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UK.

Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator. I'm Cindy Yu.

This week, we'll take a look at Boris Johnson's Mission Impossible.

The Prime Minister is trying to rewire the British state. Will he succeed?

His political opponent these days is no longer Jeremy Corbyn, but Kier-Stama, who marks his first 100 days as Labour leader this month.

I find out why some in the Labour Party are sounding a note of optimism.

And finally, how loneliness

can affect more people than you think,

and they're not necessarily who you think either.

Thank you. First up, James Forsyth writes in this week's cover article that Boris Johnson is trying to rewire the British state.

But it's not the first time a Prime Minister has tried to reform the civil service.

So can he succeed? James joins me now,

together with Jill Rutter from the UK in a change in Europe, who is also a former civil servant

with experience into the Treasury, Number 10 and DeFRA. So James, let's start with you. Can you tell

us about Boris Johnson's impossible project? The paradox at the heart of Boris Johnson's

political project is that he is very clear-eyed, brutal

even about the failings of the British administrative state.

Yet he is reliant on government to deliver the changes that he needs for the economy.

Now, this makes this political project very unusual because normally in British politics,

people's view on the efficacy of government informs their view of the state. So the post-war

...