Welcome to Reeves's parallel universe of growth and riches

There is always a divorced-from-reality aspect to Rachel Reeves.

- CHRIS BLACKHURST

Her speeches and smiling public appearances give her a sense of existing in a parallel universe. Let’s not dwell on the never-explained tears.

To that end, there is the universe where the rest of Britain lives, with shuttered shops and pubs and a million young people not in work or training and a housing crisis, to name just a few horrors that have worsened on Reeves's watch. And then there is where she lives, a place with upbeat talk of growth and accomplishment.

Yet even by her standards, the chancellor conveyed the impression of being in her own world with yesterday's spring statement, one in which there was not a raging war in the Middle East. In her own inimitable, robotic fashion it was brusque business as usual, regardless of what was unfolding elsewhere.

To be fair, this was a set-piece, not predicated on the US-Israel attack on Iran. It was prepared well in advance of the first missile striking. All it did was lend the occasion a greater unreal quality. Eyes were glancing at mobiles with the latest news. Doubtless the ears would have been otherwise occupied too, if the speaker allowed AirPods.

We were told it would be “boring”, just in case anyone thought it could be anything else. It would be short, and it was that as well.