Ginger (you again?) if you're relying on mainstream media for accurate info I rather think it's you needs to do more research.
"Where would they fly from, the closest USAF base would be Rammstein Germany." Now there's a thought! If they do I demand German cheeses, potato salad, pickled garlic, sauerkraut, dickmanns, natural yogurt (full
fat none of this low fat malarkey), pastries, good hot choc, mushroom sauce, paprika Pringles, strudel, warsteiner, kohlroulade, and of course with Christmas approaching I'm thinking stollen, liebkuchen, gluhwein, winterapfel schnapps... Man I miss German food!
"The UK is facing a perfect storm, a failed harvest, followed by a very cold winter. This coupled with UC means that a hard Brexit is going to be catastrophic."
"The people we really have to question are the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg." I think it's blatantly clear him & his ilk couldn't give a shit about anyone else, they're only interested in the profits they'll make from the whole debacle.
I've occasionally lurked on and rarely posted on prepper threads and agree with Bellini that the preppers are generally lovely. I don't post often as I am finding the whole thing very stressful and if I get too into it with my OCD I get a bit overwhelmed.
Sandinyourshoes - the power thing concerns me too. Yes there's power stations in U.K. - many are inactive and aren't safe to use. Plus many apparently British companies are actually eu suppliers, yet worryingly not aware of this being discussed anywhere.
JudasPrudy - definitely! Those lucky enough to enjoy relatively good health and not need benefits and never been homeless have not experienced just how little urgency there is to resolve matters.
Bellini - great tip on wind up torch, had one ages ago and lost it. Power cuts last winter due to the bad weather meant I was often using the torch on my phone - but of course that drained the battery! So I'm starting a list of things to get:
Batteries for old style radio
Wind up torch
Onthenaughtystepagain - they can easily sell more to other existing eu customers or elsewhere worldwide. For med countries African isn't so far to sell to, for Northern eu countries Asia isn't as far as one might think, or even Canada/USA. I wouldn't depend on their desire to sell to us too much.
Catx1606 - the elderly I know are well ahead of the game! They tend to prep anyway to be ready for illness, bad weather etc as most of them are aware they're more vulnerable. My parents live in a valley that's cut off every winter sometimes for up to a month. They weren't prepared the first winter (despite grans warnings) but learnt from their mistake and are now sorted. It's mainly dads meds they struggle with as several are controlled substances that you're not allowed to stockpile.
My grandparents I now realise were preppers but they probably would have just called it "being organised". All served in ww2, so were very familiar with rationing, dig for victory, making food go further. The ones that lived in the valley often ended up helping neighbours out in bad winters - generally younger folk who weren't local and were caught unawares. They had a garden and my granda grew veg into his 70's. The ones "in town" always had a ton of dried goods and tins in the "glory hole" cupboard (I know...don't get me started), also batteries, old radios even a CB set up! Both sets also had first aid kits, spare tyres for cars, spades for digging out the snow, sturdy (not kids play types) sleds for bringing shopping home. And they used things like hot water bottles anyway.
"Stockpilers will cause the initial panic, because they all ridiculed the preppers and didn't start putting a little bit away every week months before." I think you mean "panic buyers" but yes I agree. It'll be those who didn't prep that will cause the problems.
Avocado - spot on!