When you go the shops and there are empty shelves and the things you usually buy are not available then people start buying anything that is available, and so they create more shortages. It’s not reasonable, but that’s what happens.
This absolutely.
I’m not British and don’t live in the UK so I won’t be immediately affected by this situation. I also don’t have an agenda, but all of the above is just something you’d have to take my word for of course.
I was living in London during the petrol blockades in 2000 and the shops were totally out of milk, bread and baked beans. Afterwards the major supermarkets said that their supply chains had not been interrupted. The shortages were caused by large numbers of people suddenly making drastic changes to their purchasing behaviour, ie panic buying. That’s a good reason to stock up a little, gradually, beforehand: sure, people shouldn’t panic buy, but you can’t control other people’s behaviour. If you can afford to buy a little extra beforehand (not all at once, and not at the last minute), then that strikes me as a sensible and helpful thing to do.
It may well be that there’s no interruption to supply at all, but panic buying is still quite likely (IMO, based on nothing), so there could still be shortages on the shop floor.