I remain astonished that people read the Sunday newspapers and treat them as an accurate representation of reality.

The Waltzing Matilda vignette is a classic of the genre. A telling detail from the heart of power. A cynic might think it’s a rather convenient illustration of the PM’s apparently roguish insouciance.

It also serves a more directional purpose for the narrative. This huge moment is cast in heroic, almost romantic terms. A heroic clash of personalities (great leaders) rather ebbs the more mundane details of all of trouble to come.

The real story isn’t personality and high politics (although these are important). The real story is the extraordinary disruption that might result - the details that ruin lives - and these are hardly more than an after thought.

Deep in the farcical weeds is the suggestion of ‘an emergency stimulus package to reassure the markets and stimulate the economy.’ Let me be clear, actually clear not faux clear, the markets will not be reassured.

And as for stimulating the economy I’m old enough to remember that apparently, only a week ago, there was hardly any money left. But apparently there’s loads. How very confusing.

But here’s the problem. You can’t stimulate away gigantic traffic jams and shortages of crucial goods. And you can’t stimulate away dramatically higher import price and the evaporation of export markets. You can’t stimulate the parts of your economy that are now dead.

The extent of the faith in the miraculous powers of government by those who do not really believe in government is as cognitively dissonant as Kermit the Frog contemplating a meal at an old school French restaurant.