MIKE Skinner, or to give him his stage name The Streets, looks a little tired today - but then that's what happens if you don't get enough sleep.

"I've been doing Gordon Brown hours lately," he says.

"Maybe not Gordon Brown, actually. More like Maggie Thatcher in her heyday, four-hours'-sleep-a-night and constantly on the go."

The thought of 29-year-old Mike - poster boy for geezer cool - wearing pyjamas is almost as funny as the thought of him having something in common with the Iron Lady.

Any politician looking for a realistic portrayal of life in Britain, however, could do a lot worse than listen to Mike's records.

His unique Birmingham-via-London accent and whip-smart lyrics set him apart from the crowd, and while there have been countless imitators since his breakthrough at the start of the century, he remains unmatched.

He's been a social commentator since the early noughties, when single Has it Come to This made the cultural crossover from pirate radio to the mainstream. Just over a year later came The Streets' first album Original Pirate Material.

Now, it's time for the fourth album, Everything is Borrowed.

While Mike could be forgiven for being apprehensive or excitable, he's actually calmer than he's been in months.

"It's easy to relax when the music's finished. We're getting other things done now," he says.

"We're trying to make eight videos in three weeks, so things are all a bit Challenge Anneka." Unlike previous albums, which dealt with problems with mobile phones, must-have brands of footwear and fast food queues at the end of a boozy evening, Everything is Borrowed concerns itself with wider issues - the environment, morality, history and religion. The wit is still there but the album is more sombre than past efforts.

"I threw one album away," Mike says. "I didn't think there was a problem, but everyone else did.

"It was rough to work for a year and then realise that I needed to start again.

"It was a bit annoying," he says, in a way that suggests "a bit annoying" is the understatement of the year.

He's said he will make one more Streets album before calling it a day.

"I don't want to be doing things by habit," he says.

"I want whatever I do to be different."