So errrr what is the UK doing right now to enable its citizens to prepare for an attack from Russia?

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

Are we just going for the head in the sand approach or are we going to get a pamphlet or something?

Even so, iodine is no remedy against radiation burns or sickness.

Thanks, the booklet is a really interesting read. I get the sense the Sweden is a much less divided society than the UK, would that be right.

(PS There's no nuclear attack coming. Although I very confidently predicted that the UK political system was not stupid enough to actually enact Brexit after the referendum, so start building your shelters with planks of wood! )

There's this really weird thing, that's called taking a non-interventionist approach in geopolitical affairs. I do not support support Ukraine OR Russia. I care about British people and British affairs.
Given that you do still have your flags up, I expect you will be heading out to the front lines very soon then? Or do you expect those working-class British men, that you no doubt loathe, to go and die for your virtuous opinions?

I know, *Grammarnut" - it's why I said "much of Nato", which would certainly include Poland

The 25th would allow Biden to be replaced but it hadn’t been impkemented. So Biden is still president, still commander in chief, still holds the decision making powers… and still have dementia and cognitive decline.

Fans of "Monkey Cage" will know that the next goal for all powers is to be able to hack into their enemies systems and prevent them launching nukes (or blowing them up before they are).

When that comes to pass, it's likely the nuclear powers won't be able to decommission their arsenals fast enough.

I'm quite comfortable with the possibility that - like smoking - the era of nuclear weapons will look like an aberration a few centuries hence.

Could always use the pamphlet instead of the toilet roll😏

Do you have any more medical evidence of Biden's condition than I have of Trump's apparent stroke and right-side weakness?

I would much rather be dead in seconds than survive in a post nuclear world. I just hope we get half an hour warning so I can eat all the chocolate in my house!

I am eating all my choc now, just in case😉

3 days and then what? No thanks.

Will probably be made of that horrid shiny paper! Not fit for purpose!

Do you mean like handing out iodine tablets to prevent thyroid cancer in case of a nuclear emergency? Like what Switzerland and France do? Costs millions. UK version is DIY - go knock yourself out on some preppers websites, if you must.

We never experienced toilet paper shortages here during Covid, nor online shopping shortages. Saw it a mile off and had prebooked online deliveries.

If you are really worried stock up prepper style and build a bunker in your garden.

FYI I am not worried.

Three weeks of water and any critical meds. Presumably everyone has enough food. Wouldn’t panic buy. We have a few crates of water in the cellar. If I lived in a flat would put them under the sink. Would hardly notice them there. Plenty of other disruption far more likely than nuclear war. Really surprised the UK doesn’t have any guidance. Several other European countries do.

I completely agree. I’ve been watching Julia Davis on Twitter who is fantastic but watching too many of her translations from Russian media must have addled my brain. They talk every day about nuking us and with absolute certainty. I don’t know why I didn’t think to check as of course the Russians lie - it’s the only thing they’re actually good at.

https://x.com/JuliaDavisNews

Jaysus
I've been offline, missed news since last night and wondered what had happened. Let me check the major news outlets, X, call my mum and I'll get back to you...

The government will probably just continue to sit on its hands and not invest in our armed forces, continue to let our defence capabilities dwindle and leave us like sitting ducks.

None of these war mongering power hungry leaders want to die.

not sure that’s true actually. Hitler committed suicide, as did several other Nazi leaders. I think if Putin is crazy enough, he would rather die than back down.

Did somebody say we'll be getting a pamphlet to help save us from being nuked? Phew, that's a relief to know. Hope we get one per person, my head's far too large to share the pamphlet with anyone else in the flat after I've turned it into a tin-foil-lined hat.

If I'm out and about I'll head to the nearest Tube station - like wot they did in The Blitz. If at home I'll just have to sit it out under the dining table.

In the meantime I'll add a few items to my Ocado order - maybe an extra bottle of gin.

What can I take if I’m allergic to Iodine?

The Daily Mail (who else) are advising people not to use hair conditioner in the event of a nuclear attack. It's paywalled but can anyone explain this batshittery?

Probably cos we will not have any hair left, laughs hysterically

Surely they mean air conditioning, as in circulating all that nuclear dust!

Personality wise, Putin isn’t Hitler. Hitler was neurotic, if not psychotic. Putin is not crazy in the way Hitler was crazy.

He’s also not sat in a bunker in a bombed out shell of a city, in a collapsed country, with the forces of his greatest ideological enemy rapidly approaching.

Lavrov and Medvedev are sabre rattling, like they’ve been constantly doing. It would make very little sense however for Russia to launch a nuclear strike when there’s a new U.S administration coming in January that is almost guaranteed to be favorable towards their interests.

That isn’t to say it won’t happen, but imo it’s unlikely.