To think the government are foolish saying we need to be war ready

[ReallyAWar]

In 1000 days?

Basically signalling to any potential attacker that we aren’t ready, have not got any real deterrents or an army fit for purpose. Everyone seems to have a wind up radio though!

Why would you advertise your weakness on such a huge scale ?

It's hardly top-secret that we're not war-ready now!

Very true but why do they keep advertising the fact?! It’s all very well assuming the capabilities of others but governments make mistakes and potentially enemies could be more advanced than assumed.

I don’t think I agree in terms of the wind up torches etc, because I think the advice we’re getting now on stocking up and being being prepared just brings us into line with other European countries, who have routinely been advised on this. I think it’s something we’ve been a bit complacent about as a country until now.

What has worried me, over the last few months has been defence being weaponised and politicised because I do agree that can make us appear weak and divided as a nation. I caught a bit of Question Time this week though and Wes Streeting, the Defence Secretary and the person representing the Conservative party (I think he was the shadow foreign secretary) were talking in a much more respectful, responsible way and finding more points of agreement, so, that was good to see.

They want you scared and less resistant to paying even more tax that they will waste.

Yes I suppose that’s always a possibility. Making out that Putin wants to attack us when in reality he’s probably spending most of his time in an armchair with a crochet blanket watching gymnastics or something and not concerned with anything other than Ukraine (which admittedly is bad enough)

I just wish they’d be clearer. One minute it’s stockpile and prepare more now, because problems seem to imminent. I imagine with cyber hacking. 🤷‍♀️

The next it’s that we could be at war with someone in 2030. 🤷‍♀️. So, no point in stockpiling now.

"Frighten the pants off the public" part 2, which is now a tried-and-tested strategy: and this time they're not discussing it on Whatsapp, as that ended badly for Boris Johnson.

I do agree we are often far too open about these things. The full state of our capability is available in multiple reports and reviews for anyone to read. It’s like it wouldn’t be British to keep a secret - it’s rude! God help us in a genuine conflict. To say I have zero faith in our military and political leadership is an understatement.

And the purpose of that is?

Scaremongering is a tactic because it works

Maybe it’s really because the tinned goods market has taken a dive and they want to boost that

I tend to think that by the time the general public hear about something/are allowed to understand the scale of something, those actors in positions of global political significance have already known for a while.
Britain isn't ready for war will have been the worst kept secret in those circles for a long time before they started telling us to buy beans and batteries.

I think it probably makes sense to try and get those who can to have some basics in. They’ve obviously done some thinking about supply lines and it seems fairly obvious that we are heading to some kind of war situation. They need to divert money into building the army etc up again. Building drones, having a navy against… and they need public on side for that. I’m not doom mothering or prepping madly, but there’s a bit of common sense involved here.

Yes, the Russians get their military intelligence from government announcements.

It’s for the public for whatever reason. It’d be better just to increase funding to defence.

No, I think if anything we have been way behind other European countries in terms of preparedness for adverse events. It’s not just traditional attacks we need to think about; more likely attacks would probably be cyber attacks and on the water systems etc, that could wreak havoc on supply systems and being able to access eg safe water and being able to purchase essential foods in shops.

Several months ago someone posted links on here to a few other countries’ government advice booklets issued to the public and they were very useful. The Germany one (in English language is available) states at the beginning that even a few years ago the idea of Germany being at war was unthinkable, but times have changed and it’s important to be prepared for any situation. The same applies to the UK really.

I just read a couple of the other countries’ booklets a few months ago and used them as a guide to stock up on a few basics eg bottled water to last a few days, a few extra cans, a small camping stove and gas canisters.

Pre 2020, most of us would never have believed that a pandemic could possibly happen and render our country to prolonged lockdowns and product shortages- myself included! I’ve tried to learn from that naïveté and be a bit more organised and prepared for a worst case scenario without going overboard or hysterical about it.

I said this to my MIL the other day when she was watching the news (I don’t watch news or read papers) it’s all ruling by fear now 🙄