Ian Hislop is a renowned satirist, most widely known for his appearances on the current affairs quiz programme Have I Got News For You and for editing Private Eye. He likes satire because he says that it is the ‘bringing to ridicule of vice, folly and humbug. All the negatives imply a set of positives’.
He was part of the Spitting Image team in the 1980s and went on as Private Eye editor to become the most sued man in English legal history because of the number of people (such as Robert Maxwell and Peter Sutcliffe) who took offence at the harsh comments published unashamedly in his magazine.
We may see other people as fair game, but we are easy candidates too, and are satirised by none other than Jesus, whose comment about the planks in our own eyes used humour to bring folly and humbug to light.
