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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud with me, Lyndon Ken Carrum. Each week we choose our favourite pieces from the magazine and ask our writers to read them aloud.

And this week we've got four brilliant pieces for you.

Coming up on the podcast, Katie Balls asks whether Rishi is a risk taker or whether he'll choose to play it safe as conference season approaches.

Owen Matthews explains why America is still Ukraine's best hope for victory.

Kate Andrews is totally baffled and exasperated by the British refusal to get checked out by a doctor.

And Ian Thompson reports from Sicily on the godfather, Greek temples,

and a misunderstanding involving

mascaponi cheese. First up is Katie Balls. When Prime Minister's sense the end is near,

they tend to follow a similar pattern. They change senior civil servants and appointees, as Boris

Johnson and Gordon Brown did. They avoid consulting their cabinet and instead hide behind special advisors.

They declare that they don't like the polls before saying that the only poll that matters is the election.

But before all of this, they usually attempt a reset.

It's rarely a sign of rejuvenation, but rather this start

the embalming process. Rishi Sunak is aware of this, which is why there's no use of the word

in number 10, as politics prepares to resume. He has so far resisted calls from backbenchers to

change course, ditch his five priorities and articulate a grand

new vision. We can't be new jerks, says the Downing Street aid of the need to stay calm in the face

of dismal polling. But while there won't be an official event or reset, a second stage of

Sunak's premiership may be about to begin. After the first year, in which he

focused on stabilising both markets and his party, he is ready to change gear. His political

operation is set to become more election ready and in sharpened attack mode. We should expect to see

...