Transcripts For BBCNEWS Ian Hislops 2022 20240706 : vimarsan

Queen elizabeth ii. Those are the headlines on bbc news. You are watching bbc news. Now on bbc news, amol rajan interviews ian hislop. Even by recent standards, 2022 has been a tumultuous year in news. Russia launched a War In Europe. Her late majesty Queen Elizabeth ii died just months after her Platinum Jubilee. And britain went through three Prime Ministers and even more chancellors. One man whos tried to make sense of it is ian hislop, whether on tv or as editor of private eyes fortnightly magazine and latest annual. I visited his office for a conversation not just about recent news, but also why its been a turn off for some and why we need proper journalism more than ever. Ian, thank you so much for talking to me and to bbc news. Lets start, if youre happy to, with a few kind of reflections on this year, because in recent years the news agenda has often felt pretty crazy. Yeah. And overwhelming, but this year, even more than most, weve had War In Europe, the death of her late majesty the queen, weve had three Prime Ministers. I mean, has the news felt crazy because its actually been crazy and the world has been crazy, or is itjust something about how were covering it these days . No, i think it is genuinely crazy. I dont think the media can blame themselves for this one. I mean, were very keen to take the credit for everything, but i dont think this was much to do with us. I mean, we ended up at one point trying to cover two Prime Ministers in one issue. Now, we havent done that before, erm. And at one point, i think one of the Prime Ministers, i cant even remember which one said, why is the media going on about this . And i think, cos youre stabbing each other in the back and its quite interesting. Is there a sense in which kind of the news has become ever more frenetic, partly because of social media . And is there, do you think, a danger that that creates a bit of a gulf between journalists who are kind of living online and updating things by the minute and normal people who, you know, fancy going to the pub . Erm, yeah, and i think its important not to get totally obsessed by the speed of the news cycle which journalists operate on, cos normal people clearly dont. They, er, they either look at a newspaper or they see something on their phone, or they watch the news in the evening, and one of the huge advantages for private eye has been, and this obviously has not been intentional, is just being a fortnightly, it means you get a bit of a breather. So the news comes and everyone goes, 0h, whats your take on that . Thats fantastic. 0h well, whats happening now . And then we think, mm, yeah, were not doing anything till monday, so well have a look at what it looks like then. Youve had to deal with this over many years. People will say, if youre constantly saying what a bunch of useless people we have in power, people might give up on democracy. They might give up on voting. What do you say to the charge that private eye does promote a kind of cynicism about politics . If you get a brand new Prime Minister who says, ive got this brilliant theory, i thought of it when i was a student, im going to try it out. For real. And then she bankrupts great britain, er, its reasonable to have been sceptical beforehand. It isnt cynical to say, my god, shes bonkers, and this is really dangerous. Thats not undermining cynicism, that is sceptical and, as it turned out, an underestimate of the damage that she would do. Nobody� s asking you to give up. What youre asking people to do is. Is to be better. How does the role of humour, comedy, change in a time when there is such grimness around . You know, were talking, of course, at a time when theres a War In Europe thats lasted for nine months, when theres a Cost Of Living crisis and people are feeling a real sort of pinch as we go into winter. Mm. How does that affect the role of some of the stuff that youve done for many decades, which is try and make people laugh . People say, oh, its particularly bad now. It isnt really. I mean, not compared, you know, to the last 60 years, erm, and thejob is much the same. I remember explaining this to an american academic. I said, our basic motto is the great philosopher mary poppins, that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Very, very wise words. And thats what youre doing, erm, with, erm, comedy. I mean, yes, these events are grim. Yes, its. Its. Its bonkers and ghastly. But it is funny. The absurdity is there. And thats what we try and do. How is the eye doing financially, commercially . Commercially, well, i mean, we are, erm, we are selling about 240,000 copies, which is a lot. Erm. Thats growth, isnt it . That is growth. Thats. Erm, thats not. Not liz truss growth. This is real growth, and essentially the pandemic was very good in terms of our recovery because, you know, everything shut, you know, the train stations, the airports, all the independent newsagents, we suddenly had nowhere to sell the mag, erm, and we had to pivot i believe we say. Thats the phrase. Yes, i think that is the phrase in the industry. In the industry. Thats the parlance. So were selling a lot in supermarkets now and, erm, we sell a lot of subscriptions. So, i mean, for us, we found that people were really keen. They werent news bored at all. They were very keen to find out what was going on. And you said many years ago that for you the best Digital Strategy was not having one. Yeah. Hows that holding up . Thats remained entirely true. Erm, were still in print, and print is what we do. Erm, and, er, people like print. They like having it in their hand. They like the time to read it. I mean, if youre on a screen all day, why do you want more screen . Heres something else. Weve talked about sort of huge changes to the news industry, and amongst the changes that journalists have to contend with are legal changes. Yes. Why have you, along with other leading editors, put your name to a Letter Arguing against so called Slapp Legislation . This slapp strategic lawsuits against public participation. This is using legal action as a weapon to try and shut journalism down. I mean, its very simple, and its used by lots of extremely rich people for whom money is not a problem, and for whom, er, the method, erm, of legislation means that the story will be killed. Erm, and im against that, and its been used by a lot of oligarchs, and its been used, um, to shut down criticism of seriously, um, worrying individuals. Is it the case that the law in this country is disproportionately used by very rich people to try and silence journalism . Yes, i mean, it is, and there have been some incredibly brave people, in particular writing about russia, who have been obliged either with their publications or with their publishers, theyve been writing books, to fight extraordinary, complex and difficult actions, which are not brought in the interests of the public. They are merely brought to shut down criticism. Um, and that seems to me absurd, um, that were allowing london to be a focus for, um, attempts to shut down Freedom Of Speech. I mean, is that. Is that a boast for a capital city . Youve championed press freedom, journalistic freedom for. For decades. In the context that youre talking about there, do you agree with the editor of the spectator, fraser nelson, when he says that the 0nline safety bill is a censor� s charter . Because the 0nline safety bill introduces a category of legal but harmful speech, albeit for under 18s. Erm, yeah, i mean, ithink that bill needs to go back and be rethought. Why . Erm, because they havent worked out how to. Balance the interests of the safety of the public and the online harms with Freedom Of Speech. Erm, and i think its important that we forget neither of those bits, and i think at the moment its a mess. For people who look at russias invasion of ukraine or protests in china, and who dont necessarily work injournalism, why is Freedom Of Speech so fundamental to our democracy . Its incredibly important to people who dont have it. And we are very privileged and, you know, editors in my position, you know, in countries like turkey, locked up, deported, gone. China you disappear. Russia you may well be dead. You fall out of a window inconveniently, you know, or youre like Poor Old Navalny youre in there forever. You know . Its a really serious business. Ok, lets look at some of the News Highlights from this year or indeed lowlights. I mean, its worth saying you did get a front cover out of this on the front of the annual. This was a year the war came to europe. Yep. So whats the conversation in the soho offices of private eye . Youve got War In Europe for the first time in decades and youve got to get a laugh out of it, and you did, but you focused not on president zelensky, but his rival and his antagonist, president putin. Just talk us through that front page. I mean, you know, there is nothing new in. In black humour, particularly when applied to russia. I mean, theyre very good at it themselves with their own leaders, um, and putin went into the war on an absurdity by pretending it was something else, and we had a cover of. Of putin saying to one of his generals, youre a peacekeeping force. And the general saying, um, well, which piece would you like to keep . And he said, all of it. And that essentially was the pretence at the beginning. And, i mean, thats what comedy can do. You can just underline this, the idea that this was not a war, um, eventually, um, even people in russia who are, you know, fed a constant drip of propaganda have started thinking, it looks very like a war, and these young men who are being conscripted appear to be going to a war. Lets have a look at another man who, er. Slightly close to home. Earlier today, sue gray published her final report, which i commissioned to get to the bottom of things and to set the record straight, and im grateful to her for her work. Shes identified a number of failings some official, some political, and some that i accept are entirely my own, for which i take full responsibility. Just tell us what you did with partygate. Well, um, partygate was, um. It does feel a long time ago. I mean, we ran a cover of boris outside the front door of number 10 saying, um, bring your own boos, and then everyone out there going, boo boo which seemed to me entirely appropriate. I was going to say, we ended up in a situation where the Prime Minister of this country and the chancellor ended up with criminal sanctions. Yes. And the criminal sanctions they got did directly flow from journalistic endeavour. Yes. I mean, the Partygate Story was broken by the mirror and, er, and then the rest of the media, quite rightly, piled in, and we found out more and more and more, and from initial denials, we ended up with, um, complete acknowledgement, and the police saying, yes. Keir starmer said that he would resign if he got a criminal sanction, but the issue that United Starmer and johnson was that this was a year in which basically integrity and trust. Yep. And the truthfulness of the people that run our country was kind of in the spotlight as it hadnt been for a very long time. Yeah, and however people do attempt to spin this afterwards, borisjohnson was removed by his own party in an extraordinary rebellion unseen of government ministers, saying, we cannot put up with you any more. And they werent saying, we dont. We disagree with you about policy. We dont feel youre taking us in the right direction. None of that was the issue. Well, that issue of character and truthfulness led eventually to this. I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed, and i want you to know how sad i am to be giving up the bestjob in the world. But thems the breaks. We got to know that lectern quite well this year. What did you make of that Resignation Speech . I mean, it was extraordinary in its lack of remorse and contrition. I mean, when he went, private eye ran a cover saying, borisjohnsons legacy and we put on the cover a picture of an overflowing toilet. Crucially, you finished with letters from readers, and one of the things that all News Organisations increasingly try to do is create a community feeling, a feeling that if you buy that publication or you watch that bulletin, youre a member of a club, and you finished with letters and i wont swear but what sort of reaction did this scatological front page elicit from your readers . They were very cross, a lot of them. Did they cancel their subs . Yes. A lot of cancelled subscribers. People saying, todays cover is utterly disgusting and reprehensible. Remove this. Kicking a man when youre down. Er, you conflate satire with scatology. Todays cover is disgusting not worthy of you. But then there were some other people who. Who thought it was very good, and the letter i particularly liked was from a woman who moved here fairly recently, and she said, im happy to live here in a country where covers like your latest are perfectly acceptable. Erm, long live this country. And i thought, yeah, thats the letter im going to end the annual on. Erm, because i do think in the end people are allowed to know and allowed to criticise what their rulers are up to, and if weve had a bizarre year, its because its been bonkers. So, after borisjohnson resigned, there was this extraordinary period in british politics. The public didnt have a say in his successor, who appointed a chancellor who gave a now notorious mini budget, i think it became called. Growth is not as high as it should be. This has made it harder to pay for public services, requiring taxes to rise. We need a new approach for a new era, focused on both. And youll be chancellor and liz truss will be Prime Minister This Time Next month . Absolutely. 100 . Im not going anywhere. Well, he. I mean, he wasnt going anywhere, was he . Nor was the party. That mini budget became notorious. It was pretty Fertile Ground for a satirical publication. What did you do with it . Um, well, it was marvellous. I mean, right from the moment when liz truss was chosen, when she was chosen as Prime Minister, we said, this is the continuity candidate. Shes blonde, shes a self publicist, shell say anything to get elected. She does u turns and shell be out in no time. That was our First Response to liz truss and we were pretty much on the money. If it hadnt been so catastrophic for so many peoples lives and pensions, it would be hysterical. Well, one consequence of the Kwasi Kwarteng budget is we got to see that Lectern Outside Downing Street again. We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance, and we set out a vision for a low tax, high Growth Economy that would take advantage of the freedoms of brexit. Was it a challenge covering liz truss� resignation when so recently youd had to do another conservative Prime Minister doing a similar thing . Thejohnson car crash took a long time, um, even though it was only a couple of years, it was a long time coming. Er, the Truss Car Crash was unbelievably fast. One of the other stories that has repeatedly been in the front of our lives and in the front of bulletins has been Climate Change protesting, and in particular a group called just stop 0il, who have thrown orange paint at paintings and also held up disruption. The, um, Climate Change sort of fell out of the news cycle. You remember cop26 was quite a big deal in britainjust before. Glasgow. And, you know, the press were very much behind this. Um, the broadcasters were all saying, this is a very, very serious issue. A year later, its, oh, look, theyre holding up the traffic. Thats really annoying, isnt it . I mean, it is quite annoying, but i suppose the argument is that the end of the earth as we know it is quite annoying, and is going to be quite inconvenient. And there is. There is a balance here between. There is a balance, but theres a balance, isnt there, between the principle, the right to protest, which has a very long tradition and history in this country, and the practicalities, theres a lot of people who were deeply inconvenienced. Yeah, well, i mean, you know, im not. I� m not trying to be unsympathetic with people who wanted to get past or drive to work. Im just saying, this is what protest does. I mean, i think theyve got to work out how to protest to get the maximum positive response, and i think the first group of Climate Change protests did that much more effectively, and i think this year, a couple of times, theyve gone wrong. And then on the 6th Of February this year, her majesty the queen became the first british monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. 70 years. We saw her in may when she made a Surprise Appearance on the. To open the elizabeth line, which is the new line that goes across london, and she was given £5 credit on her 0yster card, which was funny and fitting for someone whos famously frugal. And in earlyjune, we had the Platinum Jubilee events, which was a moment of National Unity and eccentricity, wasnt it . Yes, and we introduced this. We had a photograph of the Prime Minister, borisjohnson, saying to her majesty, enjoy the four days of partying. And her majesty saying, its a work event. Which, in many ways it was. Um, so, no, i mean, it was a remarkably bonkers, um, event, but the paddington thing essentially secured it, i think. Perhaps you would like a War In Europe<\/a>. Her late majesty Queen Elizabeth<\/a> ii died just months after her Platinum Jubilee<\/a>. And britain went through three Prime Minister<\/a>s and even more chancellors. One man whos tried to make sense of it is ian hislop, whether on tv or as editor of private eyes fortnightly magazine and latest annual. I visited his office for a conversation not just about recent news, but also why its been a turn off for some and why we need proper journalism more than ever. Ian, thank you so much for talking to me and to bbc news. Lets start, if youre happy to, with a few kind of reflections on this year, because in recent years the news agenda has often felt pretty crazy. Yeah. And overwhelming, but this year, even more than most, weve had War In Europe<\/a>, the death of her late majesty the queen, weve had three Prime Minister<\/a>s. I mean, has the news felt crazy because its actually been crazy and the world has been crazy, or is itjust something about how were covering it these days . No, i think it is genuinely crazy. I dont think the media can blame themselves for this one. I mean, were very keen to take the credit for everything, but i dont think this was much to do with us. I mean, we ended up at one point trying to cover two Prime Minister<\/a>s in one issue. Now, we havent done that before, erm. And at one point, i think one of the Prime Minister<\/a>s, i cant even remember which one said, why is the media going on about this . And i think, cos youre stabbing each other in the back and its quite interesting. Is there a sense in which kind of the news has become ever more frenetic, partly because of social media . And is there, do you think, a danger that that creates a bit of a gulf between journalists who are kind of living online and updating things by the minute and normal people who, you know, fancy going to the pub . Erm, yeah, and i think its important not to get totally obsessed by the speed of the news cycle which journalists operate on, cos normal people clearly dont. They, er, they either look at a newspaper or they see something on their phone, or they watch the news in the evening, and one of the huge advantages for private eye has been, and this obviously has not been intentional, is just being a fortnightly, it means you get a bit of a breather. So the news comes and everyone goes, 0h, whats your take on that . Thats fantastic. 0h well, whats happening now . And then we think, mm, yeah, were not doing anything till monday, so well have a look at what it looks like then. Youve had to deal with this over many years. People will say, if youre constantly saying what a bunch of useless people we have in power, people might give up on democracy. They might give up on voting. What do you say to the charge that private eye does promote a kind of cynicism about politics . If you get a brand new Prime Minister<\/a> who says, ive got this brilliant theory, i thought of it when i was a student, im going to try it out. For real. And then she bankrupts great britain, er, its reasonable to have been sceptical beforehand. It isnt cynical to say, my god, shes bonkers, and this is really dangerous. Thats not undermining cynicism, that is sceptical and, as it turned out, an underestimate of the damage that she would do. Nobody\ufffd s asking you to give up. What youre asking people to do is. Is to be better. How does the role of humour, comedy, change in a time when there is such grimness around . You know, were talking, of course, at a time when theres a War In Europe<\/a> thats lasted for nine months, when theres a Cost Of Living<\/a> crisis and people are feeling a real sort of pinch as we go into winter. Mm. How does that affect the role of some of the stuff that youve done for many decades, which is try and make people laugh . People say, oh, its particularly bad now. It isnt really. I mean, not compared, you know, to the last 60 years, erm, and thejob is much the same. I remember explaining this to an american academic. I said, our basic motto is the great philosopher mary poppins, that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Very, very wise words. And thats what youre doing, erm, with, erm, comedy. I mean, yes, these events are grim. Yes, its. Its. Its bonkers and ghastly. But it is funny. The absurdity is there. And thats what we try and do. How is the eye doing financially, commercially . Commercially, well, i mean, we are, erm, we are selling about 240,000 copies, which is a lot. Erm. Thats growth, isnt it . That is growth. Thats. Erm, thats not. Not liz truss growth. This is real growth, and essentially the pandemic was very good in terms of our recovery because, you know, everything shut, you know, the train stations, the airports, all the independent newsagents, we suddenly had nowhere to sell the mag, erm, and we had to pivot i believe we say. Thats the phrase. Yes, i think that is the phrase in the industry. In the industry. Thats the parlance. So were selling a lot in supermarkets now and, erm, we sell a lot of subscriptions. So, i mean, for us, we found that people were really keen. They werent news bored at all. They were very keen to find out what was going on. And you said many years ago that for you the best Digital Strategy<\/a> was not having one. Yeah. Hows that holding up . Thats remained entirely true. Erm, were still in print, and print is what we do. Erm, and, er, people like print. They like having it in their hand. They like the time to read it. I mean, if youre on a screen all day, why do you want more screen . Heres something else. Weve talked about sort of huge changes to the news industry, and amongst the changes that journalists have to contend with are legal changes. Yes. Why have you, along with other leading editors, put your name to a Letter Arguing<\/a> against so called Slapp Legislation<\/a> . This slapp strategic lawsuits against public participation. This is using legal action as a weapon to try and shut journalism down. I mean, its very simple, and its used by lots of extremely rich people for whom money is not a problem, and for whom, er, the method, erm, of legislation means that the story will be killed. Erm, and im against that, and its been used by a lot of oligarchs, and its been used, um, to shut down criticism of seriously, um, worrying individuals. Is it the case that the law in this country is disproportionately used by very rich people to try and silence journalism . Yes, i mean, it is, and there have been some incredibly brave people, in particular writing about russia, who have been obliged either with their publications or with their publishers, theyve been writing books, to fight extraordinary, complex and difficult actions, which are not brought in the interests of the public. They are merely brought to shut down criticism. Um, and that seems to me absurd, um, that were allowing london to be a focus for, um, attempts to shut down Freedom Of Speech<\/a>. I mean, is that. Is that a boast for a capital city . Youve championed press freedom, journalistic freedom for. For decades. In the context that youre talking about there, do you agree with the editor of the spectator, fraser nelson, when he says that the 0nline safety bill is a censor\ufffd s charter . Because the 0nline safety bill introduces a category of legal but harmful speech, albeit for under 18s. Erm, yeah, i mean, ithink that bill needs to go back and be rethought. Why . Erm, because they havent worked out how to. Balance the interests of the safety of the public and the online harms with Freedom Of Speech<\/a>. Erm, and i think its important that we forget neither of those bits, and i think at the moment its a mess. For people who look at russias invasion of ukraine or protests in china, and who dont necessarily work injournalism, why is Freedom Of Speech<\/a> so fundamental to our democracy . Its incredibly important to people who dont have it. And we are very privileged and, you know, editors in my position, you know, in countries like turkey, locked up, deported, gone. China you disappear. Russia you may well be dead. You fall out of a window inconveniently, you know, or youre like Poor Old Navalny<\/a> youre in there forever. You know . Its a really serious business. Ok, lets look at some of the News Highlights<\/a> from this year or indeed lowlights. I mean, its worth saying you did get a front cover out of this on the front of the annual. This was a year the war came to europe. Yep. So whats the conversation in the soho offices of private eye . Youve got War In Europe<\/a> for the first time in decades and youve got to get a laugh out of it, and you did, but you focused not on president zelensky, but his rival and his antagonist, president putin. Just talk us through that front page. I mean, you know, there is nothing new in. In black humour, particularly when applied to russia. I mean, theyre very good at it themselves with their own leaders, um, and putin went into the war on an absurdity by pretending it was something else, and we had a cover of. Of putin saying to one of his generals, youre a peacekeeping force. And the general saying, um, well, which piece would you like to keep . And he said, all of it. And that essentially was the pretence at the beginning. And, i mean, thats what comedy can do. You can just underline this, the idea that this was not a war, um, eventually, um, even people in russia who are, you know, fed a constant drip of propaganda have started thinking, it looks very like a war, and these young men who are being conscripted appear to be going to a war. Lets have a look at another man who, er. Slightly close to home. Earlier today, sue gray published her final report, which i commissioned to get to the bottom of things and to set the record straight, and im grateful to her for her work. Shes identified a number of failings some official, some political, and some that i accept are entirely my own, for which i take full responsibility. Just tell us what you did with partygate. Well, um, partygate was, um. It does feel a long time ago. I mean, we ran a cover of boris outside the front door of number 10 saying, um, bring your own boos, and then everyone out there going, boo boo which seemed to me entirely appropriate. I was going to say, we ended up in a situation where the Prime Minister<\/a> of this country and the chancellor ended up with criminal sanctions. Yes. And the criminal sanctions they got did directly flow from journalistic endeavour. Yes. I mean, the Partygate Story<\/a> was broken by the mirror and, er, and then the rest of the media, quite rightly, piled in, and we found out more and more and more, and from initial denials, we ended up with, um, complete acknowledgement, and the police saying, yes. Keir starmer said that he would resign if he got a criminal sanction, but the issue that United Starmer<\/a> and johnson was that this was a year in which basically integrity and trust. Yep. And the truthfulness of the people that run our country was kind of in the spotlight as it hadnt been for a very long time. Yeah, and however people do attempt to spin this afterwards, borisjohnson was removed by his own party in an extraordinary rebellion unseen of government ministers, saying, we cannot put up with you any more. And they werent saying, we dont. We disagree with you about policy. We dont feel youre taking us in the right direction. None of that was the issue. Well, that issue of character and truthfulness led eventually to this. I know that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed, and i want you to know how sad i am to be giving up the bestjob in the world. But thems the breaks. We got to know that lectern quite well this year. What did you make of that Resignation Speech<\/a> . I mean, it was extraordinary in its lack of remorse and contrition. I mean, when he went, private eye ran a cover saying, borisjohnsons legacy and we put on the cover a picture of an overflowing toilet. Crucially, you finished with letters from readers, and one of the things that all News Organisations<\/a> increasingly try to do is create a community feeling, a feeling that if you buy that publication or you watch that bulletin, youre a member of a club, and you finished with letters and i wont swear but what sort of reaction did this scatological front page elicit from your readers . They were very cross, a lot of them. Did they cancel their subs . Yes. A lot of cancelled subscribers. People saying, todays cover is utterly disgusting and reprehensible. Remove this. Kicking a man when youre down. Er, you conflate satire with scatology. Todays cover is disgusting not worthy of you. But then there were some other people who. Who thought it was very good, and the letter i particularly liked was from a woman who moved here fairly recently, and she said, im happy to live here in a country where covers like your latest are perfectly acceptable. Erm, long live this country. And i thought, yeah, thats the letter im going to end the annual on. Erm, because i do think in the end people are allowed to know and allowed to criticise what their rulers are up to, and if weve had a bizarre year, its because its been bonkers. So, after borisjohnson resigned, there was this extraordinary period in british politics. The public didnt have a say in his successor, who appointed a chancellor who gave a now notorious mini budget, i think it became called. Growth is not as high as it should be. This has made it harder to pay for public services, requiring taxes to rise. We need a new approach for a new era, focused on both. And youll be chancellor and liz truss will be Prime Minister<\/a> This Time Next<\/a> month . Absolutely. 100 . Im not going anywhere. Well, he. I mean, he wasnt going anywhere, was he . Nor was the party. That mini budget became notorious. It was pretty Fertile Ground<\/a> for a satirical publication. What did you do with it . Um, well, it was marvellous. I mean, right from the moment when liz truss was chosen, when she was chosen as Prime Minister<\/a>, we said, this is the continuity candidate. Shes blonde, shes a self publicist, shell say anything to get elected. She does u turns and shell be out in no time. That was our First Response<\/a> to liz truss and we were pretty much on the money. If it hadnt been so catastrophic for so many peoples lives and pensions, it would be hysterical. Well, one consequence of the Kwasi Kwarteng<\/a> budget is we got to see that Lectern Outside Downing Street<\/a> again. We delivered on energy bills and on cutting national insurance, and we set out a vision for a low tax, high Growth Economy<\/a> that would take advantage of the freedoms of brexit. Was it a challenge covering liz truss\ufffd resignation when so recently youd had to do another conservative Prime Minister<\/a> doing a similar thing . Thejohnson car crash took a long time, um, even though it was only a couple of years, it was a long time coming. Er, the Truss Car Crash<\/a> was unbelievably fast. One of the other stories that has repeatedly been in the front of our lives and in the front of bulletins has been Climate Change<\/a> protesting, and in particular a group called just stop 0il, who have thrown orange paint at paintings and also held up disruption. The, um, Climate Change<\/a> sort of fell out of the news cycle. You remember cop26 was quite a big deal in britainjust before. Glasgow. And, you know, the press were very much behind this. Um, the broadcasters were all saying, this is a very, very serious issue. A year later, its, oh, look, theyre holding up the traffic. Thats really annoying, isnt it . I mean, it is quite annoying, but i suppose the argument is that the end of the earth as we know it is quite annoying, and is going to be quite inconvenient. And there is. There is a balance here between. There is a balance, but theres a balance, isnt there, between the principle, the right to protest, which has a very long tradition and history in this country, and the practicalities, theres a lot of people who were deeply inconvenienced. Yeah, well, i mean, you know, im not. I\ufffd m not trying to be unsympathetic with people who wanted to get past or drive to work. Im just saying, this is what protest does. I mean, i think theyve got to work out how to protest to get the maximum positive response, and i think the first group of Climate Change<\/a> protests did that much more effectively, and i think this year, a couple of times, theyve gone wrong. And then on the 6th Of February<\/a> this year, her majesty the queen became the first british monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee<\/a>. 70 years. We saw her in may when she made a Surprise Appearance<\/a> on the. To open the elizabeth line, which is the new line that goes across london, and she was given \u00a35 credit on her 0yster card, which was funny and fitting for someone whos famously frugal. And in earlyjune, we had the Platinum Jubilee<\/a> events, which was a moment of National Unity<\/a> and eccentricity, wasnt it . Yes, and we introduced this. We had a photograph of the Prime Minister<\/a>, borisjohnson, saying to her majesty, enjoy the four days of partying. And her majesty saying, its a work event. Which, in many ways it was. Um, so, no, i mean, it was a remarkably bonkers, um, event, but the paddington thing essentially secured it, i think. Perhaps you would like a Marmalade Sandwich<\/a> . I always keep one for emergencies. So do i. I keep mine in here. Whoa. For later. And then on the 8th Of September<\/a> at 6 30 in the evening, it was the moment that every news presenter, every news producer, maybe every Magazine Editor<\/a> has thought about for many, many years. Many have rehearsed. It was the announcement of the death of her majesty the queen. A few moments ago, Buckingham Palace<\/a> announced the death of her majesty Queen Elizabeth<\/a> ii. Offscreen bbc is interrupting normal programmes. Where were you when you heard that news . Um, i was sitting in make up at have i got news for you about to go on in front of an audience to do a show. And the producers came in and said, the queen has died and were not doing the show. And they sent the audience home. And that was it. So, i had a slightly strange, um, moment of, erm, joining in the national mourning. Was that almost a relief that you didnt have to go out and pretend that all was ok, or. . I mean, partly you didnt have to respond suddenly to this momentous event, but was it almost a relief that you didnt have to try and be funny . No. Part of me obviouslyjust wanted to go on and say, well, this is extraordinary. We can react to anything. Um, er, but, actually, when we were talking earlier about the way the news cycle works, it was much better to have a bit of distance because by then you had had the full panoply of british pomp and circumstance moving in, which i always quote alan bennett, who said he was once watching the trooping of the colour, and he said, i think this is absolutely ridiculous. And he realised he had a lump in his throat. Erm, and that, i think, is one thing we did learn from the queens funeral is that as a nation, we are perfectly capable of being serious about what is serious. Erm, and i do think it was an extraordinarily mature response. Erm, whenever anyone said, this is a tragedy, someone else said, no, it isnt a tragedy. Shes a very, very old woman whos had the most extraordinary life. Its a huge loss. But i did think there was a. A genuine sense of what had happened that took over the country. And that struck me as. As. As. As terribly positive. I remember thinking, hows private eye going to cover this . This seemed to me an event that took its own life. And the first thing it did, being britain, is it turned into a queue. And theres just no way of getting around the fact that everybody loved the queue. They liked watching it. They liked being in it. They liked complaining about holly and phil in it. They liked thinking, 0h, why\ufffd s beckham in it . The General Public<\/a> is making these jokes. So, we did a cover about, you know, basically the headline was, god save the queue cos that seemed to be the important thing, and it was charles meeting people in the queue and saying to one of them, how long did you have to wait . And one of the kids saying, not as long as you. He chuckles which seemed to me, um, perfectly reasonable. I want to just stick with the media and think about one particular man who has very big sway over it. Elon musk. Yeah. Weve ended this year with rather a lot of elon musk in the news and pretty relentlessly so. Elon musk seems now to be something of an editor of the internet. He, to some extent, gets to decide who has access to the megaphone that he owns and controls, and hes decided, for instance, that donald trump should once again have access. Do you think elon musk has too much power in modern media . Undoubtedly. But, again, i dont know whether twitter will. Will collapse. I mean, that. That would amuse me no end. I think that would be quite the funniest story of the year. Why . Because i think its almost always wrong about everything. Erm, almost infallible in its fallibility. Erm, and it strikes me as really toxic, and really unhelpful, and really dangerous, and really bad for people, and. And bad for democracy . 0h, definitely bad. I think its just bad full stop, really. Lets talk about one other aspect of modern media, which is the growth in celebrity culture. Ijust wanted to show what im just like as a person. People have, you know. Lots of people come to me with preconceived ideas for obvious reasons, and ijust wanted to be myself. Lets take matt hancock mp, former Health Secretary<\/a>, on his own terms. He said he went to thatjungle because he wanted more people to understand what hes really like. Now, regardless of whether or not thats what that says about our politics, isnt there a sense in which people did get to see what he was really like . And that, in that sense, he achieved what he wanted to. He became more famous. I think those are two very different things. People finding out what hes supposedly really like, and wanting to be more famous. I mean, he wanted to be more famous, so he went on the programme. He took 400 grand and he became more famous. Its got absolutely nothing to do with, um, addressing the General Public<\/a> and making politics more human. I mean, thats clearly completely nonsense. Erm, and saying, i want people to know who. Who. Who i am. We know who you are. Youre the former Health Secretary<\/a> and that was the job you were asked to do, and at the moment youre an mp and thats the job youre meant to be doing. Well, talking about trying to hold him to account, matt hancock being in the jungle certainly gave you an opportunity to feature him on the front page. What did you do with it . Well, this was one of those situations where there were just too many jokes. So, we started off by saying the tories find a vote winner at last because he kept winning the things. Then there was a picture of him with gunk being poured on top of him with a pair of goggles on and him saying, this protective equipment is useless, because thats really what we should be talking about. Then we had a picture of him and someone saying, 400 grand . Its money for old grope, which is a reasonable analysis of why hes there. This is, erm, this is a grim winter for lots and lots of people. Yes. Theres a Cost Of Living<\/a> crisis. Inflation is pretty rampant still. Erm, what do you think the role of satire is in our lives, and how is it more important in a time of struggle . Well, i was literally on a train the other dayjust coming down from blackpool and a woman just passed me a note. It said, thanks to you and the private eye team for giving us something to laugh about in this crazy world. Ijust thought, thats incredibly sweet of you to do that. But also. Just a random womanjust. . Yeah, yeah. It was just someone who was on the train. Shoved it at me. And i thought, well, a, that is. Is one of the points, it is just to give you something to laugh and to say, this is funny. I mean there is humour right. Right in the darkest, erm, er, of these situations. Let me ask on behalf of the people who do laugh. Youve done have i got news for you for 32 years . Yeah. Wow. Youve outlasted mock the week. Youve outlasted the mash report. Its a long time. I mean, will you carry on doing it as long as theyll have you . Erm, ill carry on doing it until. Until were sacked, erm. He chuckles which, you know, could be any. Any time soon. L private eye, erm, i get slightly more say in because im the editor, erm, but, erm, again, erm, i. I cant think of a betterjob. I hope that means that were going to carry on seeing you on our screens next year and also this Time Next Year<\/a> talking about your next annual. Yeah, well, i hope its. Its less eventful. Ian hislop, it was very good to talk to you. Thank you. Very good to talk to you. Hello. Its going to be a very mild christmas for many of us. We have some sunny spells, a few showers thrown in, too. Having said that, later in the day, tomorrow on Christmas Day<\/a> in the highlands, we could have some snow. So it could well be a White Christmas<\/a> for some of us. Heres the Satellite Picture<\/a> and you can see the Weather Systems<\/a> streaming in from the southwest. Thats a very mild direction. The air is coming in almost from the subtropics. So subtropical maritime air over us right now. Yesterday, it was around 14 degrees in the southeast and another very mild day to come today. So the forecast for the afternoon for christmas eve, a lot of fine weather across the bulk of england, wales, eastern scotland, too. But come the afternoon where we are expecting showers to spread in off the atlantic, some of them could be quite heavy. Temperatures between around six in lerwick and 12 in london. So heres the forecast for this evening. And overnight, with low pressure close by and Weather Fronts<\/a> circling the uk. It will be quite a miss on the weather front. So heavy showers, clear spells here and there and a very mild end to the night and start to Christmas Day<\/a>. Nine degrees on the south coast of england, six degrees in stornoway. Now, heres that area of low pressure with the Weather Fronts<\/a> close by. So very hit miss weather to come on sunday. Certainly some sunshine in the forecast, but be prepared for a few showers, too. There could be some persistent rain for time in the morning and into the afternoon. Roughly from the Isle Of Wight<\/a> through london into east anglia here. So possibly wet at times, but elsewhere its that mixed bag of sunny spells and showers on Christmas Day<\/a> and very mild ii degrees in the south. So on those showers in scotland come the evening, the wind will switch direction and Christmas Day<\/a> evening will see some of that Snow Settling<\/a> across the highlands and the temperatures into boxing day, you can see are close to freezing. So we will see some snow lying on the ground, but thats mostly in the hills. A very blustery, cold day on boxing day, at least temporarily. In scotland, temperatures four orfive degrees, a little bit milder there in central england, around six and south on the south coast. And then after that, after that brief colder spell, its going to turn milder once again. And you can see the run up to the new year is looking pretty unsettled with Gale Force Winds<\/a> and rain at times. Goodbye. This is bbc news welcome if youre watching here in the uk or around the globe. Our top stories plunging temperatures are gripping much of the United States<\/a> and canada, with more than 250 Million People<\/a> facing life threating conditions. We have had ice, flooding, snow, freezing temperatures and everything that Mother Nature<\/a> could wollop at us this weekend. A second day of protests as thousands of people take to the streets of paris after a gunman with a history of racist violence, killed three people at a kurdish cultural centre. Mounting evidence from china of a steep rise in covid cases, with many millions thought to be affected. 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