UK at war within 1000 days

[HumbleStumble]

Wes Streeting has said Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days. This combined with the advice to stockpile while you can is highly inflammatory and worrying. AIBU to think that if there is a specific threat he should be specific? If it's a nuclear threat then he should say. We are lucky to have access to what is effectively a bunker but what can you do if you live in a bedsit in the London borough of suburbia?

Exactly this. They think we're stupid. And then there'll be the power cuts because we don't have the capacity.

Can I come and stay in the bunker? That would be great!

He said it's not "simply" what the threat is. Implying that Russian tanks on Hemel Hempstead high Street is indeed the threat, as well as all the other stuff.

How did they do that then?

I'm very sure.

Not the UK's "borders".

There is absolutely no requirement for the SSD to publicly discount the possibility of events which are entirely implausible to begin with. It's mildly comedic, makes him sound ridiculous, and leaves him open to being a figure of fun, none of which you should be able to say about a senior government minister.

He could have made the point succinctly by simply stating that any potential "war" might not necessarily look like historical conflicts or involve military conquest, but instead he chose a poor turn of phrase which isn't applicable or relevant to the UK in any case.

The point about Martians was that he didn't expressly discount that either, presumably because it's just as implausible as Russian tanks doing laps of the M25.

Don't be ridiculous.

Ummm, the next General Election is due in 1025 days ? So 1000 days is about when you'd be expected to call an election I guess?

That's nice dear, Anyway...

Absolute rubbish.

He was talking about being ready with allies as well, where this can happen. You are just being silly, there was nothing wrong with the statement to anyone with sense. It wasnt literal, just about the concepts of traditional war not applying, and getting ready for new ideas.

The only people to laugh at, is anyone who hears this and can't understand what he means overall and tries to whine about it.

Ahhh, but the tanks could roll over the UK's borders next time!!

I've even heard cries across the border of 'Up With This Sort of Thing!!'

My reading of the recent Anglo-French nuclear drills was that they explicitly assumed no US assistance and were intended to demonstrate that Europe will deliver a nuclear response regardless of underlying conditions with the UK covering the French, and the French covering the UK.

Presumably not what people like Putin or Trump would really want. Which makes me re-read this thread in a different context now.

People are taking individual lines out of context. Read the whole speech before commenting!

Spoilsport.

There’s no doubt Streeting uses the prospect of war in 1000 days for some political reason. Probably for spending from other departments.

I think you are being excessively literal about this.

Tanks rolling across borders is imagery, intended to evoke previous conflicts. He wasn't making a factual statement to inform people about tanks. I expect he assumed people would take it as such - not cease stockpiling homemade anti-tank weapons or something.

The Blackshirts in their balaclavas are not being widely welcomed.

Where have you been?? The treat is from Russia, there’s nothing new to tell us.

Trump's whinging about certain NATO members neglecting their own commitment and hiding behind the US is not entirely without foundation, but what he appears to be too simple-minded to grasp, is that by undermining NATO with his constant slandering of it and it's constituent members, by the constant threats to cave the entire thing in, by threatening supposed US allies, by making it clear that he'll throw friendly nations to the dogs if it suits him, he just emboldens the US's actual enemies by weakening the cohesiveness of their opponents in turn. It's dramatically short-sighted, and I can only put it down to two things, namely, the man's inherent lack of intelligence, and the fact that he'll happily cosy up to the US's genuine enemies if he believes it's beneficial for his own personal wealth and his electoral prospects. Shouldn't put down to malevolence what is adequately explained by stupidity, but with Trump it's easy to see why there is a perception that he is in fact an active agent of Putin's.

A diminished, fragmented Europe just strengthens the world position and power of the likes of Russia and China, which ultimately makes them more able to stand up to the US and diminishes the US's standing and power in turn, yet he either can not see this, or simply does not care because personal enrichment is his only preoccupation.

Ideally, we'd be ready for war (in the sense of having an army, navy, air force, etc plus reserves and plans/ capacity for training more people/ building more weaponry/ feeding the nation) at all times. Otherwise I question what the point of the MOD is.

However, Streeting has given himself three years, which means, in classic politician style, that it will probably be someone else's problem by then.

As Portmore mentioned, I think it's about us getting more resilient individually and as a country. We live in a forever changing world, none of us know exactly when something immediate will go wrong or might not even see it coming if we've heard about things on the move.

@HumbleStumble

Interested to hear more about this bunker you have access to.

How? Why? So many questions!!

Perhaps I am being excessively literal, but IMO the problem here is we have the SSD talking about the vitally important matter of national security, the threat of conflict, what the threats are and what form they take, so he damn well ought to be entirely literal and succinct himself.

We have a bunker in our village. A proper concrete one with a steel door. The owner posted on the village Facebook page that he's never had so many "friend requests" in such a short space of time as he's had over the last 2 weeks.