Hello, hello, hello, I'm Hugo Rifkin, and now we're going to be unpacking the politics of the day

from Rachel Reeves' pre-budget budget speech to why society may be slipping back into the dark ages.

And joining me are two times columnists who rarely stray from the path of reason.

And they are the very enlightened Libby Purvis. Hello, Libby. Hello. Good morning. And Renaissance man, James Marriott. Hello, James. Good morning. Do you like being a Renaissance man? Does that work for you? Yeah, very much. Which Renaissance? The current Washington Renaissance? No, the main one, where everyone was sort of painting and horse riding and fighting jewels

and writing poetry at the same time. I mean, I can probably do none of those things really. You could do the poetry. Yeah, maybe a little. It wouldn't be very good poetry, probably, but it's better than nothing. I can, I know, Libby, I can kind of see James fighting a jewel. I'm not sure I can necessarily see him winning a jewel. what do you think?

I can sort of see him refereeing a duel.

Yes.

You could be the one who stands with a bit of cloth and stuff, stuff by the side and times things, yeah. Renaissance technocrat, James Marys. I like it. Timing things may be a little beyond me. You do yourself down. Look, let's say, we've got a lot to get to cover. Let's crack on. Let's begin with Rachel Reeves' pre-budget speech. It's unusual on to me. You do yourself down. Look, let's... We've got a lot to get to cover.

Let's crack on.

Let's begin with Rachel Reeves' pre-budget speech. It's unusual for a chance to talk about a budget so close to a budget. She blamed the last government, Brexit and the pandemic for leaving the economy in a mess and said her priorities are to cut NHS waiting lists, reduce the cost of living, and bring down national debt. We have summed it up thusly.

Each of us must do our bit.

Well, there you go.

She obviously... list, reduce the cost of living, and bring down national debt. We have summed it up thusly.

Each of us must do our bit. Well, there you go. She obviously, well, we think she means,

each of us must do our bit by paying higher taxes. The Tory leader, Kemi Beanoch, has since given her

verdict. Chancellor's speech was one long waffle bomb. Look, I didn't seem to me that she told us much new in this speech, but it did seem to be a sort of a nod and a wink about tax rises. Libby, what do you think about that approach generally? I think it's ridiculous. They're at 10 past 8 in the morning and they say the Chancellor is going to make a big announcement and you think, all right, okay, you know, and you sort of dash out of the bathroom, whatever. And all she says is we're having to deal with a lot of stuff

and we want to do it for what people need and none of it's our fault. It was all the last lot and

Liz Truss end of. I mean, Kemi Biednock is right because she said it was one long waffle bomb, but it wasn't. It was really short. I mean, it quite clearly says, yes, of course I'm going to break the ridiculous manifesto pledge, you know, which was a stupid and dangerous thing to pledge in the first place. Of course, she's going to break it. Of course, income tax is going to go on. Lots of taxes are going to go on. But no, it was irritating, but it felt like the little

bit at the beginning of the budget, where they give you a little overview, and then they do

the budget. And my husband was saying, oh, when's it going to start? I said, no, it's just

finished. You know, we've moved on to the next news item. It's, I don't think it's a good tactic at all. You know, I'm so, I'm, I'm quite torn, interested to know what you think, James, because on the one hand, I kind of, I kind of like the fact that not just, not just Rachel Reeves, but all politicians, even reform are now saying, this is complicated, this is messy, we're going to going have to do difficult things but on the other hand the whole thing about how you know a thing you know yes i promised that i wouldn't raise taxes but everything's changed since last year and i was speaking to the labor MP earlier today david pindudicinski and he said similar yeah well you know the situation has changed in the last year the situation hasn't changed in last year. They knew perfectly well what the situation was going to be when they ran for election, saying they weren't going to put up taxes. And then again, the last budget, when they said they weren't going to put up taxes. They knew. Yeah, I think it's a really good point. I actually think this is kind of taps into something fundamental about what's going wrong for democracy, which is the fundamental system of democracy is that politicians have to make promises that things will get

better. And if things don't get better and politicians keep saying things will get better and they

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