To wonder if the government have started any planning on what if a nuclear weapon hit britain

[Gotajobthrunepotism]

Even in the current climate, I don’t actually believe that a nuclear bomb will be hitting the UK.

But I wondered if the government have prepared for the eventuality.

I heard that in the 70s/80s there were loads of leaflets and adverts of what we should do if we were attacked.

In other countries they have bomb shelters and sirens.

I wouldn’t have a clue what to do. The only thing I do know is that I would want to be with my family when it happened.

Anyone one else wonder about this?

They have a nuclear shelter under parliament I believe, that's the only one. The shit show shall prevail even after we're toast

(Not that I think it'll happen ofc)

The bunkers will exist. However, think about what’s needed for one to run - food, air circulation, water, medicine, bedding etc. All of which deteriorates and needs to be tested and kept up to date. To do this on any large scale would be very expensive and time-consuming so I would assume at this point any bunker capability was on the smallest possible scale. To the extent that I wouldn’t think “the government” could shelter - maybe the Cabinet and key representatives of departments but no more than that. This is just conjecture but I just can’t see the ongoing effort needed to stock and maintain bunkers going past the bare minimum needed.

@Gotajobthrunepotism

Even in the current climate, I don’t actually believe that a nuclear bomb will be hitting the UK.

But I wondered if the government have prepared for the eventuality.

I heard that in the 70s/80s there were loads of leaflets and adverts of what we should do if we were attacked.

In other countries they have bomb shelters and sirens.

I wouldn’t have a clue what to do. The only thing I do know is that I would want to be with my family when it happened.

Anyone one else wonder about this?

Totally pointless. The protective and survive booklets that you referred to were an utter waste of time.

@AllOfUsAreDead

Of course they have a plan. They have places to survive in.

Us however? We'll die. Well people in and around London would. Dunno what other places they'd target.

Of course, all those other places - like several military bases - no one would be interested in them because they are Not London.

@Esspee

We Scots in the central belt would be the first to go as Faslane Naval Base is a prime target. We will be praying we get Independence before there’s a nuclear war because one of the first things that will happen when Scotland reverts to being an independent country is that we will send all the nuclear submarines to England probably Milford Haven.

Was that a joke? 😂

@LightsoftheNorth I think a lot of nuclear bunkers were sold off at the end of the cold War and are used for various things - laser tag companies, archival storage etc.

@lightand

I was told recently there is a bomb shelter under our County's County Hall. For the planners if there is to be a nuclear bomb!

Made me wonder if other County Halls have the same thing, all for themselves!

yes there are, but not under all individual buildings. there are regional centres, and a very restricted list of who gets into it. i remember being told that the chief registrar would be there, as it would be a priority to accurately record numbers of deaths, for planning.

My Grampa was chief Puvlic Health Officer and was in the Civil Defence Force si would have been in the bunker and would have had to leave his family to fend for themselves!
My Dad was a GP and in those pre Harold Shipman days had Morphine in his doctors bag, he told me his plan to was to give us each a fatal overdose, what a fun time the Cold War was. I joined CND and used to go on "die ins" outside American Air bases, no wonder dressing in black and being gloomy was the fashion for so many 80s teens.

@lightand

I was told recently there is a bomb shelter under our County's County Hall. For the planners if there is to be a nuclear bomb!

Made me wonder if other County Halls have the same thing, all for themselves!

Our district council offices have a nuclear shelter. I assume it will have been used for storage or whatever since the 80s but it was definitely set up ready for an attack back then as my father in law worked in the building so knew all about it.

Sorry about typos.

Can you imagine if the people that end up surviving are only the current government ministers. It’s a reversal of natural selection. Survival of the Dimmest.

@lightand

I was told recently there is a bomb shelter under our County's County Hall. For the planners if there is to be a nuclear bomb!

Made me wonder if other County Halls have the same thing, all for themselves!

Well they are fucked if we go up on a weekend and they are all off work!

shouldn't they be "saving" the best minds in the world?

The sirens have been taken down and most of the bunkers are gone - ultimately, I'd hope that our nuclear deterrents would be able to stop it before it hits. If not, your very unlikely to survive regardless of a heads up/sirens/bunker.
I think if one was heading our way, they'd text you (I think we'd have about 20 mins warning) and tell you to get into the nearest building.
If it's hits, your not going to hear from anyone. If it doesn't, Id advise you stay indoors anyway. The bomb would have gone off somewhere and the fallout can drift quite a considerable amount.

We will be taking an old bottle of brandy from the cupboard(no longer drink) and some saved up sleeping pills down to the sea. We will drink it and take the pills then walk in. Hoping the grown up children have similar plans but not been able to bring myself to discuss it with them yet. Still need a plan for the beloved cats. Wish I believed in God as then I would know that Putin would rot in hell for eternity.

@LightsoftheNorth

So what you are saying is that the bunkers will still have Laura Ashley wallpaper with matching borders? And probably eternal beau plates.

I think I will pass thanks. There are limits.

I was told that as a police officer's family member there would be a place for me in the bunker.
I think your ex-DH was being very kind to you there - had a parent in the job in the 80s who was told families were to be left behind.

The leaflets were just meant to make people feel reassured that you could survive a nuclear bomb, they were meaningless. My mum kept one in a drawer in our kitchen. I wouldn’t want to go in a bunker even if I had the chance, I’d rather just die straight off thanks.

Atomic Hobo is a good podcast about what we can expect the government to do if the worst happens. Spoiler, the government's plans have always been a bit shit.

There would be literally a few minutes notice. No time to euthanase your pets or even drive home from work to be with your family. Those in the blast radius would die immediately. Those within range of the fallout would need to hide in bunkers for at least two weeks, which is unlikely, and without air filtration it would be somewhat pointless anyway. Survivors would emerge to find crops and animals dying, so there would be nothing to eat and they would starve. Everyone would die.

I reckon Mumsnet users should form our own wasteland horde. Safety in numbers and all that. Make a start on this thread by organising checkpoints for survivors so we can gather.

We can hammer the details out as we go along, but naturally there would be rules. Mumsnet rules.

The clan would be trained in deadly hand to hand combat techniques, such as the t-Rex arm basket slam. Clan weapon of choice: the dreaded dirty loo brush.

Stepmums, babies with their ears pierced and those who park in considerately would be our main form of sustenance in the early days.

I’ve played every single Fallout game, which pretty much makes me an expert. I’m certain that we need to start collecting bottle caps and bobbleheads to prepare for the currency change over.

I understand that we can't digest sweetcorn, so when the 'balloon goes up' and society collapses i calculate that with four tins of sweetcorn, a washing-up bowl and a small nail brush, one should be able to survive without additional food forever...

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles I vote for you to be in charge of provisions. That is exactly the type of out of the box thinking we are going to need in an apocalyptic wasteland

I live within the blast radius of Sizewell so presuming a nucleur bomb triggered that too I'd be gone pretty quickly which is probably the best outcome. Alternatively I live within 4 minutes of the secondary school I work at so would grab Dd, break in and head for the underground boiler room and hope there was enough food in the canteen to last long enough.

They will be sat in their bunker having cheese and wine while the rest of us are sat under our tables hoping for the best.

I must remember to order a stronger table.

@EatSleepRantRepeat

I was told that as a police officer's family member there would be a place for me in the bunker. I think your ex-DH was being very kind to you there - had a parent in the job in the 80s who was told families were to be left behind.

Being kind would have been very out of character He was specific about where the bunker was and the reasoning behind wives getting a space. Who knows eh.

@EatSleepRantRepeat

I was told that as a police officer's family member there would be a place for me in the bunker. I think your ex-DH was being very kind to you there - had a parent in the job in the 80s who was told families were to be left behind.

Yes, someone upthread said the same thing. I can't imagine many people would go into a bunker and leave their family behind, though Who would want to sit in there knowing their family was dying and scared outside?