Sam and Anne manage about three points from the “10 things you didn’t know about Mel Stride” briefing before getting onto the substance of the day.    (Licenced pilot and unpublished novel, by the way)    It is the shadow chancellor’s big day at Conservative conference in Manchester – where he’ll identify billions of pounds of budget cuts – is there a distinct policy difference between ‘Melonomics’ and Reform UK?    And, away from Manchester, should China be considered a friend or enemy of Britain after spy charges were dropped?