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

from whether Kier Stalmer has shown true leadership during the war in Iran,

to Ed Davies' centrist dad dancing, and why the U.S. War Secretary Pete Hexeth doesn't wash his hands.

And joining me today are Libby Purvis from The Times. Hello, Libby. Hello. How are you? Okay, I've washed my hands. I bet what it's always vital when appearing on the radio. And an equally spotless sub pain. Yes, I've washed my hands several times this morning, Hugo. You'd be pleased to know. Do you do it while singing happy birthday? Like we were told during COVID.

That was a pandemic thing.

Wasn't that Jacob Rees-Mogg who said that?

Yeah.

Yeah, to do the happy birthday. No, I don't. I just do them until my hands feel clean. I'm enough of an adult I can cope with that. I remember just after the pandemic started, it was my birthday, because it was almost exactly, this time of year, wasn't it?

It was my birthday, and so I washed my hands singing happy birthday on my birthday

and felt a bit like Mr. Bean. There we go. What a happy memory that is to share with us. What lucky times. How lucky we are to live through these wonderful times. Speaking of which, let's start with Keir Stama's announcement today. He has announced a 53 million pound package of support for vulnerable households relying on heating oil

to protect them from rising costs caused by the war in Iran.

53 million pounds might not sound like an awful lot, and indeed it isn't,

but then there aren't that many households relying on heating oil,

but is it harbinger of greater interventions to come?

He also claimed that he has brought financial stability back to the public finances and that the UK economy is now in a better place when it was at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Libby, what do you think about this? Because I wondered, when, as he was saying it, I thought, well, maybe it feels like we have less to lose than we did back then, but maybe that's just because we already lost it. What do you think?

Well, yeah, I think there is a real problem in that there is this honourable old labour instinct to pay out and to be appearing to be absolutely always on the side of the poorest without, of course, in any way, upsetting the far less poor.

And so they don't dump the triple lock.

They don't cut back some of the more exaggerated welfare payments for the more dubious mental

illness claims.

They just can't bear to do any of that.

But then you get the question of actually paying for it.

I mean, 53 million, it feels as if the real cost of that is just being dodged.

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