Crisis What Crisis? Is my friend over doing the stockpiling and am I too? Continuation thread (2)

[RedToothBrush]

Continuation of the AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling thread for discussion about the government advice to stockpile for an imminent emergency and what the heck that emergency might actually be.

I'm moving it over to chat from AIBU as it makes a bit more sense to be there at this point.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5576816-aibu-to-think-my-friend-is-overdoing-emergency-stockpiling?page=1

Spoiler: it's more of a perfect storm of lots of factors coming together to potentially form one great clusterfuck from economic woes, global energy shortages (mainly diesel), potential food shortages, war and madmen to crazy weather patterns rather than a clear identifiable singular thread.

This is a practical thread and a bit of a handhold thread to make sense of events and how they may affect you. This is not an end of the world thread.

We are however going through a period where various governments throughout Europe think there is an elevated risk of some kind of problem due to global instability and we should start to get our heads around the possibility of needing to be ready for anything.

Remember an emergency can range from a temporary unexpected event to a much longer crisis but the underlying principles generally stay the same.

So this is for everything from tips and considerations about what might be a good idea to do /save minimise potential risks to just straight old political bollocks talk about how things are developing.

This is the official government information and advice, if you want further details on what the actual recommendations are:
https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/

This does actually explicitly say to write a personalised plan for your household which everyone knows and understands and to talk about the issues you may face to help you be able mobilise for any situation which might arise. Which is exactly what this thread is ultimately for.

Christopher Miller (FT)
While Musk owns SpaceX which controls Starlink systems and can impose restrictions on them in Ukraine, those that began overnight are on the Starshield military version of the system controlled by the Pentagon. This suggests the decision to limit the speed of the Starshield systems was made within the Trump administration

Thank you all and especially @RedToothBrush

I am keeping my car topped up with fuel. DH was bemused and my insistent that he fill up this morning and not let go below half a tank.

I have bought a kelly kettle and some kindling. The larder is fuller than usual and thinking hard about things that will keep. We've got herbs on the windowsill.

Nothing I have done will sustain us in a real shf situation. But it's helpful knowing we could hunker down for a few days ( and make a cup of tea)

Also worried, DD wants to go to high school in the city next year, which means moving out on her own. The thought of her being 80km away if things get scary is terrifying, find myself almost hoping she doesn't get in when she applies.

We are in the southeast, DS is in Scotland.
I hate the fact that he is so far away more now than I ever have.

Problems on the sub continent of India as well:

Small Indian factories face blackouts as coal stocks plunge:

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Small-Indian-Factories-Face-Blackouts-as-Coal-Stocks-Plunge.html

Blackouts have started to hit households and smaller Indian factories and steel mills as coal inventories at many power plants plunge while electricity demand soars amid warmer weather and much lower hydropower output.

Demand has been exceeding supply in recent weeks, leading to power cuts for households in some areas, as well as smaller factories and smelters, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

The record El Niño has led to the weakest monsoon season in India in a decade and raised temperatures to above normal for this time of year. This has strained power supply at a time when weak rainfall is curbing hydropower generation and coal stocks at dozens of coal-fired power plants are at critically low levels.

The share of coal-fired power plants in India running on critically low levels of coal inventory has soared in recent weeks to over 40% of all operational coal plants, government data showed at the end of September.

By October 1, as many as 85 plants had coal stocks below 25% of their normative requirement, highlighting growing pressure on the coal supply chain, Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in its July-September quarterly analysis of India’s power sector.

The strong El Niño and the hotter weather have increased the pressure on India’s coal supply, which power plants are now burning much faster amid low hydropower output and surging demand.

The strain on coal stocks and coal-fired power generation starts to affect the economy, industry officials told Bloomberg.

Small steel mills in India’s central state of Chhattisgarh are facing outages of 10 to 12 hours per day, which forces these plants to reduce production, Manish Dhuppad, general secretary at the Chhattisgarh Mini Steel Plant Association, told Bloomberg.

The power cuts are raising energy costs for factories and steel mills as they need to switch to generators consuming expensive fuel.

Households are affected, too. For example, in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with more than 240 million residents, some villages are being hit by as much as seven hours per day of blackouts.

It's like the Perfect Storm forming, isn't it? Everywhere.

Ukraine has advanced in its quest for EU membership since Hungary dropped its objections.

https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-takes-step-forward-eu-membership-talks-after-hungary-drops-objections-2026-10-13/

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine took a step forward in its European Union membership bid on Tuesday, opening talks with the bloc on internal market and competitiveness standards, Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne said, after Hungary dropped its objections.

The Hungarian government backed the move after Ukraine's parliament passed legislation on Monday expanding the rights of Hungarian speakers and other minorities to receive education in their native language.

The EU accession process normally involves years-long complex negotiations, further complicated in the case of Ukraine by the ongoing war.

As part of the process, candidate countries negotiate policy "chapters" which are grouped into six thematic clusters, including fundamental rights, the bloc's internal market and external relations.

The EU opened negotiations with Ukraine on the first set of policy issues — such as the judiciary and functioning of democratic institutions — in June. The two sides opened negotiations on the external relations cluster in July.

How long before they're in and the UK is also back?