The Government advice re emergency packs

Somehow, the description 'Naive' springs to mind......

I just feel I'm making sensible decisions. As someone has said above, it could be an El Niño situation - my sister living on Exmoor had an 8 hour power cut yesterday, weather related.

If the government is being over cautious, fine by me. As for Covid, well, the unpreparedness took many loved one lives away in care homes early on due to "the government", so if this government is saying, look, "Be prepared"

Then that's wise - not controlling or panicking.

It does to me Margs, yes. Governments all over Europe are advising their populations to be prepared for emergencies, not because they want to, but because there is very significant risk. Stop burying your heads in the sand, naive people. I would say wake up and smell the coffee, but you won’t be if you’re not prepared, as you’ll have no means of making it.

Wyllow3

(I really recommend you watch the catch up on Question Time fancythat becuase the first question was on defence and again, all the parties agreed on the necessary strategy and the vital importance of action and what kind of action and defence, given matters like the Russians currently attacking undersea cables. Wes Streeting was very good but see for yourself.

It is action that is required.
Not words.

We shall see.

Margs

Oh well, if the government is advising us "explicitly" then it must be real.

We can always trust the government, can't we? Like we did during the Covid years........

But what's "real" Margs? It seems to be a mish mash of The Russians, storms and goodness knows what else.

I don't think an extra tin of salmon will help tbh.

Unless your someone who relies on a pump to keep you alive an 8hr power cut isn’t a tragedy.

You don’t need me to point out that power is not always restored after 8 hours, and the more widespread storms are, the longer it is off for many people. Not everybody’s power is back on yet following Storm Austen.

alisonsmith4

Definitely scaremongering - we are so gullible!

No, just common sense. We’ve become so complacent. A major cyber attack, digital lines cut under the ocean or tampering with the water supply and things would become very difficult very quickly.

Tinygranma

Should we not ensure we have an extra month's worth of our prescription meds as well? That is at the top of my list

How, though? Our GP practice won’t do this.

petra

Unless your someone who relies on a pump to keep you alive an 8hr power cut isn’t a tragedy.

One outage of one utility for a short time isn't a tragedy, though there are more people and organisations who DO depend on the power, or the water supply, or contact via a phone line, than you would think.

Repeated and/or sustained outages of multiple utilities in multiple locations can strain repair attempts beyond their abilities. That can cause tragedies.

Storm damage is a "natural" disaster (if you ignore the effects of human activity on the climate) but currently there are also several situations where deliberate aggressive human action could be suspected.

Here is a theoretical question for you to ponder - If you wished to stress a community to the maximum, with a view perhaps to stepping in and controlling them without or even with open warfare, in what order would you disable the utilities? (No need to post your reply to that, just base how you prepare for the coming winter of discontent on it)

Bazza

I have bought a couple of packs of bottled water, but I heats Jeremy Vine today saying that they have a sell by date as after a while the plastic will make the water unsafe become unsafe by discharging chemicals, who knew? Not me.

As for women panic buying, I fear most men will just expect an emergency pack will have been sorted by the lady of the house.

There is a date on all the bottles.
Keep in a cool dark place and replace regularly to keep in date.

One thing worth adding for anyone on regular medication: keep a few days' spare if your pharmacy allows, plus a written list of your medicines and doses with your important papers. And if your hearing or sight isn't great, a battery radio with big clear buttons is worth having, as it'll be the main source of news if the power and phones are off.

Oreo

We all have food cupboards and tins and packets and a freezer which you could use food from.We have a gas camping stove as we have regular power outages every Winter and two battery charged lamps for the same reason.Nobody needs anything else.It’s the most ridiculous nanny State scaremongering.

If the power is cut, the food in freezers will perish.

4allweknow

What am I missing with all the USB rechargeable items. Don't the USBs need to be plugged in to electricity to charge up. Yes, there are storage packs but they have to be charged up too.

You can also charge power banks beforehand.

No, a couple of surplus tins will hardly buy us more than a few days.

And to those who have replied to me that "it doesn't mean we're going to have a war!" I can only say: watch the drama 'Threads' on YouTube.

Then tell me war cannot happen in Europe. Again.