In The News This Week (the Have I Got News For You podcast)

In The News This Week (the Have I Got News For You podcast)

While the TV show is on break, this pod brings you a tasty edit of the news items that would have made it onto the programme – as a quartet of some of the creatives behind the scenes at the show discuss what makes each item Have I Got News For You worthy. Hosted by Jack Harris, Queenie Miller, Emerald Paston and Mike Rayment. A Hat Trick Podcast

Episodes

March 18, 2026 35 mins
In Round One, the team discuss Donald Trump’s plea for military help from Europe with Iran, his deteriorating relationship with Keir Starmer and his secretary of war’s wife’s new nickname. In Round 2, we hear what recent event Morrissey will take a “year to recover” from, why Winston Churchill might be replaced by a beaver and how modern-day treasure hunters still exist. In Round 3, the Missing Words Round, we learn about a the 7...
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In Round One, the team discuss the UK government’s response to the escalating conflict between the US and Iran, Tony Blair’s latest intervention in Middle Eastern politics and whether Keir Starmer’s stance could really be his “Love Actually moment”. In Round Two, we hear about the spectacular downfall of former US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, from luxury deportation jets to a $50k Rolex in a super-prison, before heading...
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In Round One, the team discuss the latest escalation in the Middle East, America’s questionable branding strategy (“lethalitymaxxing”) and the political fallout at home as Reform UK’s supposedly unstoppable rise proves… very stoppable in the Gorton and Denton by-election. In Round Two, we celebrate 30 years of Pokémon (and discover there are now 1,025 of them, including one that is literally a bag of rubbish), before heading to May...
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In Round One, the team discuss the arrests of Prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the viral “sweating” photo, calls to remove Andrew from the line of succession and Donald Trump’s tariff plans being struck down by the US Supreme Court. In Round Two, we hear about the Sheffield Co-op going viral for the symphonic hum of its freezer aisle and the Catford residents who installed (and then mourned) their own fake speed camera. In Round ...
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In Round One, the team discuss Barack Obama ‘breaking the internet’ by suggesting aliens are real, Liz Truss finally managing to snag a photo with Donald Trump, and Keir Starmer being accused of running a “zombie government” after yet more U-turns — from delaying local elections to the Palestine Action proscription row, plus some properly murky Westminster briefing wars. In Round 2, we dive into the Winter Olympics’ lost property b...
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In Round One, the team unpack the latest in Keir Starmer’s leadership wobbles, how Morgan McSweeney’s taken the fall and who could be the next knife-wielder? Angela Rayner? Wes Streeting? Or the UK’s answer to Zohran Mamdani, Ed Miliband…  In Round Two, we hear about Australia’s commemorative coin that somehow makes the late Queen look like Wayne Rooney in fancy dress, and the Armenian party proposing a “Ministry of Sex” to “solve”...
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In Round One, the team discuss the fallout from 3 million more Epstein Files being released and the potential implications for Peter Mandelson, Prince Andrew and Bill Gates. In Round 2, we learn about the exorcist who makes his job sound mundane and the museum that revels in personal failure.  In Round 3, the Missing Words Round, we hear about how a ‘big baby’ boxer was recently embarrassed in the ring, what Keir Starmer gave to Pr...
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The team discuss Keir Starmer’s controversial decision to block Andy Burnham from running as an MP, reportedly over fears it could threaten his leadership, before playing the ‘King of the North’ game. They then cover Kemi Badenoch’s appearance on Desert Island Discs, Suella Braverman’s defection to Reform and Labour’s plans to create a UK police body similar to the FBI. In Round 2, we learn more about policing matters but this time...
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With Donald Trump continuing to campaign for total control of Greenland and now threatening tariffs on the UK, the team ask the question: Is Starmer tough enus? Meanwhile, they also discuss Kemi Badenoch’s biggest moment yet to sack Robert Jenrick before his defection to Reform and Nigel Farage’s likeness to a duck.  In round 2, Jack reveals how one renaissance artist’s paintings had to be censored due to body parts potentially cau...
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The team kicks off the new year and new series by taking a look at Donald Trump’s attempts to establish his new world order, prompting an ambitious plan to thwart him involving Jupiter, King Charles and a fake spaceship. They also talk about Grok, the AI companion on Elon Musk’s social media site ‘X’, before the team assess Labour’s latest U-turn triggered by furious pub landlords, Jeremy Clarkson and Rick Astley... Elsewhere, the ...
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In this festive series finale, the team unpick the limited learnings from the heavily redacted Epstein files and Vanity Fair’s exposé of Trump’s inner circle, before turning to rumours of an ultimatum involving Angela Rayner, Louise Haigh and Morgan McSweeney – as Labour MPs brace for what could be disastrous May elections under Keir Starmer.Next, Emerald reveals that all three of the UK’s Norths (yes, there are three) are drifting...
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Producer Diggory steps in to reveal the heartwarming details of Buckinghamshire’s newest school – built in a millionaire’s garden before Queenie reports on the sausagey mystery gripping Bristol’s local Facebook scene. Next, Emerald offers her 2025 Transport Tidings complete with a train miracle fit for Christmas and the news that the UK’s biggest pothole has finally been filled. To finish, we play the missing word round where we le...
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Mike reveals why Zack Polanski didn’t appear as scheduled on the TV show this week before delivering the sad news that the Kidderminster Carpet Museum will be closing its doors. Next, Queenie reports on MPs demanding an upgrade to the parliamentary gym and Jack takes us through Japan’s catchphrase of the year, featuring Rihanna-levels of work, a terrifying mascot and some very old rice. In the Missing Words Round, we learn how to c...
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Producer Diggory returns to the podcast to sift through listener comments on Spotify before Emerald leads one of her famed Odd One Out rounds, this time featuring Batman, a footballing nun and robots with “ominous” Northern Irish accents who may all have links to Fathers for Justice…Next, Jack whisks us back to the so-called “golden age of air travel” as he unpicks Sean Duffy and the US Department of Transportation’s new campaign t...
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After receiving messages from several Scottish football fans, Mike apologises for his comments about their World Cup qualification prospects from last week, before taking us through the story of Mark Bryan from Redbridge, who was interviewed by the UK press after eye surgery left him hallucinating “Baywatch-style” women at all hours of the day.Queenie then reports on an Australian inmate pleading for his right to eat Vegemite in pr...
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The team chat about where the TV show was last Friday before Jack takes us through Tesco Mobiles poll of 1400 people with ‘quirky side hustles’ – some are legit, others less legit and the rest are total bullsh*t. Queenie then investigates a National Folklore survey that claims you’re more likely to be visited by a ghost if you’re under 35 and Mike reveals all about the university testing for genius in dogs.Later, we end on our Miss...
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The team briefly touch on Kim Kardashian’s new, critically panned TV show All’s Fair and The Traitors finale, before Jack (eventually) explains what 'Peppa Pig Syndrome' is whilst unpacking a Times survey of 10,000 teachers that concludes Americanisms are sweeping across UK classrooms.Later, Mike introduces us to the newest and greatest movie star on the planet (and no, it is not Jackie Potatoes), while Emerald tells us about the f...
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Mike sends in a voice note with some juicy behind-the-scenes insight from the TV show, after the recording was interrupted by the breaking Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor news. The team then discuss the strange, snail-related tax-avoidance scheme spreading across London (slowly) and play Emerald’s latest game, ‘Tax Avoidance or a Load of Pants?’Later, Queenie takes the team through the story of a teacher in Germany who took a year off s...
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Mike gives the team an exclusive preview of what to expect from Friday’s Halloween episode of Have I Got News for You, before they wrestle with another tricky Odd One Out from Emerald - featuring a UK crocodile sighting, a toilet bat and creepy crawlies scuttling amok in Google HQ.Later, Mike takes us through the unbelievable British laws you didn’t know you could be unwittingly breaking, before Queenie hosts a spooky Missing Words...
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Mike returns to the pod to reveal some top behind the scenes treats from working on the TV show before the team discuss the papers’ obsession with anti-aging studies, the UK’s newest pothole filling vigilante and the latest theory as to why humans haven’t be contacted by intelligent, extraterrestrial life. Later, they fill in some missing words from headlines about the French post office, Swansea FC, dinosaurs and more…If you enjoy...
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