The new way of fighting Russia is with a tin opener. The UK government has launched a new campaign for householders to store up three days of water, food and medication. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has kick-started the “Be Ready” campaign, which will run over three years, with social media and radio messages and more than 500 organizations signed up to share it.
The typical shopping list includes about 3 liters of drinking water per person per day, enough food that needs no refrigeration or cooking to sustain the household for 3 days, essential medication and a first aid kit. In addition, there should be a torch with batteries, a battery or wind-up powered radio, a charged power bank and some cash. Yahoo News UK reported that the list includes blankets.
The campaign was unveiled at the launch of a new tank gun barrel, being produced by the German defense firm Rheinmetall at a factory in Telford, Yahoo News UK reported. And here Streeting was talking about stockpiling of provisions in front of a massive gun barrel. He warned of “increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks” on businesses and supply chain disruption caused by “hostile state actors or terrorists,” the BBC reported, and gave the example of a local shop hit by a cyber-attack so that “your card isn’t working at the till.” The threat, said Streeting, was the worst of his lifetime – he told BBC One’s Question Time it was greater than at any time “certainly for most, if not all, of my lifetime.”
He then segued to the obvious threat of Russia. Yahoo News UK reported that Streeting said “state-sponsored terrorism by Russia or another hostile state” was a threat to businesses and households, targeting infrastructure. As he put it, “terms like ‘hybrid warfare’ and ‘grey zone threats’ do not accurately capture or convey to the general public what I prefer to describe as ‘state-sponsored terrorism’.” Even the scare needed a rebrand.
Mr Streeting was also asked by the TV program whether or not he was engaging in ‘scaremongering’. The Defence Secretary admitted that he had nothing specific in mind, but that the government’s desire was to get people “alert but not alarmed,” the BBC reported. So the threat is the worst of his lifetime, it has a name, and there is nothing specific in mind. What is most striking is that the government’s own announcement of the new campaign leads with the threat of severe weather (such as last winter’s storms or this summer’s wildfires) and reiterates the vast majority of the advice already published on the government’s existing household guidance (first published in May 2024). ‘Be Ready’ is essentially the government’s existing ‘Prepare’ website rebranded with some new messaging, the government said.
