That number reinforces fears that the labour market has become very tight in the past year, a harbinger, perhaps, of upward wage pressure and broader inflation.

However, the scale of very high loan-to-income lending has reinforced fears that households could face serious difficulties when the cost of borrowing finally starts to rise.

Gloomy reports yesterday from service companies, which range from accountants and banks to hotels and cafés, reinforced fears that the country may already be in the first throes of recession.

The news reinforces fears that years of expanding waistlines are condemning youngsters to decades of ill health.

The fighting, the second outbreak in recent days, reinforced fears that there could be all-out war, drawing in regional allies.