the problem with the job at the moment is it s full on, and it s very difficult to get a plan for after. but what i ll tell you i won t be doing is back seat driving in the nue. we will leave the union on the 31st of august and then the union will take its chances and chart its own course. i will not stop being interested politically. i will not stop wanting to change the world. to make the world a fairer place, and i will not stop being outraged by child poverty. mary bousted, thanks forjoining me on political thinking. now, there are plenty of people asking the question that mary bousted is asking why don t ministers simply negotiate? i think the answer is in two parts economics and politics. they re worried that a good pay settlement for one set of workers is a good pay settlement for millions of workers. and they don t want to set a precedent that they think might undermine the effort to curb inflation. politics, because to some extent, tory ministers want to portray labour as