Government alert?!?!

[hotmumshit]

Omg? First use of the government phone alerts, i think??

Defiantly! They scared people, and people remember scary ads.
On a similar note... how many of us will think to buy Pepto Bismol when we have dodgy guts because of the song and the guy clutching his arse and singing "diarrhea" 😂

I worked on the implementation of this. It’s because you were identified as a high risk offender for some reason

Well, to be fair, if nukes or bombs are incoming then we're stuffed anyway, so I have no need to know that and would rather die in blissful ignorance!

I had one of the conditions the other day and took some Peptol Bismol. I was soon dancing around singing the song, so it works.

I don’t object to receiving the alert and agree it was an important message. Unfortunately, my hearing aids are connected by Bluetooth to my phone so the sound was quite painful for my ears. Hopefully at some point soon. there will be an option available to switch the sound off while still getting the alert for the hard of hearing and people with sensory issues.

This is a classic example of Government (?) thinking "we need to do something". Sending out a so-called alert is Something, so they can tick that box and move on to something else. It's just a PR move, really.

During the war, the government tried to make everyone believe that German spies were everywhere with slogans like "Walls have Ears".

My teenage son even came out of his room! 🤣 Came running down stairs saying “what the f is going on!

I think just England rather than Nationwide? (Definitely didn't get it up here in Glasgow!)

Haven't RTFT but mine didn't seem that loud? My phone was in my dress pocket while I was getting out of the car with DD. 2 seconds of "what's that noise" because I thought it was the car alarm, then "oh it's my phone", maybe a split second of shiiiiiiittt when I realised what the sound was, then checked and oh there's fires (of which I was already aware) don't light up the bbq, woop de do, and back to unloading the shopping! Bit of a non event for me.

Might have been a different story if it happened 2 minutes earlier when I was driving I suppose!

Not the least of which was "clunk-click every trip" which was fronted by Jimmy Savile.

There was also one about swimming by Rolf Harris.

There were definitely greater dangers for children in the 70s than not wearing a seat belt.

It was a bit surprising but am used to Amber alerts in Ontario (when a child goes missing) or severe weather warning alerts (major snow or tornado warnings) so it’s fine. Guess we should feel lucky to be surprised as there aren’t that many …..

If you can't stand the sudden noise, switching the alerts off is the only option. I would leave the alerts on but there's no way to mute them.

It wasn't real and immediate danger. Yes, wildfires are deadly, and starting them is easy and very dangerous, but I wasn't planning on doing that, never have, am aware of the danger of sparks and heat. Didn't warrant a heartstopping blast of sound to tell me.

If you can’t stand a sudden noise, imagine how useless you’d be under an evacuation order.

You've got an excellent memory @XenoBitch!

No, it means the next time someone causes a massive fire by chucking a cigarette butt into dry grass they can’t say no one told them not to.

Rude.

PIF/PSA are a interest of mine

I disagree. What changed the AIDS epidemic was successfully treating it so the virus no longer killed people. Lifestyle changes contributed, but the medication had the biggest impact.

Public information from government(s) can be useful, but there's a risk in sending a frightening "official" message, that people will ignore the message for various reasons - they don't think it applies to them, they feel helpless, they don't believe the message. Social media and word of mouth also spread powerful messages, and they can completely undermine the government health message. (I'm thinking of polio vaccine scares affecting several countries in Africa since 2003)

Well I would be dead. Didn't hear it. Didnt know a thing about it till now . When was it?

Yeah I didn't get it - wondering why not. Do they want me to be dead or something?

Well i never met jimmy saville or rolf but if that is what you take from it thats fine.

My understanding is that the alert was requested by the fire services who are dealing with the vast majority of the country being in drought, most of the rest much drier than usual, a record number of wildfires (the annual record for E&W has already been broken) and emergency services stretched beyond their limits. Reducing the immediate risk is one of the overriding priorities in conditions like this nd in a country with fuck all public fire safety awareness this feels fairly proportionate.