Necessity may yet force the two contenders for the post of Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, to address the true scale of the unfolding economic crisis. It affects not just the nation’s financial affairs as a whole but that of many households across the United Kingdom, where the gap between income and expenditure will reach breaking point this autumn. Many people, not just the poorest, already have a tough time making ends meet. All the signs suggest their situation will soon be much worse.

But so far, most of the economic debate between the two candidates is based on the assumption of something approaching normality; in other words, each is addressing the British economy as it was a year ago, with all its undoubted problems of inequality, low wages and poor productivity, not the economy as it is or will be in six months’ time, with all those issues compounded by high and rising inflation, falling living standards, millions of people facing a winter choice of heating or eating, and a health service on its knees.