Q&A returned to the airwaves on Monday night brandishing a theme for the political year to come: It's the economy, stupid.

The old Bill Clinton campaign mantra was never uttered out loud - no one actually called anyone else stupid, though on Q&A it is often implied with an eye-roll or a discreet grunt. And of course, if direct insults are your main bag there is always the Twitter stream, where you can find "stupid" translated into something more accessible like "you mange-ridden dildo-head".

The panellists, in the main, kept it polite, even as tangents were pursued and opposing agendas prosecuted. Of the latter, the main argy-bargy came between - surprise! - duelling voices of the right and left.

James Pearson is CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry - the big end of town - and Sally McManus is head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, voice of the workers. Pearson, trigger-happy and ready to jump in when invited and often when not, was not inclined to give McManus an inch.

When harried met Sally? Not quite. Pearson is as cool as a middle-aged, white, male cucumber in a suit and tie can be, and McManus is not for turning. It fell to Tony Jones, back in the host's chair after missing the last weeks of the program's extended 2017 run, to maintain order.

Early on, McManus said: "You have employers who aren't even paying the minimum wage."

Jones: "We're going to come to these issues."

Indeed we were. Right now, as Pearson insisted.

"That is a grab bag of accusations about the business community..." he began.

McManus: "They're all true though."

Pearson: "…which I can't let go unchallenged. So let's have a look at the facts."

As the audience emitted a cross between a moan and a mild jeer, Jones cracked the whip with a smile: "OK, we've got a long time to talk about this. Audience, you're going to hear a few things you don't agree with from time to time. Stay cool."

Stay cool!

This is a new addition to the Jones disciplinary lexicon, and a welcome one, perhaps replacing his patented "I'll take that as a comment", which did not make a single appearance on the first show of the year. The closest he came was a good-natured rebuke of the first questioner of the night, who was advised: "I will interrupt you because you're verging on becoming a panellist. However, you've made some strong points."

And as McManus and Pearson went at it, Jones was equally alert to the need for flow.

"I will interrupt you," he advised Pearson at one point during a lengthy dissertation on company tax rates, "because Sally McManus will burst otherwise."

Later, on penalty rates, Jones again intervened with the business boss: "We'll come to penalty rates. Sorry to interrupt you."

Pearson was undeterred. "Sally raised it."

And for Pearson, nothing McManus raised was to be left unchallenged.

The panel traversed the economic landscape - if you were playing Economy Bingo, you'd have had all boxes marked: Living Wage, Tax Cuts, Tax Dodging, Penalty Rates, Industrial Action, Interest Rates and more.

But there was one you probably missed: Idi Amin, the one-time ruler of Uganda who was rumoured to be a cannibal. Who better to drag into a discussion of the modern Australian economy?

This task fell to economist Chris Richardson, who along with Australian Industry Group boss Heather Ridout spent the evening straddling both sides of the fence on questions of economic fairness. In a debate on wage levels and unemployment, Richardson reminisced: "Idi Amin … was told in Uganda 50 years ago that unemployment was a problem so he made it illegal. You have to be sensible about what you're trying to do and how you're trying to do it."

Which prompted journalist and professional gadfly Stephen Mayne to offer this.

"One crazy thought bubble. Idi Amin might like this," Mayne began.

"One way to help the poor. Gina Rinehart is worth $22 billion. The WA state government has got $35 billion in debt. It is ridiculous that one person has made $22 billion while the whole state that owns the assets that she's made money out of is $35 billion in debt. So you want to help the poor? Gina donates $20 billion and it gets allocated to low-balance, female super funds."

This drew huge applause, but mostly laughter on the panel.

And it prompted this from Tony Jones: "Now, before we move to the world where billionaires are stripped off their assets, Mr Amin, can we please hear from Heather?"

It could be that kind of year. Everybody stay cool.