Saturday 6 October 2018

Is it a dolphin in a bathtub?



There's been much talk hereabouts about the new series of Have I Got News For You.

For this new series Ian and Paul both have old-fashioned landline telephones on the desks in front of them and speak through them at all times. This is so they can dial it in each week, just as they've been doing for years now. (Boom! Boom!)

If you missed it, here's a sample of it at its funniest. (Spoiler: That's me being sarcastic - though the punchline at the end isn't bad).

Picture spin quiz

Ian Hislop: This is a physicist at CERN who said that the history of physics was largely created by men. He implied that women weren't very good at physics, but nowadays there are so many women getting jobs in physics that men couldn't get a job. I didn't really follow his argument. 
Alexander Armstrong: Do you remember what his name was, the professor? 
Naga Munchetty: Idiot. 
Alexander Armstrong: He was Professor Alessandro Strumia from the CERN laboratory project. That's part of the Large Hadron Collider, isn't it? He's upset female scientists and womenkind. One of his claims is that Oxford University has lengthened its science exams by 15 minutes specifically to help women. Why is this so shocking? 
Josh Widdecombe: Because it's not true?
Alexander Armstrong: No. Because it is true. According to the Telegraph: "Students taking maths and computer science examinations in the summer of 2017 were given an extra 15 minutes to complete their papers, after dons ruled that 'female candidates might be more likely to be adversely affected by time pressure.'" 
Naga Munchetty: Have we got much longer? I'm feeling a bit faint. 
Ian Hislop: I'm going up to get more paper. 
Alexander Armstrong: This is the Italian scientist who told a group of female physicists that physics was invented by men. Professor Anne-Christine Davis, a physicist at Cambridge University said, "I just don't know what planet he lives on." I'm afraid you've rather played right into his hands. 
The 'crimes' of that "idiot" professor, as BBC Breakfast's right-on, oh-so-impartial Naga so charmingly called him, were first exposed to the world by the BBC. He's now been censored, to the point that it's no wonder that Ian Hislop can't follow his original argument. (Wonder if Ian's bothered to look into that?).But is Professor Strumia actuially a very modern 'heretic' and more sinned against than sinning? (Links abound).

After all that, we probably need a laugh, so here's a funny joke:

I have a bumper sticker that says, "Honk if you think I'm sexy". I just sit at green lights until I feel good about myself.

6 comments:

  1. Ian Hislop's style of humour has had its day. I used to smile at the Eye cover on the newsstand - but not any more. It's all so predictable. In HIGNFY, the 'jokes' follow such a well-trodden path that any one of us could write the script.

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  2. Alexander Armstrong is secretly non-PC isn't he? Well, judging by his old Amstrong and Miller thing - which was definitely setting iself against the tide and had some v. funny stuff in it.

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    1. True, & on Friday's HIGNFY it was Armstrong who pointed out that Hislop had underestimated the size of Boris's audience - but let's keep that quiet lest the Beebmachine decide to dispense with his services!

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  3. ‘Naga Munchetty: Idiot.’

    Likely what preceded ‘Hire her anyway’ on the top floor email back to HR.

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