By any measure the supposed transformation has been remarkable. Around eight months ago when she delivered her budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves painted a picture of a near-broken Britain, a country saddled with debt. Wind the clock on and last week we were told we are now on the dawn of a new era as she unveiled a blueprint for growth and recovery, in part largely because she has “stabilised” the economy.

It gives me zero pleasure to talk the country down, I want it to work for me and for my family as much as anyone, but the reality lies a long, long way from Reeves’ ramblings – as just about every indicator shows. For a start, what do the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England have in common? They have both downgraded their forecasts for UK economic growth, one of them by more than 50%.

Unemployment is up by 276,000, the number of job vacancies is down, inflation is back up at 3.5%, GDP contracted by more than was feared in April and with the national debt nudging £3 trillion, the interest alone on debt repayments comes in at more than £105 billion, greater than the annual budget for defence.

And I’ve not even mentioned business confidence, the number of pay roll employees falling drastically (which speaks to firms’ lack of ambition to hire staff) and consumer spending.

The truth is this economy is as “stable” as England’s defence under talentless Thomas Tuchel. As most financial commentators last week agreed over the fate of the Chancellor, this looks like her final round in the last chance saloon.

As for the Government’s desire to spend , spend, spend, what’s not to like about extra investment in the NHS, education, defence and more jail spaces?

The answer to which is a simple four letter word: cost. And never lose sight of the fact that each and every time a government minister pledges to spend more on anything from military to medicines, it is our money they are wilfully splurging.

Billions on this, billions on that and even billions on the other – every last penny is funded by US! As I challenged Chancellor Rachel Reeves on my show last week about how this eye-catching largesse would be funded, the glaring disingenuous of her responses to me – and other interviewers – was exposed.

“There is nothing in this spending review that I have announced that will require any additional lift in taxes,” she told me.

While we must all hope she is right, virtually every financial expert disagrees and whatever the outcome, ‘taxing’ times lay ahead for this under fire Chancellor.