." This week TNQ even received a letter stating that there were too many women shrieking on TNQ, and there should be fewer women on it. Good work, people, good work.