A fragile truce with Hezbollah is barely holding as Israeli forces continue to pound southern Lebanon, raising fears of a wider Middle East conflagration. For the working families of the North, this distant conflict is not abstract. It is felt in the price of petrol, the cost of bread, and the nervous silence in the taxi ranks where drivers wait for news from relatives in Beirut.
The bombs falling on the Litani River echo in the wallets of Salford and Sunderland. The ceasefire, agreed under American and French pressure, has failed to stop Israeli artillery. Hezbollah, battered but not broken, has vowed retaliation.
Meanwhile, the government here warns of economic shockwaves. The FTSE 100 may be unmoved, but the real economy of high streets and hire purchase agreements trembles. For every salvo across the border, a pound is lost from household budgets.
The unions are watching. The cost of living crisis, they say, does not take a holiday for geopolitics.
