Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his spending review this week amid the harsh economic effects of coronavirus and the UK's mounting debt pile. Why was foreign aid cut, should public sector workers have received a pay rise and have all the hard choices been delayed until next year? Plus, we discuss how England will exit its national lockdown next week, what happens at Christmas and why there is much unhappiness about the new system of regional tiers.

Presented by Sebastian Payne, with Sarah Neville, Jim Pickard, Chris Giles and George Parker. Produced by Anna Dedhar and Josh de la Mare. The sound engineer was Breen Turner and the editor Liam Nolan. Review clips: BBC Radio 4, Parliament

Further reading:

-‘Economic emergency’ adds pressure for a rethink on fiscal rules

-Sunak warns of ‘economic emergency’ as borrowing hits record £394bn

-Boris Johnson picks former Treasury adviser as new chief of staff

-Boris Johnson facing big backbench revolt over Covid tier system

-London set to be spared toughest Covid curbs

-UK economy tracker: the tough outlook for jobs

-England hit with tough new regional Covid curbs

-Someone forgot to tell Covid it’s Christmas

-Read the latest on UK politics

-Follow @Seb Payne and @George Parker

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Rishi's spending review and fears for new tiers