How Private Eye Became the Establishment’s Court Jester

A polemic in one act

For years, Private Eye occupied a enduring place in British life. The Private Eye Annual a.k.a. the middle-class Lynx box set was thing elderly relatives bought you every Christmas because they thought you were vaguely politically aware. It sat on bookshelves next to the Box Sets of Yes, Minister, signalling that the household possessed a certain polit…