In an interview BBC Today’s John Humphrys had with Labour politician Harriet Harman the subject of Jimmy Savile came up

Mr. Humphrys added that the BBC has been drawn into a ‘witch-hunt’ over the issue.

An interesting turn of phrase – and it probably reflects the opinion of many within the BBC Establishment….remember Paul Merton and Ian Hislop on “Have I Got News For You” last week? When the topic of Savile and the BBC came up they both spent most of the time prattling on about the hypocrisy of the Mail Online and Merton managed to bring Margaret Thatcher into it.

The joke is that Humphrys, Hislop and Merton are paid a great deal of money to publicly skewer politicians, bankers, celebrities etc. who might have strayed from the straight and narrow – it’s all done from the standpoint of a high moral tone. If Savile had been a catholic priest or a tory politician they would have been having a field day. But the fact is they are paid a great deal of money by the BBC and they just can’t bring themselves to bite the hand that feeds them.

Which is why, Mr. Humphrys, we are all enjoying it so much – it’s schadenfreude – the taking of pleasure from the discomfort of others, the laughter generated when the trousers of a particularly pompous and moralising bore fall to the ground in the midst of a hectoring tirade.

And do you know what gives it an extra bit of spice, Mr Humphrys? It’s the fact that it irritates you, it grates on your sensitivities – and it will be bubbling around for a very long time..

It couldn’t happen to a nicer group of pompous, moralising bores…..