Ian Hislop
The Disruptor
Contrarian and drawn to the edge; challenges the settled answer.
Ian Hislop is a prominent satirist and journalist known for his incisive commentary on political issues. This interview reveals his commitment to providing a critical lens on news and politics, advocating for a more thoughtful and less sensational approach to journalism.
“Do you know, thinking seriously is probably pushing it? I remembered we used to do a review, we started doing it, and then we did it sort of whenever we were allowed to. And we did a career sketch once in which the basic joke was I said I'd like to be terribly, terribly rich.”
“Government, you know, I don't know how naive you think you are. And you'll say, not being naive, but just saying this actually stinks. And the whole establishment of an independent and focused civil service. It's another of these British institutions I'm quite interested in, which was meritocratic and open and focused on integrity.”
“It's just an exaggerated version of me, I suppose. And when it went on, I think no one quite knew what it would look like or turn out like. But I mean, Paul said, you know, basically most British comedy is about class anyway. So let's get this sorted straight away.”
“Poll tax was absolutely marvelous. It was just the very simple matter of the conservatives saying, this is called the community charge. We'd like it to be known as the community charge because it's a community charge. You mustn't call it the poll tax, at which point you just go, oh, it's the poll tax, we mustn't call it the poll tax.”
Political Thinking with Nick Robinson — The Ian Hislop One
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