This is The Guardian.

At checkout.com, we know most people have never heard of us, and that's just how we like it.

So making an advert that does nothing but talk about who we are and what we do,

well, it's kind of awkward.

And even though we're proud to be the silent partner behind some of the world's biggest brands,

quietly handling their digital payments, talking about it in an advert during a podcast,

it's just not our style, really. Checkout.com, where the world checks out.

All foreign policy is domestic.

We make a distinction that's not real.

Everything that happens out there affects us out here.

I'm Pippa Carrera.

And I'm Kieran Stacey.

You're listening to Politics Weekly for the Guardian.

Hello.

Hello.

Kieran and I are in the broom cupboard again, recording this special episode just before

Westminster breaks for the summer. And we're joined by very special guest. And we wanted to

speak to this person because it's no exaggeration to say she's probably one of the most

qualified people alive who can help us make sense of the increasingly unstable world we found

ourselves living through this past year. That's right, Pip, I'm slightly embarrassed to invite a baroness into our broom cupboard, but there we go.

Needs must.

This is somebody who has advised multiple prime ministers and heads of state over the decades,

...