An interesting new article from The Guardian re: stockpiling and why it isn’t as easy as the government suggest

[UglyCathKidstonBag]

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/stockpile-food-no-deal-brexit-dream-on?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Well worth a read and fairly sobering stuff.

Where exactly are companies supposed to put all this extra product? How do they pay for creating it and housing it for months on end?

"Wingadium leviosa!"

Or

"It'll be fine!"

Add security costs.

If there are shortages, and food is scare, any stockpile will be a target for desperate, hungry people.

It's all quite exciting isn't it. We may yet get a chance - the first in living memory - to see British soldiers on British shores with orders to shoot to kill British citizens.

Finally, taking back control.

Yup, I can't see how it's going to work.

'OK, Mr Big producer, we want you to invest in storage systems and security, tie up your capital with non-perishible goods on the basis of something that may or may not happen. Oh, and can you do this, um, now please? Of course a complete overhaul of your supply system won't take that long to plan and implement, will it? And hey, we might get lucky and get a decent deal! In which case, tough shit. Have some unicorns. '

We're already hearing rumblings from the farmers about a potential poor harvest for certain things - and worries about fodder for the animals over winter.

Can’t wait for to tell my grandkids about this in 30 years time.

“What’s this grandma?”
“Oh I haven’t seen that in a while, that’s my ration book?”
“Your what?”
“The country didn’t have any food when your parents were little, so we had to have rations.”
“And you weren’t at war?”

It’s utterly deluded to think the government will be able to stockpile and supply you with food. Every individual household needs to make their own arrangements. The government will not be there for you when the shit hits the fan.

Haven't read this yet but there was a great programme on BBC4 about the government's preparations for WW2 and how they were going to feed the population. That was years of planning. They started thinking about it earlyish in the 1930s IIRC. So with this lot, and only 6 months to go, we're all screwed.

The civil unrest will long precede the need for stockpiles, as the citizenry turn on one another with accusations of greed and selfishness.

God help someone with a foreign accent who dares to buy two loaves of bread.

And it'll take more than God to help the first non-white shopkeeper who runs out of anything when the Boys of Brexit Breeze past.

Ever wish you'd never studied history ?

People in retail have been saying this for ages - there is no spare capacity & why should there be? Imagine Tesco announcing to their share-holders that they were about to invest £ billions on a loads of new DCs that will sit empty, just in case the weather turns a bit bad, or the government embark on a mad scheme?

A perfect storm is coming together, a failed harvest this year followed by another predicted hard winter. Then Brexit.

Don’t trust the government, they can’t prepare. There isn’t enough time for them to. In all seriousness the country is walking off a cliff and will fall into civil unrest and economic collapse. People are going to die because of this.

The Developed society is a wafer thin veneer. The basic idea that we are 3 missed hot meals away from civil unrest hold true. Especially In a overpopulated country.

I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and thinking their shelves looked unusually depleted. Was this the reason why?
Read Helen Dunmore's The Siege for tips on surviving a food shortage - boiling up leather bags for stock is one of them.

Of course if shortages do start, they will impact on people.

Some of whom we rely on to do essential jobs.

Now I am as worried about the impact this might have on vloggers and instagram influencers as anyone else. But nurses, doctors, firemen, policeman will all need food. And they can't do their job if they are worried about their families.

More important are the people who maintain infrastructure. In particular power, water and sewage. Because no amount of stockpiling into that extra freezer will count for anything if - or when - the power goes.

If Russia were planning a land invasion of the UK, they wouldn't really face much resistance, since the UK is slowly turning into an English speaking cousin to the Ukraine.

Yes, supply chains and Just in Time. This is precisely why it's the concern it is.

I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and thinking their shelves looked unusually depleted. Was this the reason why?

Saw on another thread that someone had also seen supermarkets running low on some things. I wonder if quite a lot of people are stockpiling at home, or if people who are are just interpreting the coincidental that way. Need some people who work in supermarkets to say what they've observed!

@Butterymuffin Can you remember the title / presenter or anything about the programme?

Russia are not going to invade, but given that they have attempted to remotely influence politics of other countries. I fully expect them to step up the experiment.

Re stockpiling, I've already seen hints of the Leavers' narrative turning from "hysterical scaremongering" to "well obviously it's sensible" as if nobody will notice.

But nurses, doctors, firemen, policeman will all need food. And they can't do their job if they are worried about their families.

And in civil unrest you have to wonder how many of us are going to turn up to work. I’ll be on maternity leave in March but I don’t know any HCP who will turn out to work if SHTF.

But nurses, doctors, firemen, policeman will all need food. And they can't do their job if they are worried about their families.

Traitors! UnBeLeavers! (etc)

If you were a doctor who was worried about the safety of your own family, would you turn up to work instead of looking after your own? I don’t think so.....

UglyCathKidstonBag I've a couple of retired relatives who've speculated in the past about emergency scenarios in which people like them might be needed to come back into service and man hospitals, if younger staff weree busy taking care of their own kids or lacked immunity to some old virus that had returned. So maybe a few doddery but keen old ones who remember 1950s rationing?

If you were a doctor who was worried about the safety of your own family, would you turn up to work instead of looking after your own? I don’t think so.....

You may have no choice, if the army turn up and escort you at gunpoint.

I await a lawyer to tell me what you can't do with all those "Henry VIII" powers the government armed itself with.

I doubt it will reach that point DG. People will be doing everything they can to leave the country well before. All the foreign doctors will have gone back to their home countries for a start.

I doubt it will reach that point

Sadly, pesky history suggests the vast majority of the population thought exactly that when it did reach that point.

Maybe I'm odd, but I can recall how quickly we went from 0 to near riots when the fuel tankers stopped running back in 2000. Yet I've had conversations with (older) people that go: "What fuel crisis ?"

As a prepper that has been haunting these sorts of threads I would strongly recommend people focus their energy on making sure they have enough shelf stable food and freezer stocks in for at least 3 days. Important, I think, that any shortages and dramas at the shops are one less thing for you to have to deal with.
Obviously, I have more because I am a crazy prepper but if that's not for you, it doesn't mean you should do nothing in the current situation.
There are plenty of good ideas on here especially from @Brillopad about getting some extras in on a low budget.
Am I angry that we are even contemplating this sort of scenario? yes, I bloody am. Do I blame anyone who voted Leave? Yes I bloody do.
But, now we are heading that way, I want to focus on doing practical stuff for me and my family.

bellinisurge

Agreed we are past the point of blame.

As a prepper that has been haunting these sorts of threads

What weapons are you packing ?