Know Your Enemy

"The recent Leveson inquiry has thrown up many things, including the testimony of the late Jeremy Hunt. It's interesting to notice that although people criticise the fact that we now have a transport secretary who's scared of flying and an equalities minister who's against gays, nobody has picked up on the fact that a man a lot of people want to see dead is now health secretary."

Armando Iannucci takes aim at Jeremy Hunt during his recent Bafta lecture, entitled 'Fight, Fight, Fight!'. He also took pot-shots at James Murdoch, vapid commissioning editors, career politicians ("specially bred adminadroids legislabating into an empty chamber and who experience everything through the matrix of their own political blueprint for Britain") and "that colossally twattish decade of programmes that described their entire contents in their title".

Iannucci's message, in case you were wondering, is that British TV should be more confident and assertive in its own quality, and that, with the influence of commissioners and schedulers waning, the time is ripe for creative types to capitalise. It'll be interesting to see if his bullishness proves well-founded, but it's forcefully phrased, at least, and seems to be being borne out by (for instance) Sky's sudden enthusiasm for screening new comedy.