Hello and welcome to rock and roll politics, the podcast with me, Steve Richards,

the podcast where we delve deep.

We try and explore context amidst the fast-moving daily eruptions in the world of politics

and consequences, trying to look beyond the immediate to see what might be around the corner as a result of the immediate.

So in this second podcast of the week, there's a chance to delve a little more deeper in

relation to some of your brilliant emails. I get so many and early on in the week there's

kind of less chance to pluck out three or four

and kind of really explore themes arising from them. So we're going to do that in a moment,

if that's okay with all of you. Before that, just a couple of quick reflections on some of the things that have been happening in recent days

since we last gathered a few days ago in the rock and roll politics cooperative.

Rachel Reeves made her speech, her unusual, indeed unique speech in the Treasury on, I think it was Tuesday morning

at 10 past 8, interrupting all those breakfast programs to address the nation.

And I thought what was interesting about it is that although they have to do this preparing the ground for the budget,

it is very late to be doing it now. To be honest, and we've discussed this many times in the

cooperative in various kind of manifestations of kind of debates about economic policy. They really should have been

doing this framing before the last general election. There's a really big argument,

especially in opposition, but in government too for the speech. Now, I know not many people

will watch the speech live as it goes out,

and not many will read the transcript of a speech, but over time, arguments are framed

and permeate through somehow or other. Blair did it actually, in the build-up to the 97 election to the point where

a book was published, which was an anthology of his speeches, 1994 to 1997. And as saying,

not many voters will have read those speeches, but an impression is formed. The arguments

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