To be concerned about a war?

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Woke up this morning opened my SM and first posts I see are about a basically inevitably pending war with Russia. It’s the first I’ve heard of it. Sir Richard Knighton said the threat needs to be taken seriously and “called for greater honesty with uk families about what it means to prepare for the very real threat to national security”. He also said security situation is more dangerous than it has been at any point in his career and the UK can no longer rely on military forces alone to keep security safe. Finally the comment of “sons and daughters must be prepared to fight” it would take a “whole nation effort” and “families would have to face real sacrifice”

i mean wtaf? I certainly won’t be rushing to the frontline that’s for sure. What’s going on? Very concerned

So now resistance is futile too. Well, we'll see. Not holding my breath as to having this "hypothetical" scenario being tested out. I'm far more bothered about people who aren't in authority deciding to exercise their presumed right to it and doing the dirty work themselves based on their own assumptions and delusions. The Stasi come to mind. How did you feel about people who didn't clap for the NHS during the pandemic by the way?

Are you watching and listening to the same news as everyone else - only left wing commentators and alike are doing this are they!

I’m surprised you’re only now learning about the possibility that the war in Ukraine could expand to something bigger.
That besides Ukraine other former Soviet states are at risk.
The US appears to be forcing Europe to fend Europe on its own shaking a few old notions up.
As for not supporting; well you already support the current efforts as people flee conflict zones. Your taxes being used to assist them and assist arming up as the US continues to suggest they are pulling out of helping.
Take a look at the economic games the US is playing regarding tariffs and the latest trade deal which the US is pulling out of; it’s all tied in. So you will be paying more and job security erodes. So you are involved although somewhat remotely.

Why is it the son’s & daughters that have to be sacrificed? We need young people!

Everyone will be doing something paying more taxes, working in affiliated industries, or front line.

Somewhere inexpensive which isn't in conflict with Russia. I'll send mine to Colombia or Thailand or such like.

Bob Dylan's 1963 song Masters of War is as relevant today as it was at the outset of the Vietnam War. Conflict and destruction are always needed for more power and more profits. In the West, politicians and the military continue to 'build the death planes, hide behind walls' and do the bidding of their corporate overlords. I have no idea why people think Putin wants war with the UK. Do they really believe he wants to get his hands on the mountain of debt, the crumbling public services and all the other ills of this woe-begotten country? If you belong to the ruled and not the rulers, it doesn't much matter which poxy flag is flying. To quote from another Dylan song, we're all 'only a pawn in their game'.

To frighten the population. Things are going to change over the next few years and they need a compliant population in order to put them in place.

The other reason, which I hardly want to consider, is that they want to reduce certain sections of our society and sending them to war would achieve this quite neatly.

Really depressed by people’s attitude on here. If we do go to war with Russia it will not be because of the rich the left the right or anything else it will be because Putin wants to and wants to prove a point. If we do not fight back then we will become a Russian state. When things are forced upon you by the new rulers maybe we could protest, oh wait that’s not allowed and protesters will be arrested, beaten and maybe killed, there will be no avoiding conscription because all the young and not so young will be called up to be real cannon fodder. Maybe we could vote in a better government oh where did all the opposition leaders go they appear to be dead or in a gulag. If that’s the way you want to live then fine but be prepared to accept the consequences because the forces we have now however good they are will not be able to fight off a battle hardened Russian army who are not as useless as you may wish to believe. Our best bet is to be strong united and hope that that is enough to ensure that there is not a war.

The technical edge is real and important. The problem is sustainment in a prolonged, high intensity conflict. For example, the RAF is critically short of F-35 pilots and has minimal magazine depth for the missiles they carry:

From Strategy to Stall? The UK’s Strategic Defence Review and the Emerging Implementation Gap.

The F-35 is an example of a £11bn 'capability without teeth'. The National Audit Office’s July 2025 report described the F-35 investment as a “disappointing return”. The programme lacks trained pilots needed with shortages not expected to be resolved until 2028. The platform risks becoming an expensive ISR and strike-limited asset, without UK critical stand-off weaponry in the form of SPEAR and Meteor and thus unable to deliver its designed effect. It is understood that the MoD will be procuring Raytheon-made RTX GBU 53/B Storm Breaker giving the UK immediate access to a stand-off weapon noting this may enable a UK developed derivative with UK components to be developed in due course.

If the UK needed to generate high-intensity air operations within six months, F-35 trained pilots would be critically short, and the RAF would struggle to sustain high sortie rates despite the aircraft’s inherent capability. Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) the foundation of homeland protection was described bluntly as “almost non-existent.”

Type 45 destroyers have proven ballistic-missile defence performance, but frequent propulsion failures keep many of the small fleet of six alongside. While they could be moored around the UK as a static missile shield, this is a suboptimal use of high-value assets. In general terms, there is a real concern the UK military has been acclimatising to doing too much with too little and the SDR’s call to 'innovate at wartime pace' rings increasingly hollow.

Problems like these are common across other European NATO militaries, and only a handful of them (Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states) are taking meaningful action now to address these deficiencies.

I think that NATO would ultimately prevail over Russia, but it would leave Europe shattered economically and militarily. And Russia would certainly target and destroy critical civilian infrastructure, as they have in Ukraine, while the war was fought. And as some noted upthread, and was noted in the quote above, the UK is essentially defenseless against the drone and missile attacks that would take place.

This was an excellent podcast and should be required listening for everyone in government who deals with defense or foreign policy matters. It's a plausible scenario.

If it came to a war with Russia are you saying that you’d rather just hand the country over and have Putin as our new ruler, or is it that you’re happy for all other young people to go and fight for the country just not you and yours?

Now I don’t think it will come to this, but with people like you we’d be well and truly fucked.

Not to beat a dead horse, but here's some insight into the difficulties NATO would face if Russia decided to attack the Baltic members. The article is a year old, but the situation is not much different now.

How prepared is NATO?

Here the current and projected level of readiness across NATO must give pause. So far, increased defense spending has not translated into marked increases in readiness. The Baltic states themselves field small militaries with no tanks or combat aircraft. Weak in air defense and artillery, they depend on rapid reinforcement from allies. Here, readiness and capability gaps limit the ability of NATO to respond. So far, NATO forces in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have not been increased to brigade strength. The NATO battlegroups posted in the three Baltic states, while important indicators of Alliance resolve, are trip-wire forces with limited combat power. To some extent, NATO airpower will be limited by the formidable air-defense bastions located in Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg, while Russian anti-ship missiles based ashore in Kaliningrad and afloat with the Baltic Fleet will constrain NATO naval operations in the Baltic Sea.

While the United States might manage to deploy perhaps a single division to Estonia in thirty days, major powers like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy cannot move ready forces in divisional strength there in less than sixty to ninety days—far too slow to affect the outcome. Close neighbors Poland, Sweden, and Finland possess competent militaries but lack power-projection capabilities and will be concerned to defend their own territory. (It is some 1,000 kilometers from Warsaw to Narva, Estonia.) Shortfalls in military mobility, theater air and missile defense, long-range fires, electronic warfare, and stocks of fuel, precision-guided munitions, and artillery ammunition are cause for concern. Given the high casualties seen in Ukraine, the lack of reserves across the Alliance are another serious vulnerability.

It's not going to be a walkover for NATO, that's for sure.

I'm not sure it's a very sensible move for Sir Richard Knighton to be saying this. It just plays into Putin's hands that we're worried. Not put the fear of god into them. Then plenty of British people will be saying "no way am I joining up!" and we'll look even weaker. It's not going to be like August 1914 with mass queues of young men (or women) at the recruiting office, ready to fight for king and country, and really stick it to the enemy, home in time for Christmas after a jolly good rout!

but without the public being fully aware of the issues; nato shortfalls and countries that thrive on instability slowing pushing boundaries (interfering with flight patterns, communication or fuel lines etc.) the politicians will not get buy in for the necessary spending changes. which will take priority over education or infrastructure repair and will involve higher taxes.
so i think it is necessary to make all members of the public aware.

Some posters have a strange idea of ‘this country.’

It’s not a faceless government or the state. It is you, your family, your hospital, school, safety, access to food and water.

When the Russians invaded Ukraine, women were gang-raped, children were stolen, hospitals and schools were targeted. Water and gas supplies were destroyed. Still are.

Putin has already killed people, including a British woman who had ‘nothing to do with it’s on British soil. He wouldn’t spare people on this thread who say they wouldn’t join in.

That said, I don’t personally think this will happen (UK at war with Russia) but the risk has gone up from 4% to 16% on a year, according to pundits. That’s quite a jump.

Nobody wants war, but if it comes to it, our family will fullfill our duty.
Children have been taken by Putin from Ukraine. Do you think he will not do the same here?
Hospitals were bombed, including maternity wards, schools, dams, nuclear stations, power stations...
He has been hacking and boycotting UK and other European countries endlessly.
Russia has a huge army budget for this year just about to pass. And Putin will not stop. Of he sees any weakness or any indication that he has a chance, he will attack.

Sorry, I missed this earlier. The Russians are managing a ground invasion in Ukraine. The UK would be attacked by air. And it wouldn't eliminate the British military, just degrade it to the point that it was no longer a threat to them. Ukraine also has a much larger military than the UK and much better air defenses. Even so, the Ukrainian Army has suffered about 400k casualties so far. The British Army has only 72k active-duty soldiers, and that's everyone. At most 30% of those soldiers are front-line war fighters. So the Ukrainians have had the resources to fight a high-intensity, prolonged war. The UK does not.

it's sad that many countries have turned over the capability of making munitions and basic supplies to another country. a country that is both forcing prices and being capricious with delivery. the sooner countries untangle themselves from the usa the better.

That's not how air defenses work. Each air defense missile battery has a range of anywhere from 10 to 100 miles. They have to be in place, on the ground, and ready to fire when the attacking missile is launched. If a Russian submarine or aircraft launches missiles at the UK, there is literally nothing the US could do to defend the UK from the attack.

Yeah it wouldn’t be optional …
Any refusal would likely be seen as treachery and in the least a court Marshall

Ukraine is a chess board to higher powers.
Russia will not stop until it has its soviet block back, by cooperation or by force.

Why are we so lucky that our generation remained unaffected by wars.

It's been clear we're heading for war with Russia for years and since they invaded Ukraine its only been a matter of time.

European leaders have been really slow to grasp this to be honest, it shouldn't have taken the massing of troops along EU borders, the monster in the White House & the intelligence services speaking publicly of the threats to make them take it seriously.

Frankly, it was really only a question of whether we'd end up in conflict with China or Russia first. Politicians have been too keen to line their pockets rather than face up to the threats.

How can Mr & Ms Average prepare for a war?
By not panicking and being sensible. The war may not be fought on these shores but we will be hit with cyber attacks, interruptions to energy supplies and rising costs of imported goods.

So buy mindfully. Consider growing your own food, look to improve the energy efficiency of your home and if you're fortunate enough to afford it, supplement your utilities with solar energy and heat pumps.

Ensure you have a well stocked larder - don't need to panic buy but having a week of food you can rely on in the case of major disruption is sensible. A couple of camping lanterns, wind up radio etc.

Basically, ask yourself if your home is set up for a week longer power cut.

If you're in a position to buy quality goods then do. I'd be very surprised (shocked) if we end up in a similar situation to WW2 but with supply disruptions likely its good to steer away from fast fashion where possible.

Reduce your reliance on cloud services. You can still use them just make sure you've got hard copies of important information relating to health, finances, status etc. A few books, maybe don't throw away all your cds.

Get involved with your community. There will be more community organisations near you than you realise and they come into their own in times of stress, they will also have good contacts with local and national government and organisations.

Keep an eye on elderly and vulnerable family members, friends and neighbours. Does your old dad have enough to last in a lengthy power cut? Keep some spare torches or batteries in case your neighbour needs them in a pinch.

And finally, read the news. Not just from one paper. Take an interest in who owns and runs different news outlet/broadcasters and what their personal interests are. Their bias will determine how well you are informed, so read widely.

Are they funded directly or indirectly by Russia and its allies? Do they have a vested interested in prioritising emotive news stories not related to Russia?

And, please, don't panic buy or stock pile vast quantities.

This is literally the most batshit thread I've ever read on here.

The UK is virtually defenceless, our military has been reduced so much. Defence chiefs warned about it when Cameron cut it down drastically during, I think, his first government and it wasn't great before then.

The Ukrainian army is large and battle-harded. Putin underestimated their defence at the start but by that point he was committed. He won't back down.

As others have pointed out, all Putin need to do is neutralise the threat Europe poses - and Trump has just made that a whole lot easier.

Putin's army may be ill equipped, as have so many Russian armies been before, but he has the number to keep throwing bodies to the front as canon-fodder. And of course, he borrows those poor sods from North Korea too.

The UK has been massively weakened by years of austerity and through (I'm sorry I know some people won't want to hear this) breaking from the EU. A few targeted strikes to military bases and a whole lot of chaos and we'd be useless.

Expect massive disruption in the form of major energy outages, huge fuel shortages and - crucially - long-lasting digital outages (cyber attacks). Let us hope he doesn't resort to biological warfare.

You've seen the panic buying and hysteria over loo rolls during covid. I was a child but I remember the empty shelves in supermarkets when there was petrol crisis for the weekend.

We'll be tied up keeping the show on the road at home, the rest of Europe will be doing the same plus dealing with land attacks and then there's the US...

Who if Trump/ MAGA stay in power won't lift a finger to help us (at least both without grotesque extortion which would cripple us for decades). And that's only if they still remain an ally.

Putin doesn't need to invade from the sea and level every town. He just needs to cut off supplies, prevent us from accessing healthcare, stop the traffic lights working and sow discord.

Because what's happening on the world stage is an attempt to create three empires: The US, Russia & China.