Now I'm instantly nervous about the demands of doing a weekly column.

I'm much more used to the TV shows, which are demanding to write and perform but very fulfilling.

I had an Edinburgh, middle-class childhood and a public school education.

When George Bush finally leaves the White House, the satire industry will briefly join the rest of the economy in recession. It will certainly be the end of an era.

I am just fascinated by this reassurance from a menacing figure. It is rather frightening.

William Hague, the world's favourite hairline.

It is a weird thing, because most people tend to get more conservative as they get older, but I find myself going the opposite way. I am sure that by the end I will be selling Marxist pamphlets on the Holloway Road.