The unbearable lightness of being . . gobsmacked

Am I gobsmacked? Well yes, just a bit. This is the final paragraph of a Guardian editorial on the government’s latest approach to austerity (i.e hit the weak):
 
This is austerity rebranded as reform, except without the Tory bravado. George Osborne at least called it what it was. Sir Keir  echoes Conservative rhetoric, signalling an appeal to voters who view Labour as too soft on welfare. This strategy is being shaped by his chancellor Rachel Reeves’s ­self‑imposed fiscal straitjacket and the Blairite politics of his chief of staff,  Morgan McSweeney. They aren’t unlocking Britain’s economic potential – just flattering themselves that they are. The reality is that the evidence says otherwise. But when the political choice is fiscal prudence or human dignity, this government appears to have made up its mind.
 
What I wonder is the Guardian exactly for? I packed up buying it years ago. No doubt star columnist Polly Toynbee will tell us it’s all for the best, and everybody should just be patient, waiting for Rachel Reeves’ magical uplift just round the corner, brought about of course by these very decent people in charge. Who might they be? Treasury bods who know best? The Bank of England? The City? (Where’s your cigarette paper to put between them when you need it?) My recommendation is that anybody with a bit of spare cash should invest it in BAE Systems and who knows such an investment may shortly come with tax breaks. Given how long it takes to turn the latest dream defence technology into workable reality such an investment should pay dividends for the next 20 or 30 years. Most of what Labour thought it might achieve I suspect now looks doomed, and yes international circumstances play a role. But how big a role if you can’t tell whether your compass is pointing north south east or west? The last sentence of the Guardian piece, to its credit, tells us where this particular compass is really pointing.