Hello, I'm Hugo Rifkin, and now we're going to be unpacking the politics of the day with two wise owls from the Times and the Sunday Times.

And wise owl number one is Matthew Paris. Hello, Matthew.

To wit, to woo. Very nice. And wise owl number two is Mandarin Rana, but she's currently stuck on the tube, although still very wise, but she'll be with us shortly.

Matthew, did you know owls aren't actually that wise?

Are they not?

No, they just look wise, which I hesitate to say that's a lot like a columnist.

Some columnists, of course, really are wise.

They look as if they're wearing spectacles, don't they?

Which always makes somebody look intelligent.

Well, thank you very much.

Would you like to try mine on?

Yeah, no, I want some...

I can't remember why it was. I was at the zoo,

and there was an owl handler there.

And everyone was asking if the owl was very clever,

and he was like, it's the stupidest bird I deal with.

But they look so clever. It's quite disappointing. Well, they're quite good at catching little mice, aren't they? Seeing them at a distance. Yeah, I mean, it's not easy. It's not

nuclear physics. I mean, it's not, you know, I don't know. You try it. You're right, but I mean,

Tom Whipple may be lousy at catching mice, but I still know who I'd rather, you know, was building my power station. Look, let's crack on and Manvi will join us shortly, I'm sure.

I want to talk about reform, because I think we're seeing at the moment both the Tories and Labour

reacting to the threat from Nigel Farage's party, which is now ahead, or at least this week,

was a head of Labour in the polls, albeit by a small amount within the margin of error.

...