Every Briton should stockpile water and food supplies, government advises
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/22/britain-prepare-infrastructure-attacks-hostile-states-wes-streetingOpen linkView original on programming.devSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on programming.devhttps://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/22/britain-prepare-infrastructure-attacks-hostile-states-wes-streetingOpen linkView original on programming.dev
10 replies
Well I've got tins and baked beans so I'm going to survive the apocalypse I guess.
Stupid advice, what exactly is the average person supposed to do, most people are living paycheck to paycheck as it is and they don't have the extra cash sitting around to stockpile just in case the world happens to end on their watch. Wouldn't it be a far better idea to just prevent such a situation from happening in the first place?
I think the most alarming thing about this is the 72 hour claim. Are we expected to be pacified or reassured that the government will be able to respond within 3 days if an unexpected catastrophic event occurred - an attack on our water supply systems (or destruction of a couple of reservoirs) would lead to weeks or months of outages. It will take MPs a month to conclude the debate on a proposal for a consultation on a response.
Recently the largest supermarket chain in the country here saw suspicious activities on their servers and had to shut down nearly everything to contain the hack. Online delivery was stopped immediately, empty shelves soon followed. It took them a week to get the logistics back in order.
That was an unsuccessful attack that paralysed nearly 40% of supermarkets here. No need to use the stockpiles just yet, but a good indicator that it doesn't take much for shelves to go empty for a bit.
I don't think it's about a widescale attack with catastrophic loss of infrastructure.
You're right, in those situations 72 hours isn't going to help much.
A more realistic scenario might be power failures across a region caused by extreme weather. Or something like the Spain and Portugal blackout last year.
Last year during a storm a tree came down and blocked our road for 36 hours. They had over 60 across the area to deal with. We've had 6-8 hour powercuts caused by a bird because the power infrastructure here is 80 years old and fragile.
Nearby, a fault with a valve meant 5000 people didn't have running water for a week. They were able to provide bottled water but they had to prioritise vulnerable people so this just means you don't need to be top of the list.
Our modern society is incredibly fragile.
They say with a smile while knowingly destroying the very climate and infrastructure that provides us with our water and food.
Stockpiles only help in the very short term. This is rubbish advice from the very people who are meant to secure access to basic necessities for the population.
Yeah I think this is a thing that's getting overlooked a lot lately, not just in the UK but in general. We have governments giving us advice about how to navigate all these things, but everyone seems to have forgotten that the government's entire job is to keep things running smoothly and keep society on the rails. If we have endless financial crises, entire generations that can't afford homes, police that won't or can't come out to investigate crimes, climate change running rampant because corporations never face consequences for polluting etc. the what the actual fuck is the government for?
It'd be like if I showed up to work and handed out a flier that said "I'm still getting paid but no longer doing any work. Here's some things you can do to navigate that situation..."
Zombie apocalypse?
The home office would prefer the term “Post-Mortem Biological Emergency (PMBE)”. Three days worth of water ought to cover it.
WW3
There it is