This book is hilarious, sad in parts, and terrifying as it is so easy to see the truth in the humour. Elton collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on The Beautiful Game in 2000, writing the book and lyrics (Lloyd Webber wrote the music).

Ben Elton: ‘How am I going to say something when you can’t Ben Elton: ‘How am I going to say something when you can’t

Despite there being a lot of hullaballoo in the text about all these people being killed by the same assassin (a guy in a Spurs shirt - apparently Russian budgets have been cut and their assassins can only afford one shirt), we never actually see the assassins. After a regular slot on Saturday Live – later moved and renamed Friday Night Live – which was seen as a UK version of the US's Saturday Night Live, he became the host of the programme.

It’s easy to laugh at the contortions language is forced to perform in the service of saying the right thing, and that is certainly an aspect of this novel. Ben Elton is a champion amongst the best and whole deal comedic creators and performers on the planet. I listened to this as an audiobook read by the author, and laughed aloud more than once walking along.

Identity Crisis by Ben Elton - Penguin Books Australia

It's an acronym used to denote the wide range of human sexuality, and people who fall outside traditional male/female heterosexual binarism. Meanwhile, each day another public figure confesses to having ‘misspoken’ and prostrates themselves before the judgement of Twitter.A mathematician spinning the numbers to influence public opinion, a world-weary police officer struggling to keep up with inclusivity as well as other small cogs in this magnified melting pot of rage look so like our own world that it's hard to believe this is simply fiction. Featuring comic sketches similar to those on The Ben Elton Show and staged studio discussion between Elton and 23-year-old Alexa Chung, the show's aim was to "contrast Elton's middle-aged viewpoint with Chung's younger perspective" (although Elton was responsible for the scripts).