AIBU to think the stockpile advice suggests something to come??

[OhNoooooooooooooooo]

The government is low-key telling people to stock up with tinned food, bottled water etc

I have tinned food, gas camping stoves etc just need to think about water really..

Do you think that they know something is happening/going to happen?

Sorry I misread that post - the military cost.

Well that's why they've cancelled everything else isn't it?!

There is definitely some mumbling.

Must be a different budget than schools and healthcare..

None of our stored food is frozen for this exact reason, its all tinned or dried. And our corner shops, both, installed electric powered doors ages ago, aside from which modern shops aren't set up to just take cash. Most shops would have to close in a power failure.

Indeed!

Well I don't think 16 year olds ought to be allowed to enlist, they're too young to comprehend all the implications, but I would hope that this kind of thing is made clear to them. Young people here decide around 18 years old if they will do military service, if they do its with the full knowledge that they remain liable for call up until 60 or 65.

Same here. 18 and with full knowledge what is expected. And even those who don’t enroll are expected to help depending on what you do for a living. Teachers for example are to stay at work etc. Or you will have to work in a different job altogether.

If you have a car that could be useful in war that car is no longer your car. And horses and dogs.

We know what is expected of us citizens and where our nearest shelters are.

I don’t really count our food in the freezer as a stockpile.

You are preaching to the converted on this.
That's why it's a controversial thing to be trying to recruit in schools in the first place.

Keep an eye on this. This winter is going to be interesting for energy I suspect.

We had nato air exercises last summer next door to my workplace. Made me giggle every time I drove in the gate and a man would pop his head out to check who was coming. Very noisy planes though.

Haha I know the feeling. My friend walked her dogs in the forest and nearly died when she after a while started to spot quiet green faces in helmets. And a colleague went for her daily walk in the forest, missing the signs not to enter, and was told on a loudspeaker to leave immediately. In the middle of the forest. 😂

At the beginning of COVID and the toilet roll panic my husband went into a corner shop. I forget what for. The shop keeper pulled out a bag of rice from under the counter. "Here, you might need this". It's probably still in our cupboard.

I don't know any independent corner shops with electric powered doors. Only corner shops owned by Tesco etc.

So I've just checked out Brexit/COVID/zombie apocalypse box and thrown out some ketchup that went out of date in 2023. It was no longer red.

Our local corner shop and our local co op both have powered doors now.

Hah that must have been embarrassing to be told to leave!
They've been having urban exercises here too, so in the cities, must be awkward for residents.

Yeah recruiting in schools is really not on, so many teen boys who, struggling with school and not seeing much of a future because there's not lots of vocational alternatives available, could be quite easily convinced the military is the best option after GCSEs, but far too young to consider the long term consequences of that.
I remember when I was in school the library had lots of free colourful postcards you could take and lots of them were ones from the army that you could put your details on and send off for free to get an info pack, so the advertising was reaching 11 year olds (of course being an 11 year old I filled out a whole bunch of them with stupid names like Hugh Jass and Amanda Huggenkiss and put the addresses of classmates so they got surprise info packages)

and even those that can open their doors won't have stock for very long when everyone realises they are the only option. We are being told to stock up, not because they think a particular street or estate might have issues but because there is significant increased potential for large scale disruption.

Then again, Putin seems to be escalating and there are articles last couple of days that it is quite possible war is coming.

Yeah, opening the door isn't the main issue. The issue is that once they open them, they will run out of stuff to sell - no shop stockpile huge quantities - and if there is a disruption in logistics, that's it.
And, having some basics at home means I don't have to be amongst the first 30 who get in to buy whatever they have.

In czechia the democratic analysts say the same (while our populist-to-proRussian government stuck their heads in the sand)

It doesn't matter that it "objectively" doesn't make sense for Russia, it is enough that it subjectively makes sense for Putin.
And, Putin can't lose face by starting a war against Ukraine and effectively losing it (at least compared to original goals). The worse the overall situation is in Russia as a result, the less options he has and attacking Nato is always an option (he is internally spinning it as being at war with Nato for some time already), so he might.

Many expect some kind of Russian mobilisation after their "elections" later in September.

Anyway, the UK is relatively far away.
It doesn't matter whether the power is out cause of weather, hacking or sabotage. Just have some food, water, radio, and don't implode as a nation if it happens.

We who live closer will try similar and not complain too much about noise from the military airport nearby (which seems to be much more intense nowadays, not sure whether training or logistics).

Exactly. It's essentially to (hopefully) minimise panic and disruption. If the majority of people feel prepared and provisioned then we won't start going batshit at the first sign of trouble. Frankly a lot of our society needs to stop being such a soft bunch of hapless idiots, and also think about what we can do to help others not in the same position as ourselves.

If you can't last 3 days on your own supplies and wits.. then you'll just have to accept you may be dissapointed and inconvenienced - please try not to take it out on those who thought ahead and listened to advice.

Poland's President Tusk is getting ready for an invasion by Russia:

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/poland-prepares-for-real-russian-invasion-1789340335.html

I get it, Poland is so much closer to Russia's attacks on Ukraine.

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/poland-warns-russia-could-face-rapid-defeat-in-direct-nato-war/

Things seem to be going from bad to worse unfortunately. Looks like the perfect storm - possibly quite literally

I see NATO had to shoot down a drone from Belarus over Lithuania yesterday.