This is The Guardian.

The immediate future of British politics suddenly changed last Thursday lunchtime.

GDP growth in the UK has slowed and the economy is now forecast to enter recession later this year.

As the UK faces five quarters of recession, a year of double-digit inflation and impossible fuel prices.

It doesn't feel like many of our politicians understand the scale of a mounting social emergency.

One of our guests today thinks he has at least part of the answer. He'd say that people should

join the trade union and people in positions of power and influence and listen to union members

unlike this fellow. Are you or are you not a Marxist? Because if you are a Marxist then you're

in to revolution and in to bring down capitalism. So are you or aren't you?

Richard you do come up with the most remarkable twaddle sometimes.

Unlike me I hasten to add right some big questions in the midst of all this centre on the labour

party. What's it for? Who does it represent? And where is it going? I'm John Harris and you're

listening to politics with the UK for The Guardian.

Joining me today are the General Secretary of the RMT Union Mick Lynch and Meata Farmballert

from the New Economics Foundation. Hello to you both. Hi. Hi.

Hi. Right Mick, thank you for coming on. We've been trying to get you for a while. It's lovely

you're here. Next week there are going to be more train strikes. There are two RMT strikes on

Thursday the 18th and Saturday the 20th of August and there's an as-left strike scheduled for Saturday

the 13th of August. Just tell us, that'll be his question really, why we're here again, why we're

still here? And there's an RMT strike on London Underground on the 19th. Okay.

I wonder if that's on my list. So yeah, the issues have been stated broadly. We've got a situation

where Grant Shaps, the DFT, have cut four billion off the railway, two billion off London Underground

...