Catastrophe this Winter?

Your last sentence is correct.

We’re all doomed!
Might as well have another coffee -AND a biscuit.

MawsRosie

We’re all doomed!
Might as well have another coffee -AND a biscuit.

I have just purchased some fresh cream eclairs, might as well eat both of them…

A Belgian bun and a nice cold cider will do me after a swim in the ‘filthy’ sea and a sit in the sun which will of course, long term, make me ill.

The OP is genuinely worried, why would you make snide remarks like that? It is right, there's many things we should be worried about, no less a PM who wasn't even an MP who so far has no opposition at all because there's no Parliament sitting. I suppose someone will make a joke about that.

Get an allotment.

What snide remarks?

Bottom line is that we can’t do much about the wider issues but we can look at ourselves - aka you can’t change events but you can change how you respond to them.
Also recognised a long time ago as the Serenity Prayer and if we can find a little humour to help us on the way- so much the better.

We are powerless to do much, people have protested in huge numbers for years, have governments of any country listened, no.
We can do our bit but it is a pebble ripple in an ocean .
It is a sad world particularly to bring children into but I am almost vilified for saying that.

After a summer which has been a challenge, I think a challenging winter is ahead. There is not a lot individually we can do. Live within your means. Look out for others. Take care of yourself. Be sensible.
I see people in the hot sun without a hat, with very young children not shaded.
The reverse in the winter. Very young children not warmly dressed in biting winds. Sometimes I despair. But mostly I just crack on.

I do worry about how the next generation is going to cope with the world they've been left.
One of my DGC has just had a story he has written, given an award.
It's a rather depressing story set in a dystopian future but with rays of hope.

I think his stories are his way of dealing with the world he's growing up in. He's 14 now.

Mrs Boring here, I disagree that there is not a lot we can do for ourselves, because there is. We can make provision to cope with the cold, we can buy suitable food, keep our car tanks full, etc. There’s nothing we can do to control the big picture, but we can control our own preparedness.

I am sad for my 2 DDs that they have no children but I am not sad to not have GC. Future energy will be a problem as will water and sufficient food.
I agree OP a cross party government would be for the best. With a cabinet of the best from each party!
Filthy sea and rivers is a disgrace. As kids we always avoided the outfalls in the sea, but they seem to be uncontrolled now. I think we all grew up in good times for which I am very grateful.
Todays youngsters won't have the same.

We don’t have any oil reserves. BP are pulling out of the North Sea and we buy any oil we need from overseas. Renewables aren’t producing enough power as yet for us to completely forego oil. Oil is also used for many manufacturing processes such as making fertiliser without which crop production will be reduced.

So as said get an allotment (good to be out in fresh air, have physical exercise to keep you warm and socialise with others) make your own compost and if you have a wood burning stove don’t give it up. Also stock up on food items especially carrots and potatoes which will be in short supply due to drought as we did during lockdown.

The Conservative government got rid of our gas storage facilities I believe ( happy to be corrected…)…

MayBee70

The Conservative government got rid of our gas storage facilities I believe ( happy to be corrected…)…

The biggest storage facilities were closed by Centrica in 2017.

Theresa May was PM and declined to help them out financially to upgrade.

25Avalon

We don’t have any oil reserves. BP are pulling out of the North Sea and we buy any oil we need from overseas. Renewables aren’t producing enough power as yet for us to completely forego oil. Oil is also used for many manufacturing processes such as making fertiliser without which crop production will be reduced.

So as said get an allotment (good to be out in fresh air, have physical exercise to keep you warm and socialise with others) make your own compost and if you have a wood burning stove don’t give it up. Also stock up on food items especially carrots and potatoes which will be in short supply due to drought as we did during lockdown.

We do have oil reserves, according to Worldometer.

‘The UK has oil reserves, primarily located offshore in the UK Continental Shelf (the North Sea). Proven crude oil reserves are estimated at around 1.5 billion barrels, alongside several billion barrels of probable reserves and contingent resources’.

Casdon

Mrs Boring here, I disagree that there is not a lot we can do for ourselves, because there is. We can make provision to cope with the cold, we can buy suitable food, keep our car tanks full, etc. There’s nothing we can do to control the big picture, but we can control our own preparedness.

Also Mrs Boring. I've been a prepper for many years and have started to amp up food storage. I just buy a couple of extra tins (or packs of rice or beans or long life milk or anything else that will keep) with each shop. We've got batteries to store power and camping gear for cooking and stored water.

We've managed quite happily through a week long power cut (and helped our neighbours out) but not in cold weather. So that will be a test.

MayBee70

The Conservative government got rid of our gas storage facilities I believe ( happy to be corrected…)…

Was it the government or was it the private energy companies?

I've searched this and the situation is confusing.

Centrica, one of the UK's largest energy companies closed its
Rough gas storage site in 2018, but restored it in 2022 in response to fears of gas shortages cause by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It now seems that in 2025 Centrica planned to close it again in April of this year (2026) but it was granted an extension to April 2027 because of Trump's interference in Iran.

So it seems that supplies are available until then but according to this story, dated 27th July 2026, nothing is certain after that

www.gasworld.com/story/middle-east-conflict-sparks-closure-fears-for-uks-largest-gas-storage-site/2255410.article/

Make of it what you will. Perhaps others can sort it out better than I can...

My search results page:

duckduckgo.com/?q=rough+gas+storage+uk&t=chromentp&ia=web

This is not the only Rough gas storage site in the UK but is the biggest.

Well we’ll all have to learn to make do with less if the OPs worries come to fruition.

I expect we all can if it comes to it. People in the past did.

When I was a child we lived in a poor working class community but everyone pulled together when times got hard, was a matter of survival. If my old mum knew that an elderly neighbour was poorly or a family was going without she would spare what little food she had and take it to them. Other neighbours did the same. And in cold weather - and it was freezing near the Pennines - neighbours spared coal for those who could have died of hypothermia.
Those communities sadly don’t exist anymore, and families live far apart, so it is very much a case of looking after number one but maybe tough times will force us to be more community minded.
I certainly hope so.

Casdon, yes we do have oil in the North Sea but are not extracting it in the driveway for Net Zero and BP are pulling out so who will extract it should we decide to abandon net zero.

Drive not driveway

veronica678

I hope those in power are giving some thought to what is going to happen this winter.
If the situation in the Gulf goes on, what sort of oil reserves do we have? Gas? When they run out, we certainly won't get all the power we need from renewables. That will affect everything that keeps the country going. Industry, hospitals, road, rail, air and shipping.
Water shortages which we have anyway and when the rains come we don't have the means to store it.
Food shortages - we simply don't grow enough to feed ourselves, and that's without the rubbish harvest we've had this year. If oil is short, imports will be affected. The whole world is being affected and countries will feed their own people first.
I think it's time to consider a cross party government of national emergency.
Or will we all kick the can down the road and then be surprised when all hell breaks loose?

Hmmmm......that's an impressively long list of potential catastrophes.

Well, abandon all hope etc, etc, etc.

One positive aspect of diminished supplies of food - perhaps the obscene levels of food waste in the U.K. will decrease?

(Yes, wasting food is one of my pet fury-makers.).