“Things will get worse before they get better.” That was the gloomy warning given by Keir Starmer this week, in his first major speech since becoming prime minister.

Labour have previously blamed the Tories for the ‘economic black hole’ they say they’ve found in the public finances since taking office. But what did Starmer mean when he referred to a ‘societal black hole’ left by his predecessors? And if there are cracks in British society, how does the government fix them?

Amol and Nick are joined by Starmer’s former director of policy and expert on the working class Claire Ainsley – now a director at the left-leaning thinktank, the Progressive Policy Institute.

And Tom Walker - the comedian behind the fictitious political correspondent Jonathan Pie - is in the studio to give his moment of the week and reminisce on some of his favourite bloopers by news reporters.

If you have a question you’d like to Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or email us [email protected]

Episodes of The Today Podcast land first on BBC Sounds. Get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme.

The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the UK’s most influential radio news programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick has presented the Today programme since 2015, he was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before that and also previously worked as ITV’s political editor.

You can listen to the latest episode of The Today Podcast any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”

The senior producer is Tom Smithard, the producer is Hatty Nash, research and digital production from Joe Wilkinson. The editor is Louisa Lewis. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Mike Regaard.