The Government advice re emergency packs

The big issue aside from weather is cyber attacks.

I believe the “glitches” that happen are successful attacks.

If I was flying anywhere I would definitely take out a specialist insurance.

If the Russians could cause us major disruption particularly over Christmas I am sure they would.

God - how depressing is all this .......

fancythat

Galaxy

I quite regret following government advice during the last emergency so I have completely ignored it all.

Why and why?

Because a great deal of it turned out to be utter nonsense.

I'll never forget seeing a sign on some curtains in a church hall telling me not to touch them.

Luckygirl3

God - how depressing is all this .......

Possibly very for those of us with "wobbly health" be it mental or physical.

Doodledog

Oh, and there can’t be advice about where to go (assuming we need to leave the house) as there is no expected emergency. The advice is not for war in particular but for any sort of disruption to normal life. In most cases we would probably be better off staying at home, but better to do that in relative comfort than to stumble around in the dark and cold, with nothing to eat or drink.

^
AI Overview

A government grab-and-go bag is a portable, easy-to-carry emergency pack designed for rapid evacuation if you have to leave your home quickly during a crisis such as a flood, fire, or severe power cut.
Official UK guidance from the Cabinet Office Prepare Campaign recommends keeping a compact go-bag ready near an exit.

What to Put in Your Grab-and-Go Bag
^

Go to where exactly?

Leave house.
But as you say, I would have thought, in a lot of circumstances. best to stay put.
[not for fire[is a house suddenly going to get hit by fire?] or flood.
If you have power cut, chances are, those around you do too.
Maybe I am being to negative.

I think what I am most thinking about is nuclear.
Would you then go to somewhere??

I need to look up what is supposed to go in one of those.

If I was flying anywhere I would definitely take out a specialist insurance.

Ooh. Will look into that as well.

Have ordered a torch and a battery radio. Will be stocking up on pet food and body cleaning wipes/dry shampoo. Probably have enough in the cupboards for a couple of weeks.

*I think what I am most thinking about is nuclear.
Would you then go to somewhere??*

Personally, In the event of a nuclear strike I wouldn't try to stay alive. I don't think that is a likely scenario though. Modern warfare is far more likely to attack infrastructure and undermine systems - be they cash supply, food chains, power, transport or whatever.

I am absolutely not panicking. I am calmly adding an item or two to my shopping every now and again, and putting things together in one place so I know where they are. We do have food in the cupboards, but I don't think about what's left when we are using it. Having a separate 'stash' means that I know for sure that there is enough of the sort of food we can eat without cooking, and water to drink.

Personally, In the event of a nuclear strike I wouldn't try to stay alive. I don't think that is a likely scenario though

I would try to stay alive.

I wouldnt at all rule out a nuclear strike.
Nor an "accidental" one, from somewhere or other..

merlotgran

^I have bottled water and lots of soft drinks^

Am I being dense here? Won’t there be water coming out of the taps?

Water in the tap depends on water companies access to electricity for pumping, etc., so it might get cut off.

I thought I had been pretty clever about all this until I realised I had forgotten the most essential of all, - water. So I've ordered some with my Tesco delivery today.

This report based on a well researched study was published in the journal, Sustainability, in January 2026, I've edited it to include what are seen as the main issues:

Abstract: There is increasing concern in many advanced economies about the risks of disruption and crises in agri-food systems. Government departments and non-governmental organisations are working to identify and understand specific risks but struggle to take broad, holistic perspectives and therefore underestimate the potential for civil unrest.

In the interests of helping move from understanding to action, we convened a group of experts to map out potential pathways to acute UK food system crises and identify interventions that would build resilience and sustainability.

The experts highlighted the many existing chronic issues creating a tinderbox for an acute risk to lead to a food crisis in the UK.

These chronic issues include climate change, poor policy implementation, rising inequality, food supply chain consolidation and the risks from just-in-time supply of food.

They voted to include three acute triggers—(a) cyber-attack, (b) a major extreme weather event and (c) a major new international conflict—and described how any combination of these could lead to (d) a UK food availability and/or price shock that could result in widespread fear of unsafe or inadequate food, leading to violence.

www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/3/1342

Sustainability
2026, 18(3), 1342;
doi.org/10.3390/su18031342

If it is AI, 3 days won’t be enough.

and therefore underestimate the potential for civil unrest.

Musing that one.

I suspect it is fear of civil unrest that is driving the ‘be prepared’ advice.

If food supplies are limited and only a percentage of people have prepared for that, those who haven’t will be hungry, cold and scared, and will very probably feel entitled to what they will see as others’ ‘stockpiles’. It happened in Covid, when people who had never had a grocery delivery in their lives expected those who had done so for years to give up their slots, and people began reporting one another for buying what they saw as ‘non-essential’ items.

If an emergency situation went on for a long time I can envisage some turning to violence to get the things they could have put aside in preparation.

Maybe stock up on library books with big writing and torches?

^I suspect it is fear of civil unrest that is driving the ‘be prepared’ advice.
^

You could be right.

Something just wasnt adding up to me.

Or an attack of some sort by a foreign power.

I remember a while back seeing the start of some drama or film based on a catastrophe that led quickly to food shortages.

It was based in an urban or suburban setting.

Presumably the energy supply was down too, because people who had them were using their barbecues to cook food in their gardens, but the smell of food cooking can be noticeable from quite a distance, and it was no time at all before people without food were attacking them for it.

Prior to that, shops would have been stripped bare of anything edible.

I do not doubt for one minute that things like that could genuinely happen in real life, and quite quickly too, if a crisis were to last much more than a few days, but I try my best not to dwell on that possibility.

There is only so much we can do without crossing that line from being reasonably prepared, to being full-on American-style preppers, and as we ordinary folk in this country dont have access to guns, either to protect ourselves or to use offensively, we dont have that option anyway.

Trouble is, in the Uk, too cold to hide out in the woods.
And the woods could get awfully crowded!

I feel like I am going into farce.
Like the Labour interviews today.
AR - wine. Another Minister coffee. And him or another one, saying he wasnt going to say that he himself was following government advice.

fancythat

Trouble is, in the Uk, too cold to hide out in the woods.
And the woods could get awfully crowded!

You've got a point there!
Now I'm imagining trying to fight others for a space under the bushes. Or share - if enough of us were to share the shelter of a single (large) bush we might manage to keep warm.

I spent half my childhood either up trees or in/under bushes (how I miss those times), so bizarrely, hiding in the woods actually sounds quite appealing to me, but nowadays i doubt i could climb actree without a ladder. 😅

(Note to self: add 'ladder' to emergency box.)

As a country we're way behind the times here. I read several months ago about readiness of other European govts who have warehouses full of stuff kept in case of emergencies and their citizens already fully informed long ago about what should be kept in their homes.
I think there's real danger of panic buying now especially coming just before the warnings of 2 storms this wknd.
Food and drink wise I think I'm pretty OK but I do need a power pack and maybe a new wind up radio that's if theyre still available to buy.

Definitely scaremongering - we are so gullible!

We were without power for 13 days after the hurricane that Michael Fish said wasn’t going to happen, so I keep supplies for at least a fortnight, plenty of gas canisters for the camping stove, a hang up light for each room and a box full of tinned and dry food. Two large water tanks are full of water for washing and flushing loos. I have power packs for my phone and tablets and a library of recorded books for entertainment …..it gets very boring without electricity!