To think we are being lined up for something?

Can you imagine all the accidents from
people desperately trying to get home from wherever they are..

I would expect that to be something that would lead to a world wide warning response. This seems to be a UK-only manufactured panic, so it's about the election and an attempt to mask the many and various disastrous economic and societal outcomes of the policies of the government you have had for the last decade (not just Brexit).

Yes we could have a Carrington event, we are probably due one.

Could be about solar storms. They are still very active, and a strong one could knock out telecommunications and other tech, as happened in 1921, or if we know about them coming, it might require systems to be shut down temporarily to prevent damage.

At present we have about 20 minutes warning before one hits. The UK is developing a satellite to watch the sun and give us a few days to prepare in future.

That might mean certain systems are shut down in preparation for it. So three days worth of food and water would be extremely useful in that case.

Edit: because I think there would be a stay-at-home order in this case, since not even traffic lights will function, or emergency services communications, so to prevent injuries that cannot be treated it would be safer for people to stay indoors for a few days where possible.

What ? I had covid TWICE BEFORE THE VACCINE ROLL OUT. Please explain how?

Mmmm. The situation has changed now though hasn’t it.

I think the monarchy and the House of Lords should be abolished and an entire new system put in place but the trouble atm is that some members of the House of Lords are the only people atm taking their jobs seriously and scrutinising legislation properly and making technical amendments, which is what the members of the House of Commons should be doing, when the majority of them are incompetent and spend their time grandstanding for the media.

Bliair and his cohort are the reason I can never vote Labour. Johnson and all his mates who swigged Prosecco but told us to stay home are the reason I can never vote Conservative.

Will the Monster Raving Loony party have a candidate this year?

Just like Tony Bliar was a champagne socialist. He said “we’re all middle class” while his family were holidaying in the Seychelles (when the children should have been in school). He awarded himself a massive pay rise on his re-election, and he made sure from the very beginning that the Blair Rich Project bore fruit: all for him.

If the Labour Party now had any principles, they would have vocally opposed his knighthood, and condemned his illegal war, but not a word.

Do you think the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are having more of an impact? They’re escalating, and the UK is far from self-sufficient re foodstuffs & household items (ie loo paper)

Quite!

Reading this thread and lolling at the advert that keeps coming up

They have always told the public to have 2 weeks of spares in case of unexpected shock to the infrastructure from whatever source. The two weeks I understood was based on an estimation of how long it would take for the government to get into emergency mode and for food to start flowing again, the infrastructure repaired and so on - though perhaps rationed.
I am assuming they must have reviewed this calculation and extended it to four weeks, given that we regularly have shortages now. Perhaps the review was based on actual Covid response, actual food supply shortages etc.

The crisis must be the Labour Party getting voted in to leadership.

If you have the finances and room to store some basics, then do so ( without crazy panic buying), that way the government can concentrate on those who have less resources and will need help
Obviously this advice is correct & proper, BUT if there are food shortages I fear that the wealthy & strong will grab it all while the poor & weak get none😑

Yes.
The situation is that the UK in particular has had this warning from their Government, just before trade disruption brought in by brexit.
That people are assuming it is because of a zombie apocalypse is very stupid of them.

It's good to see there are some MNers with common sense. Honestly, some of these posts are just mad.

Again, I would think the experience of people who were working in ICU is more important that your experience or mine.
But that requires you not putting yourself at the centre of the Universe.

I'm sure I read something recently which explains it (can't remember where exactly but it was from quite a reputable source, I think. Possibly the Economist, or somewhere like that) It looked into how this type of conspiracy theory thread comes about. From vague memory it said that whenever there is a press release about an update to public information, even though that's literally all there is to it - that there has been a change to some website or other - some bugger will jump on it and assume that BECAUSE it's reported widely in the popular press that there must be a deeper, hidden meaning and "something we're not being told yet". It was analysing the reasons why some people do this.

It explained that all governments do this disaster planning, and have been doing it for years, including ours, but that before the pandemic ours was not given the same focus and thorough revision that other countries's plans have, hence us not being terribly prepared for the pandemic. Also, technological advancements of the last few years have meant that cybersecurity has become much more of a focus. As others have mentioned climate change is bringing extreme weather and this has had an effect on crops around the world, something which I think the National Audit Office found last year that we are underprepared for. So post-pandemic there has been a lot of work done by the government to try to bring us in line with other countries, and of course now and again there will be a press release about it.

With the result that the tabloids seize upon their chance to sell a few newspapers/generate some income online by deciding that this piece of information needs to be on the front page instead of appearing as a small factual paragraph a few pages in. All the better if it appears alongside words like "chilling" or "calamitous" or some other emotive adjective. Then these type of threads appear, because people are just reading the wrong sources, putting 2 and 2 together and making 5.

It's ALWAYS been sensible for households to have some extra supplies of food and water in for short-term need in the event of a severe weather event, power cut, illness etc. The government has advised this for years and years. It's nothing new. Just because public information is tweaked every now and again to stay in line with technology or world events, it doesn't mean that a disaster is imminent in the next month or two.

As a few people have mentioned, though, I don't think it's any coincidence whatsoever that a general election has just been announced. Unsettle people, make them look to the people in charge for reassurance, and each side will use the pandemic for their own argument. The Tories will try to suggest that they led the country successfully through the pandemic and they "protected the NHS". Labour will bang on about Partygate and hypocrisy and the upset to the economy. It's going to be like watching 2 schoolkids arguing over whose fault it was that the school guinea pig got out. I can't wait. 🙄

Didnt you know they are a distinguished social commentator who is also best friends with a lot of the royals especially Kate?

Yes it is quite normal, as is advice to be prepared in case of some sort of disaster. For some reason so many in the UK seem to think nothing will ever happen to them - and if it does "the government" is apparently supposed to sort it out, rather than people taking some sort of responsibility for themselves.

@BeverForget YANBU. Something is def in the offing and it worries me hugely...

Panic buying hasn't happened because no-one believes the government anymore.

How long ahead? What month were they printing stickers?

The government website in the last few days released advise for all citizens to ensure they have three days worth of emergency supplies. The supermarkets had çoncerns regarding panic-buying but this hasn't seemed tò happen. Not sure if that might account foŕ it. It's not uñusual for gòvernment guidañce on prepardness to be issued, but maybe with the way the world us going at the moment it came across as a portent.