Love and Liberty

Coming soon: grumpy arguments about smoking, banning things and the nanny state. In the meantime, if you’re suspicious of those who want to nanny you, or want to stiffen your resolve against being tempted to nanny yourself, tonight’s episode of The Avengers may help. Tune in to BBC4 at 11.40pm for Something Nasty in the Nursery, a rather jolly adventure in which leading figures of the British establishment are reduced to infantile idiocy by a dastardly nanny-related plot. Featuring a particularly slippery villain called Goat, and a remarkable set of pre-sit-com stars: Paul Eddington, Yootha Joyce, Clive Dunn, Trevor Bannister (even Penelope Keith, on the cutting room floor), all before they became household names of the ‘70s.

Normal opinionatedness will be resumed as soon as possible. But first I want a fry-up (as yet not banned).