The economic tremors from the Middle East reached the kitchens of working Britain this morning. The news from the border is stark: Hezbollah has deployed fibre-optic drones against Israel. For the forecaster of interest rates, it is a jolt.
For the family budgeting for petrol and bread, it is a whisper of uncertainty. The cost of conflict is never just measured in missiles. It travels through supply chains, into the price of heating oil, and into the anxiety of a pay packet that already feels tight.
The use of fibre-optic drones is a troubling evolution in hybrid warfare, immune to traditional jamming. It signals an escalation that risks drawing in more players, threatening the stability of global markets. For the worker in Rotherham or the pensioner in Paisley, yesterday's news might have seemed a world away.
But the price of instability always finds its way home. The pound flickered. Oil prices nudged upwards.
And the question for the chancellor is how to insulate households from yet another external shock. We cannot afford to ignore the cost of conflict. The real economy is listening.
