Preparedness in the UK - or lack of

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AIBU to wonder why the UK is not recommending preparedness?

An increasing number of countries in the EU now officially recommend basic preparedness - storing water, food, hygiene products and medicine for a few days. But the UK - nothing. Why? I would think the UK would be one of the more obvious countries to be attacked in the event of war, given its high profile status is politics and NATO. I also understand that the military is actively preparing for WW3 on the basis it is seen as very likely.

Are you preparing?

To your first para- yes they do and yes they are, both by hackers and other states. The fact that we have defences doesn't mean attacks will never get through (and indeed have got through). There are whole parts of government devoted to working on this.

Your second para is wrong- cyber attacks are extremely likely (see for example https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/06/british-army-russian-attack-field-marshal-lord-houghton/)), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/03/uk-underestimates-threat-of-cyber-attacks-from-hostile-states-and-gangs-says-security-chief )- some would say we are already at war on this basis.

Even if you're not convinced by this, it makes sense to prepare for those things you can prepare for. A normal family can't really prepare meaningfully for nuclear war.

What? So will it be business as usual on the 4th day? 😂

The things you mention don't take 3 years to plan. Unless your family has really complex medical needs or similar, then stockpiling water and some tins of food doesn't take much. Granted, in a Cold War scenario it would make sense, but we're not there yet. Food, water, heat, shelter is what you need (plus medication for those who need it). Tins, run a bath/ fill bottles and buy baby wipes, duvets and blankets.

The Final Countdown!

No. 3 days comes from several posts stating that various governments have given that timeframe.

no, of course they don't. The idea is just to be prepared generally (the 2029 date isn't a set date, just an estimate/ best guess!), in case something does happen. I am in no way suggesting that it's difficult, but I do think it does take some element of effort/ planning/ preparing. I refuse to believe everyone in the UK already has 40l of water under their bed and a wind up radio in the cupboard.

It is what seems to be recommended. I guess this is based on how long the government thinks it will take to put in place support. Some countries say 3 days, but ideally 7.

You’re agreeing with me. We are already at war in cyberland. It’s not suddenly all going to stop working when an enemy sends a code over the internet.

Cyber attacks can cause serious problems, of course, but that’s why we have cyber defences that are in constant use, including back-ups and shadow systems. The internet itself was designed to route around breakdowns. You seem to think there is devil software hanging out just ready for a foreign state to activate. It doesn’t work like that.

Nor will there be a conventional war against Europe/NATO that grinds on without nuclear weapons being used. The only state with any interest in European conflict is Russia. And its forces are in no position to do anything - except nuke us.

As for interference in elections and the like, why would electing fools stop supermarkets selling food or the national grid supplying electricity? In any case we’d just vote them out later.

You have a lot of trust in cyber defenses and "the internet". I agree to an extent that major attacks have been prevented to date, but I also think this is lack of motivation. Currently no country is in direct conflict with the UK. If they were I am pretty sure that "the internet" would not stop a major infrastructure attack in the long run.

I also totally disagree that "nuking" would be the first step. That would be ridiculously stupid, even for the likes of Putin.

Yes, it would be very stupid. Which is why neither it nor a conventional weapons war on the UK are going to happen.

So no need to squirrel away baked beans and Highland Spring.

No but there would be a considerable ramping up. And in the worst case, you'd have enough warning to run a bath full of clean water if there was no time to bulk buy bottles from the shops. Communication would be the biggest issue and there's not much you can do to prepare for that, other than have a battery operated radio (doesn't have to be a wind up) and some spare batteries.

I suppose what I'm saying is that having a plan is probably more important than being prepared (resourced) at this point. I have a plan if it ramps up, but until then I'm just going to have a nice cup of tea and focus on the here and now.

But a focused cyber attack on our electrics or water would be worth preparing for. And I disagree that this is unlikely.

And maybe this answers the original question. It might be that the UK government feels it's too early to advise preparedness if they are thinking 2029 is a good guess. The countries in the EU are closer to Russia and their war time line may look different. One of them is Norway which I know is feeling very vulnerable - understandably.

I think this is more of a reflection on "Joe Public"

If the government released official advice to 'prep for several days' then the shops would be stripped of bog roll and pasta within a few hours.

In all seriousness though don't most people keep basic amounts of essentials in stock at home - medicine / toiletries / tinned and canned food / bottled water?

No, of course not, but 3/4 days is the time it takes for the authorities to bring in alternative emergency provisions, i.e. trucks of bottled water, and in the case of an electricity outage, hot food/catering vans. These things never happen immediately, so it makes sense that people can be wholly "self sufficient" for 3/4 days at the minimum.

I am not sure. I mean I don't. We don't drink bottled water so don't have it at home and, as I said, mainly eat freshly prepared food so don't really have cans of food as such. And we've got a decent sized house and not really any financial restrictions on stocking up a bit. I guess it just didn't really occur to me before.

I'm not agreeing with you, as you stated "If there’s a war our enemies aren’t going to decide that the local water pumping station is a good place to sabotage from a keyboard in Moscow or wherever. They’re going to nuke us."

This is wrong and also contradicted by your later post. In any war there will by cyber attacks (as is happening now) and it's sensible to prepare for them as it's unlikely that any defence is unbreakable. It's much less likely that there will be a nuclear attack and in any event that can't really be prepared for.

I haven't mentioned interference in elections.

Leaving this now as we are going round the houses.

You can't run a bath if you're not in the house at the time, i.e. at work etc.

If everyone tried to run a bath at the same time, the water pressure wouldn't support it and everyone would just be getting a dribble.

Poisoning a reservoir will mean the water firms have to block the water supply and that's another possibility arising from war or terrorism.

Water is provided under pressure, so needs power to drive the pumps - if there was an electricity outage there'd be no power, so a mere dribble of water - yes they'll have emergency generators, but they won't last for long until the fuel runs out and tend to be unreliable as many are old and may not be regularly/properly serviced.

It's "assumptions" like that which mean lots of people aren't prepared at all, i.e. relying on other people/systems, rather than being responsible for themselves. You really can't just "assume" that clean water will continue to come out of your taps in any kind of national emergency, terrorist attack, war or even mechanical failure.

Okey dokey. You haven’t said anything about why cyber attack is more likely to be catastrophic in the future than now. You just sort of vaguely think it, I suppose.

The nuking is simply the only realistic threat of attack that Russia has. And it’s so unlikely as to be discountable.

I mentioned election interference because a different poster did. It was just a related point.

Anyway, you’re out.

Because we aren't in active war. So countries like China or Russia aren't strongly incentivised to carry out attacks like that. If we were actively engage in a conflict the situation would be different. It's a little like wondering why noone is bombing us currently, even if they could (which they could).

I guess I'm a sort of prepper. I live rurally, my nearest supermarket (Aldi) is about 50 minutes drive away. When in Aldi I tend to get enough for at least two or three weeks including store cupboard stuff. I can top up with some limited fresh fruit or veg in the garage shop in the nearest village 10 miles away. We are prone to weather events. We can get snowed in for quite a few days. Power cuts do occur quite often due to the overhead powerlines being damaged during storms. Fallen trees can block the road and can't be moved immediately. As we have no gas supply we are dependent on electricity. We have calor gas and bioethanol heaters and a couple of camping stoves. The electricity is needed for our water pump, so we are setting up a backup system as it's a real pain to have all water off when there's a longish powercut. I have a waterbutt and for drinking/cooking water a life straw as a backup So I do have to ensure we have sufficient food/water for these events as they do happen at times.

In a 'war' situation, which is what this thread is about, bombs don't just suddenly fall out of the sky, which takes the pressure off the imminent need to 'be prepared'. In the event that things ramp up, and the likelihood of any of the things you mention happening changes, I'm sure that people will formally be told to be prepared. Right now it's just not necessary.

what is the release of a formal Government preparedness document if it is not the Government telling people to prepare?

I mean trenches are being dug by Germany/ Poland so I suspect that the UK's assessment of risk is lower, yes.

Has there been one issued to the UK public?