"Clearly the Dickinson policy that we have in place at the moment isn't working, " said Billy the First. Presumably he meant the lasting effects on children of listening to 'The Number of the Beast' backwards, or reading 19th century poems with unconventional meters that nonetheless scan perfectly to the tune of The Yellow Rose of Texas, or watching antiques shows fronted by mahogany-coloured men. And we haven't even got to Angie, baby. A proper Charlie.

Meanwhile, Billy the Second became the first of three FF-ers in 24 hours to spout his party's line on FG's law 'n' order policies, a supposedly spontaneous rush of sarcasm about drunk tanks and dumping guns in churches that was repeated almost verbatim by John O'Donoghue on Questions & Answers that night and again by Willie O'Dea on Radio 1 the next day. Boot camp for the lot of 'em until they can make a more original din.

Anyway, if This Is Me is anything to go by, the kids may be alright. Producer/presenter Sian O'Gorman's approach of having teenagers just tell their stories without fanfare makes for powerful listening. Last week, 14-year-old Joanne Kelly from Galway talked about her father's alcoholism and her family's journey with him from chaos to hope. About how she used to time the minutes between his drinks at family gatherings so that she could try to delay getting into the car when he was insisting on driving home. About the reflex reaction of glancing at the local pub to see if his car was there every time she would drive by with her mother and brothers. About joining Al-Ateen and being the one who confronted her father about his problem and asking him to go into rehab. And about her pride in him when he did. "When I thought of an alcoholic, I'd think of Homer Simpson because they always say he's an alcoholic and now when I watch it, I think he IS an alcoholic and he doesn't do anything about it. I didn't used to like to watch it, but now it's grand, " she said. A peace of sorts, and a good sense of black humour, has accompanied her father's ongoing recovery. "If one of us looks out for his car now, we all notice it and we just start laughing because obviously it's not going to be there. . . hopefully, anyway."

Ryan Tubridy got to indulge his muchavowed loathing of political correctness when the BBC's resident curmudgeon John Humphrys joined him on Wednesday. Dismissing the increase in ADHD, allergies and anything else that the pair agreed wasn't around when they were boys, Tubridy gleefully recounted an incident from the Hallowe'en just passed. "A little kid came to the door dressed as Saddam Hussein, with the big mask and the khaki gear, " he said, "and all I heard from under the mask was: 'I hope he has nothing with nuts in it.'" Once he had stopped laughing . . . and as the outraged of Ireland started texting in . . .

Humphrys revealed how much he enjoys hosting Mastermind, particularly the celebrity version.

"We do tend to give them rather easy questions to kick them off because they're not all the brightest pennies, " he said. Like the as-yet-to-be-screened famous male who was asked: "What breakfast cereal do you associate with prison?" His answer? "Cheerios".

The forever young Dave Fanning was at Collins Barracks on Thursday for the opening of its RockChic exhibition of electric guitars. The director of the National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace, divulged his love of The Kinks and Telstar and, rather more sheepishly, the showbands. "Ah, there were great players in the showbands, " Dave comforted him, "or so my father tells me."

Reviewed TThe Last Word, Today FM, Mon-Fri This Is Me, RTE Radio 1, Saturday 7.30pm The Tubridy Show, RTE Radio 1, Mon-Fri Drivetime With Dave, RTE Radio 1, Mon-Fri