Hello and welcome to Not Another One, the podcast with me, Steve Richards, Miranda Green, Ian Martin and Tim Montgomery. Tim isn't with us for this podcast, but Ian and Miranda are. And we're getting

used to, I wasn't there last week. It's the first time I've missed it, actually, and you were all

brilliant. So, you know, I was disappointed. That's very kind. You were missed. I had hoped it

would sound terrible and boring, but it great we did miss you actually steve

and not just for your you know incisive analysis but also because we needed somebody to do a jimmy

stewart impression yeah that is the only reason i was missed i know i know the brutal reality of the situation. We were

quite good though because we didn't sort of, I don't think, try to sort of get something out

there that we knew you'd be absolutely disgusted by as an opinion. Did we hear? I don't think

we were naughty. No, I don't think so. No, we didn't stray into Brexit or anything. I disagreed with some of your assessment on Is Starma Blair, but that, we'll have to do a follow-up on another.

Although it might come up on the theme we're going to be exploring inevitably in this podcast, which is the government's big welfare announcement,

which comes on many different layers.

So unless you've got anything else to reflect on, we'll get going with that.

Have you had good weeks and all that kind of thing?

You know, anything to report back?

Well, the world gets more and more interesting.

Plenty to talk about, to put it politely.

But yeah, no, you're absolutely right, Steve.

This is the big question this week.

After weeks, months, even where it's just seemed as though nothing is happening domestically,

although, of course, a lot is happening domestically. But everything's been about the international stage. It's back to the really hard yards, the difficult business of domestic

politics. So welfare is the question. Yeah. So here is my broad assessment, and then the two of you

can tell me the degree to which you disagree, that if they had been deadly serious about welfare reform,

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