The war in Ukraine shows no sign of easing, and its impact is being felt across UK government. What will it mean for bills if Russian energy imports are cut off? And why is the Home Office making such a mess of the Ukraine refugee crisis? Robert Colvile, director of the Centre for Policy Studies and Sunday Times columnist, joins the pod team to discuss.
 
And a new IfG report looks back at the last crisis, which saw a lack of accountability and blame-gaming mark central government’s relationship with public bodies during the pandemic. So what went wrong and what needs to be done to get it right next time? We speak to the report author.
 
Presented by Catherine Haddon, with Giles Wilkes, Jill Rutter and Matthew Gill.
Produced by Candice McKenzie.
 
“The problem with energy is that you can’t conjure it into being” – Robert Colvile
 
“Net zero commitments are just going to be parked in a lot of countries while we deal with this crisis” – Robert Colvile
 
“Lord knows how the internal economy of Russia works right now” – Giles Wilkes
 
“I’m still recovering my morale … I might own a little bit of Chelsea” – Giles Wilkes
 
“The Home Office is fundamentally a department of control – it’s lagging very badly” – Jill Rutter
 
“It’s not an accident that the phrase ‘not fit for purpose’ was coined about the Home Office” – Robert Colvile