JEREMY Hardy provided an entertaining evening of observational humour, delivered in a ruminative and relaxed style.

The first half was more topical and biting, with politicians of all parties and the police among the varied targets.

There were also some very funny deliberations on the English language compared with French, and on food - "The British national dish is leftovers."

Hardy had done his homework and he worked in plenty of references to this area.

He also has a healthy line in self-deprecation.

Some of the stories after the interval were over long and, on the whole, the evening was rather one-paced and lacking in light and shade.

But there were some clever lines.

After describing how new brides tended to transform their husband's wardrobe, he commented: "Getting married is a bit like joining the witness protection programme - you get new clothes, go to live in the suburbs and can't see any of your old friends."

At the end he described the audience as having been 'sweet' - I am sure he meant it as a compliment but perhaps a crowd more prepared to enter into verbal feedback would have allowed him to display his quick-wittedness still further.

But the sell-out nature of his performance shows there is a strong demand for such comedy in this area, which local promoters would do well to tap into.

AT