The programme's new series continues in the studio, with a live, socially distanced studio audience, in the week that saw Matt Hancock get a new job as a UN special representative, worries across the country that there will be unstocked shelves this Christmas, and continued debate about the Northern Ireland protocol.

This week's edition saw the panel's attention drawn to a new report by the Select Committee, with some scathing conclusions drawn about the way in which the government handled its response to the pandemic.

"The Select Committee was asked to look into the handling of COVID and their response was that it was... probably not very good. They actually said that it was the worst public health crisis in British history. So the government's COVID response is up there with the Black Death," pointed out Ian Hislop, continuing, "I'm not exaggerating, I'm trying to be balanced..."

"In the spirit of balance, I guess I should be here to say that... it was s***, it was really bad," joked Geoff Norcott.

"So what did the report find? It concluded that we didn't lock down quickly enough. We didn't protect the elderly in care homes. We didn't close borders quickly enough, and we were wrong to pursue herd immunity. I mean, Gavin Williamson would call that an A* performance," joked host Alexander Armstrong.

"The report was severely critical of the £38 billion Test and Trace system calling it 'slow, uncertain and often chaotic'. Dido Harding was unavailable for comment. I say unavailable... no one could track her down," he continued.

Later on in the programme, the panel's attention turned to Star Trek actor William Shatner, who has previously guest hosted on Have I Got News For You, as this week he became the oldest man to ever travel to space.

"William Shatner has gone into space. It's technically space, I think, as he was going above the Earth's atmosphere. At the age of 90, he's gone up for 10 minutes, and he's the oldest person to ever do this. He's very happy and he was quite emotional when he came down," said Paul Merton.

"Absolutely right, yes. Who did Shatner overtake to become the oldest person in space?" asked Armstrong.

"Yoda," quipped Norcott.

"He overtook 82 year old Wally Funk, who made the same trip back in July," pointed out Armstrong.

"Is this the new policy for social care, which is just firing 90 year olds into outer space?" Norcott joked.