Hi, I'm Anouche, and I'm Stephen.

And on today's New Statesman podcast, we discuss the aftermath of COP and you ask us,

why should I fill in time sheets for my carers allowance when MPs don't have to do the

same for their second jobs?

So it feels like a hell of a lot has been happening in British politics since then, but we're

actually only recording, you know, a short period after the COP negotiations and the last

minute changes to the agreement, Alex Sharma, the COP minister was visibly sort of crying

and tearful and apologise to delegates when he announced what they decided, which was to

phase down the use of coal rather than phase it out.

May I just say to all delegates, I apologise for the way this process has unfolded and I'm

deeply sorry. I also understand the deep disappointment, but I think as you have noted,

it's also vital that we protect this package.

Boris Johnson claimed it as a triumph. Stephen, do you think COP was a failure or what did they

achieve? The answer is always a bit of both, right? Without wanting to sound incredibly

sort of depressive about it, the last 25 were not particularly successful and therefore there

was not much reason to suppose that the 26th would break that pattern. But look, I think actually,

in terms of like the challenge, if you are an environmental campaign in a democracy,

for the most part, COP 26 means you can move from going, will you please make this promise to

OK, you need to honour this promise. It is the first time since 1997 and there's been

an international agreement in any language on coal. The flip side is does in practice phase down,

actually just mean keep using it at the same rate. Now to let people behind the curtain,

one of the things I pitched for my column this week was precisely on this theme,

...