# Why are we suddenly being asked to stockpile, and why are so many countries doing it at once? Source: https://nisocial.com/why-are-we-being-asked-to-stockpile/ Last checked: 29 October 2026 Category: Local, Tips The UK's Be Ready advice says it is just in case. The fuller answer is on the record: NATO and the EU have built household preparedness into their plans because they judge Russia could be able to attack a NATO country by around 2029 or 2030, and sabotage and an energy shock are already happening. No government has named a date or event. What it means in Northern Ireland, as of 29 October 2026. ## About On 22 October 2026 the UK government asked every household to be ready to look after itself for three days if an emergency cuts off power, water or the shops. The campaign is called Be Ready. Within a day it was being called the "stockpiling" advice, and people were asking three questions: why now, why are so many other countries saying the same thing, and does the government know something we don't? The government's answer amounts to "just in case": storms, power cuts and the fact that very few people are prepared. That is true as far as it goes, but it is not the whole answer, and the rest of it is on the public record. Since 2024 NATO and the European Union have made civil preparedness part of their plans for defending Europe, and the EU has asked for households that can cope on their own for at least 72 hours. Behind both is the same judgement by Western governments and their intelligence services: that Russia could be in a position to attack a NATO country by around 2029 or 2030. The UK campaign belongs to a home defence programme that was set up "to build the UK's resilience to any potential escalation to conflict". Meanwhile a campaign of sabotage, drones and cyber attacks blamed on Russia is already under way in Europe, and the war with Iran has pushed up energy prices since February. What no government, intelligence service or alliance has done is name a date or an event it expects. This article sets out what they have said, what they have not, and what it means in Northern Ireland. This is the position as of 29 October 2026. ### The short answer - What are we being asked to do? Keep enough bottled water, and food that needs no cooking, to get your household through three days, along with a torch, a radio, a charged power bank, some cash and your usual medicines. The government suggests adding an item or two at a time. Its website never uses the word "stockpile". - Why is every country saying it at once? Because they agreed to. NATO members have committed to strengthen their "civil preparedness and resilience", and in March 2025 the EU set a target of households being able to cope for at least 72 hours. Most of Europe's household booklets followed those decisions. Both rest on the same assessment of the threat from Russia, and both also cover storms, blackouts, cyber attacks and pandemics. - Is something specific coming? No government has said so. The nearest thing to a near-term warning came from Danish intelligence in September, which saw "a low but growing risk" of a limited Russian attack on a NATO country bordering Russia, possibly "in the coming months", and no sign of an invasion. The UK says Be Ready is not a response to "any specific or imminent threat" and "is not a consequence of any specific piece of intelligence". Two things are already happening: sabotage and cyber attacks blamed on Russia, and the energy shock from the war with Iran. - Why now, in the UK? The government names last winter's storms, this summer's wildfires and low preparedness: only 13% of people across the UK, and 9% in Northern Ireland, feel their household is largely or totally prepared. It also wants to catch up with Europe. The campaign was promised in July 2026. - Is America doing it too? Not in the same way. US federal advice has not changed: keep supplies for "several days". Some states ask for two weeks because of earthquakes and hurricanes. The new war-related US plan is for military bases, not households. - Is this normal? It is unusual for this generation, but it is not new. The UK posted a booklet to every home, including every home in Northern Ireland, in 2004, and the Cold War programmes were far bigger. In our view this is the biggest push of its kind in Europe since the Cold War. - What about Northern Ireland? The campaign covers the whole UK, but it sends people here to nidirect, which has not yet been updated with the three-day advice. The "priority list" works differently here, and the number for a power cut is 03457 643 643, not 105. The most likely reason anyone here will need the kit this winter is a storm. ### What exactly are we being asked to do? The campaign website, beready.campaign.gov.uk, sets out a checklist. The core of it is: ItemWhat the government saysBottled water3 litres per person per day for drinking, for three days. More is needed for cooking and washing.FoodEnough for three days that needs no fridge and no cooking. "It's best to buy food you'd usually eat."Torch and spare batteries"Torches are safer than candles."RadioAn FM radio that runs on batteries or a wind-up handle.Power bankKept charged, for your phone.CashA mix of coins and notes, as well as cards.MedicinesYour essential medication, a written list of what you take and the doses, and prescriptions requested up to five working days before you need them.WarmthBlankets, sleeping bags and warm clothing. The list also includes a first aid kit, hand sanitiser, wet wipes and toiletries, copies of important documents, and phone numbers written down on paper. Where they apply, it adds baby formula (ready-to-feed is best), nappies and wipes, and food and water for pets. For a household of four, the drinking water works out at 36 litres: 3 litres each, for four people, for three days. ### Is this stockpiling? Not in the way the word is being used. The campaign site does not use the words "stockpile" or "panic" anywhere. What it says is: - "You don't need to do it all at once." - Pick up missing items "during your regular shopping trips to help spread the cost". - Check your cupboards first, and check expiry dates every six months. - "It's best to buy food you'd usually eat." In other words, it describes a cupboard you use and top up, not a store you sit on. The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, put it this way, as reported by BBC News: "It's not about panicking... It's about just taking sensible measures to have enough in the house to tide you over should there be a difficult situation." Many households are closer than they think. In the government's own 2026 survey, six in ten people said they already had about three days of food that needs no cooking, and in Northern Ireland it was 66%. Water is the real gap: only about one in 25 people across the UK, and about one in 14 in Northern Ireland, had three days of bottled water at the recommended 3 litres a person a day. There was some extra shopping in the first days. Figures obtained by BBC Newsnight showed Iceland's sales of tinned food up 40% over the first weekend, and Maplin's torch sales up 284%. Iceland said its supplies "remain healthy", and the Guardian found no evidence of mass panic buying. The big shops say they want this. A week before the launch, the British Retail Consortium told MPs that panic buying "is quite easy to generate", but also that if every household had three days of food and water, "that takes you quite a long way towards avoiding those problems at shelf edge". A little in every cupboard means fewer empty shelves when something does go wrong. ### Why three days? Three days is not how long help takes to arrive. It is about who gets help first. If most households can manage on their own for a while, the emergency services can go to the people who need them most. The disaster planning expert Prof Lucy Easthope gave the BBC an example: if people have their heart pills for an extra 48 hours, crews do not have to start by finding an emergency pharmacist. Three days, or 72 hours, is also the figure the European Union adopted in March 2025, and the one most of the UK's neighbours use. ### The UK government's own reasons The launch statement, made to Parliament by the Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, on 22 October, gives four reasons. - The weather. It cites "the storms last winter and the wildfires this summer". The Met Office says summer 2026 was provisionally the warmest on record for the UK, in figures going back to 1884, and Northern Ireland broke its own summer record too. In England, a wildfire at Stourbridge in August destroyed 19 homes. In Northern Ireland, fires in late April burned an estimated 2,500 hectares, many of them in the Mournes. - Low preparedness. The Cabinet Office's 2026 survey found that 13% of UK adults felt their household was largely or totally prepared for an emergency. In Northern Ireland it was 9%, and 28% said they were not prepared at all. - Catching up with Europe. The statement says the campaign brings the UK "into line with many of our European peers". - Taking pressure off the emergency services, so that responders can help those most in need first. The weather made the point in launch week. Storm Austen reached south west England the day after the launch, and by 3pm on 23 October more than 31,000 homes there were without power, according to National Grid. Storm Boelo followed on 24 and 25 October with an amber wind warning for parts of Northern Ireland, and NIE Networks said about 12,500 customers here lost power. BBC News NI reported the next day that power had been restored to all of them, citing NIE Networks. The campaign was not a sudden decision. The government first promised it on 14 July 2026, under the previous Prime Minister, and the website it replaces, GOV.UK/Prepare, has carried a household emergency kit list since May 2024. The government says "much of the advice has not changed". What is new is a firm number, three days, and a campaign planned to run for at least three years. On 27 October Jarvis told MPs: "we are not launching this campaign because of any specific or imminent threat." ### Why is every country saying this at once? It is not a coincidence, and it is not secret. The governments involved have written down what they agreed and why. NATO. Article 3 of NATO's founding treaty commits every member to "maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack". NATO says investment in civil preparedness fell away after the Cold War and that recent events have brought it back into focus. Its members work to seven baseline requirements for national resilience, including keeping food and water supplies "safe from disruption or sabotage", coping with mass casualties, and coping with large movements of people. At its summit in The Hague in June 2025, NATO agreed that members will spend at least 3.5% of national income on core defence by 2035 and "account for up to 1.5% of GDP annually" on things including "civil preparedness and resilience". The reasons it gave were "the long-term threat posed by Russia" and terrorism. In September 2026 NATO published its updated resilience requirements for the first time, saying they set a higher level of ambition. NATO itself does not tell governments to get households to keep supplies. Its requirements are about government plans: food and water for the population, evacuation, and public warning systems. But in May 2026 its Secretary General, Mark Rutte, said in a speech in Rotterdam: "Citizens and businesses must also take responsibility and be prepared." The European Union. The household target comes from here. In October 2024 the former Finnish president Sauli Niinistö reported to the European Commission on how to make Europe better prepared. He recommended promoting "a target of 72-hour self-sufficiency through coordinated information campaigns", so that households could cope with extreme weather, a pandemic, a large power cut, a major cyber attack "or even armed aggression". In March 2025 the EU adopted the target in its Preparedness Union Strategy, which opens with Russia's war against Ukraine and says Europe must prepare for large crises "including the possibility of armed aggression". The EU says its preparedness requirements and NATO's are aligned. Its own 72-hour guide for households has still not been published; on 1 and 8 October the Commissioner responsible said it would come "later this year". The UK. Britain is outside the EU but has signed up to the NATO commitments, and its own documents link the campaign to them. - The Home Defence Programme was set up in August 2024 "to build the UK's resilience to any potential escalation to conflict", according to a written answer from the Security Minister. - The National Security Strategy of June 2025 said the government would "launch public communications to inform citizens about preparedness", following its commitment at NATO's Vilnius summit to NATO's seven baseline requirements. The same document says: "For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat, potentially in a wartime scenario." - The Strategic Defence Review, also published in June 2025, said: "Everyone has a role to play and a national conversation on how we do it is required." - On 27 October Jarvis told MPs that Be Ready "sits as a strand of" the Home Defence Programme, that the UK is "delivering on our commitment to NATO" to spend 1.5% of national income on wider security and resilience, and that the campaign "brings the UK into line with almost every single European country". He did not say the campaign itself counts towards the 1.5%. The order it happened in. The household guides came in waves, each after a Russian escalation and the agreements that followed it. WhenWhat happened2014 to 2015Russia annexes Crimea. Lithuania publishes a citizens' manual on surviving war (January 2015).2016NATO leaders commit to strengthen national resilience at their Warsaw summit.2018Sweden posts a "crisis or war" brochure to about 4.8 million homes, its first since the Cold War.February 2022Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.2024Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden issue new household guides. The UK sets up its Home Defence Programme (August). Niinistö recommends the 72-hour target (October).2025The EU adopts the 72-hour target (March). Denmark issues its guide (April). NATO agrees the 1.5% for resilience, and the UK publishes its defence review and security strategy (June).October 2025 to January 2026Germany, Czechia, France, the Netherlands and Poland issue guides, several of them posted to every home.2026War with Iran begins (February). The UK promises its campaign (July). NATO publishes its new resilience requirements and Ireland posts its booklet (September). Luxembourg (14 October) and the UK (22 October) launch theirs. So is "just in case" the full answer? No. The fuller answer, from the governments' own documents, is: in case of a war they judge could become possible by around the end of this decade and are trying to prevent, and for the storms, blackouts and cyber attacks that happen anyway. The thinking is deterrence. A country whose people can manage a few days of disruption is harder to frighten into giving way, and quicker to recover. The reasons are mixed, though, and not every campaign is about war. Czechia posted 5.2 million copies of its "72 hours" guide in November 2025, naming floods, large fires and outages of everyday services. Ireland's booklet followed a recommendation in the government's review of Storm Éowyn, and lists storms, flooding, cyber attacks and disruption to supply chains, not war. Others set war alongside everyday risks: the Dutch booklet says the chance of an emergency or war is growing (our translation), and Luxembourg's guide mentions a power cut caused by a "hybrid attack or war". Several governments also point to the blackout that hit Spain and Portugal in April 2025. European grid investigators traced it to technical failures and identified no attack, and in January 2026 a Spanish judge provisionally closed a sabotage inquiry, finding no sign of sabotage. ### What do the security services say is coming, and when? These are the main public assessments, and what each actually said. WhoWhenWhat they saidNATO Secretary General Mark RutteJune and December 2025Russia "could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years", but "NATO's own defences can hold for now", and it is "a tragedy we can prevent" if allies deliver on their commitmentsEstonia's foreign intelligence serviceFebruary 2026Russia "has no intention of militarily attacking Estonia or any other NATO member state in the coming year", and "there is, however, no cause for panic"Dutch military intelligence (MIVD)April 2026A conventional war with NATO is practically ruled out while Russia is fighting in Ukraine, but Russia is already making concrete preparations for a possible conflict with NATO (our translation)Head of the German Army, Lt Gen Christian FreudingJune 2026, speaking to Politico"All 32 NATO partners agree that Russia might have the capability to invade a NATO partner country in 2029"US intelligence, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and CNNAugust 2026Russia could test NATO with a limited move at some point "between this fall and 2029", from a cyber attack up to a small incursion; one CNN source named the Baltic states or Poland as the likeliest targetsDanish Defence Intelligence Service24 September 2026"A low but growing risk" of a limited attack on one or more NATO countries bordering Russia that "could potentially take place in the coming months"; "no indications" of an invasion, which would take at least six months to prepareGermany's foreign intelligence service (BND)5 October 2026No indications of a large-scale Russian attack on NATO, but Germany is in danger of being drawn into a conflict, and it must not wait until 2029 (our translation)EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius21 October 2026"Russia is not being deterred. Russia is escalating." (speech as prepared)MI513 October 2026Russia is "aggressor number one" but is "careful to stay below the NATO Article V threshold"; the threats it named were arson, sabotage, cyber attacks, coercion and violenceUK Chief of the Defence StaffDecember 2025Analysts see "only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the UK", which "still means an up to 5 per cent risk", and the trend "is worsening"UK Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting22 and 24 October 2026The aim is to be "warfighting ready by 2030" (speaking about Army equipment); adversaries "could" be in a position to attack by then (Telegraph article, as reported) Three things stand out. The years are about readiness, not a known plan. 2029 and 2030 are when NATO governments judge Russia could be ready to attack if it rebuilds its forces and Europe does not keep pace. They are planning dates, not forecasts. Officials do not all read Russia's intentions the same way: Germany's defence chief, Gen Carsten Breuer, told the BBC "There's an intent", while Estonia's intelligence service sees no intention to attack NATO in the near term. 2026 changed one assumption. Until this year, most assessments said the danger to NATO would grow once the fighting in Ukraine stopped and Russia could rebuild. This year Denmark, and US intelligence as reported, said a limited attack could come even while the war goes on, for example missile or drone strikes on infrastructure, possibly disguised as Ukrainian. Denmark's service also says it can no longer rule out an invasion, though it still calls one unlikely ("usandsynligt" in the Danish original; its English version says "highly unlikely"). In June Latvia's intelligence service said it saw "indications that Russia is preparing military provocations against the Baltic countries or Poland", and Poland's Prime Minister said "various types of escalation can be expected in the coming weeks and months". All of these warnings are about NATO's eastern edge, beside Russia and Belarus. None names the UK or Ireland, and none gives a date. The Kremlin has dismissed such warnings as "scare stories", and President Trump said in August that he was "not concerned at all" about a Russian attack on NATO territory. For the UK, the threat they describe is disruption. The UK's own assessment puts a direct Russian attack on the UK at a remote chance, though a growing one. The threats MI5 describes as happening now are sabotage, arson and cyber attacks, and that is what a household kit is for: a few days without power, card payments or deliveries. ### What is already happening Part of the "something" people sense is not in the future. Sabotage and drones. The Associated Press says it has tracked "around 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity across Europe blamed on Russia by Western officials" since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia denies running any such campaign. These are some of the incidents, most of them publicly blamed on Russia by governments or courts: - September 2025: about 20 Russian drones crossed into Poland. Allied jets shot some down, and Poland called for NATO consultations under Article 4. - October 2025: five men were sentenced in London over the 2024 arson of an east London warehouse holding supplies for Ukraine. Prosecutors said the plot was "intimately connected to the Russian state". They were the first sentences under the National Security Act. - November 2025: an explosive went off under a freight train on Poland's railway towards Ukraine. Poland's Prime Minister said those responsible had worked with Russian intelligence. - April 2026: the UK government said Russian deep-sea units had been active over undersea infrastructure in the High North while a Russian submarine acted as a distraction in and around UK waters. A parliamentary committee heard in 2025 that repairing a cable in the Irish Sea can take up to a week, and much longer in bad weather. On 22 October the government proposed up to 14 years in prison for deliberately damaging undersea cables. - July 2026: a Russian cruise missile crashed in eastern Poland, injuring no one. - August 2026: an explosives-laden drone was found and defused near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany. Germany blamed Russia and closed a Russian consulate. - September 2026: a Russian warship fired flares at a Danish military helicopter, and the next day NATO jets shot down a drone over Lithuania for the first time; it most likely came in from Belarus. - October 2026: a fire was set at Starlink satellite internet equipment in Bulgaria, and staff put out an attempted arson at a Starlink site in Lithuania. The EU's defence commissioner listed both among this month's hybrid attacks, though who organised them has not been publicly established. Not everything blamed on Russia turns out to be Russian. A blackout that left about 45,000 Berlin households without power for more than four days in January 2026 was an arson attack claimed by a far-left group. Drones that came down in Latvia this spring were Ukrainian ones that had strayed or been diverted off course; Ukraine blamed Russian jamming. Several cable breaks in the Baltic Sea were ruled accidents or ended without a conviction. Finland's security service warns that because events are so readily blamed on Russia, its influence "may appear more extensive than it truly is". The war with Iran. Since 28 February 2026 the US and Israel have been at war with Iran, whose Supreme Leader was killed in the first strikes. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied gas, has been disrupted and contested ever since, and October brought the most attacks on ships of the war, according to figures reported by Reuters. Brent crude closed at about $117 a barrel on 23 October, against about $72 before the war, and was still above $110 on 29 October. In the Budget on 28 October the Chancellor said gas prices had "nearly tripled since February", and the EU's energy commissioner said the same day that "Europe faces another energy crisis". In April the UK released oil from its emergency stocks as part of what the government called the "largest International Energy Agency stock release in history", and on 20 October the Defence Secretary said RAF Typhoons would fly defensive missions over Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks. The Foreign Office updated its advice for 13 countries in the region on 27 October, saying "the risk of sudden escalation is high". President Trump told a rally on 23 October that the US "may do another Epic Fury", which Al Jazeera reported as a warning of another military operation. Qatar has since put forward a draft deal to end the war, and Iran had not given its answer by 29 October 2026. In Northern Ireland the war has been felt mainly through heating oil, which six in ten homes here use. At the start of the war thousands of heating oil orders across the UK were cancelled and people had to re-order at higher prices, and the government is now drawing up proposals to regulate heating oil for the first time. A three-day kit does not help with that. It is a problem of price and supply, not a short emergency. Is the power or fuel at risk this winter? The operators say not. The National Energy System Operator expects a 9.5% margin of spare electricity in Great Britain this winter, and National Gas says there is enough gas, with real problems only in a "rare and very unlikely combination of events". All of Northern Ireland's gas comes from Great Britain, almost all of it through the Scotland to Northern Ireland pipeline. SONI, which runs the electricity grid here, had not published its outlook for this winter by 29 October 2026; last winter it called the risk of a shortfall "small". The government has denied plans to ration fuel, saying: "We have a diverse and resilient supply." Diesel passed £2 a litre for the first time in early October, according to the RAC. ### What UK ministers have said about war What the campaign says. The Be Ready site lists 18 kinds of emergency, from storms, flooding and power cuts to cyber attacks, disease outbreaks and terrorism. War, armed attack and invasion are not among them and do not appear anywhere on the site. War is in the government's wider planning, though. The National Risk Register, published in July, includes scenarios for an attack on a NATO ally and a "conventional attack on the UK mainland", without publishing how likely it thinks either is. Some of the reporting added it too: BBC News described the advice as being for "a crisis such as a war, an online attack or a natural disaster". What ministers have said. - On launch day the Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, opened a Rheinmetall factory in Telford that makes barrels for tank and artillery guns. In his speech, as published by the government, he said the factory would help supply the Army with firepower "that will make us warfighting ready by 2030", and that "The threat environment requires us to deliver the biggest sustained increase in defence investment since the end of the Cold War." The Press Association reported him asking whether people were ready for disruption to supplies "caused by hostile state actors or terrorists". Those words are not in the official transcript, so they may have been said to reporters afterwards. - That evening on BBC Question Time an audience member asked whether the advice was scaremongering. According to the Mirror, Streeting said "there's not a specific thing we've got in mind", and that the supplies might help in power cuts or "if your local shop is subject to a cyber attack and your card isn't working at the till". He said people should be "alert but not alarmed". - Two days later, writing in the Telegraph, he said that by 2030 Britain's adversaries' "force strength and war economy could put them in a position to attack", which leaves "a little over 1,000 days" to be ready with allies. The word he used was "could", and the reported passages do not name a country. - Jarvis told MPs on 27 October that Be Ready "sits as a strand of" the government's home defence programme. A Ministry of Defence written answer the same day described the campaign as "a Cabinet Office-led programme of public engagement delivered as part of the Home Defence Programme". - In the same Commons session the Conservative MP Mark Pritchard said that if this is about war preparedness, "the Government should just come clean". Jarvis replied that the campaign is about being ready "for everyday emergencies such as severe storms or flooding", while the government makes sure "that we are properly prepared for the very severe threats we face from countries such as Russia". He said the campaign "is not a consequence of any specific piece of intelligence or born out of any specific concern". Answering an MP who recalled Cold War civil defence, he said the world is "more dangerous than at any point since the period that he describes". What the security service has said. On 13 October the head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, said MI5 now puts more resources into countering hostile states than it did during the Cold War, and that Iran-linked operations had led to more than fifty arrests in the UK in a year. He said he was sharing the picture "not to provoke anxiety, but to encourage preparedness", and that people "should expect to hear more from government in the coming months on how we can all be more resilient". The campaign launched nine days later. The UK terrorism threat level has been severe since 30 April 2026, which MI5 says is driven in significant part by extreme right-wing terrorism. That national level does not cover Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Northern Ireland, which is assessed separately and stands at substantial. Neither is connected to Be Ready. What the state is doing. In July the government said it is rewriting its classified crisis plans, known as the "War Books", which were last updated in 2004, and that it will run its largest home defence exercise in decades, Exercise Albiston Shadow, in 2027. A Defence Readiness Bill, to give the government powers to prepare industry and reserves before a crisis becomes a conflict, has been promised but not yet introduced. The government's last stated position on conscription, from July 2025, is that it has "no plans to reintroduce" it. In the Budget on 28 October, the Chancellor, John Healey, said he would set out at next year's Spending Review how the UK reaches NATO's target of 3.5% of national income on defence by 2035, "with a target date for 3% in 2030". The Budget contained no money for Be Ready. ### Is something specific coming? These are the signs that would show a government expects something soon, and what we found. SignWhat we foundA government or alliance naming a date or an eventNone. The UK says Be Ready is not a response to "any specific or imminent threat" and "is not a consequence of any specific piece of intelligence".Foreign Office advice against travel to Poland, the Baltic states or the Nordic countriesNone. That advice was last changed in August, and then only for EU entry paperwork. Advice for the Middle East was updated on 27 October.Reservists called up, or emergency powers usedNone that we could find. The Defence Readiness Bill has not been introduced.Warnings of power cuts or fuel rationing this winterNone. The energy operators say supply is secure, and the government denies any rationing plans.The government building its own food stocksNo. "The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these" (Defra, April 2026).NATO raising its alertNo new step that we could find in October. NATO describes Russia as a "long-term threat".A raised terrorism threat levelYes, but it is a separate matter: severe across the UK since April, substantial for Northern Ireland-related terrorism here.Warnings near RussiaYes. Denmark's "low but growing risk" of a limited attack on Russia's NATO neighbours, and similar warnings from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Our answer. The reader who told us "just in case" is not good enough has a point: it does not explain why so many governments are saying this at once. There is something, and it is mostly in plain sight. Governments judge that the danger from Russia could peak around the end of this decade, and they are spending heavily to prevent it. A campaign of sabotage and cyber attacks is already happening. A war in the Middle East is already raising prices. What there is not, on any public evidence we could find, is a government expecting a particular event on a particular date, and the usual warning signs of one are missing. Danish intelligence says preparing an invasion would take at least six months and be hard to hide, though missile or drone strikes would need no such build-up. Irish officials met the same worry when they tested their own campaign. According to records released to TheJournal.ie, one person shown an early design said: "oh my god, what do they know that I don't know?" The researchers summed up the concerns as "What is being hidden from me?" Ireland's booklet ended up setting no number of days. The honest answer to that question is that most of what governments say they know about these risks is published, and the main parts are set out above. For a household in Northern Ireland, the likeliest reason to need the kit this winter is still a storm. Storm Boelo cut power to about 12,500 customers here only last weekend. ### Is America doing it too? Not in the way Europe is. - Federal advice has not changed. Ready.gov, the US government's preparedness site, still tells people to keep supplies "to last for several days", with no fixed number and no mention of war. The page was last updated in July. - September is preparedness month every year. FEMA has run National Preparedness Month every September since 2004. This year's theme was "Americans Stand Ready", and the disasters it named were tornadoes, wildfires and hurricanes. Its message was self-reliance: it said the campaign "empowers individuals to take charge of their own readiness", as the federal government plans to hand more disaster work to the states. - Two weeks is state advice, for disasters. Washington and Oregon ask households to be ready for two weeks, an idea that grew out of planning for a major earthquake off the Pacific coast, and Hawaii asks for two weeks because a hurricane or tsunami could cut off the ports it relies on. The American Red Cross, a charity, advises a two-week supply at home and three days for evacuation. - The war-related US plan is military. On 30 September the US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced a plan for every major military base to generate its own power, so it can keep running "if an adversary takes down the grid by cyber attack, by sabotage". It covers bases and defence supply chains, and gives no advice to households. Much of the "worldwide" picture comes from round-ups. A Newsweek map published on 28 October, which says it was produced with the help of its AI assistant, lists the US alongside Europe on the strength of Ready.gov's standing "several days" advice. Elsewhere, the clearest new campaigns are in Taiwan and Japan. Taiwan delivered a civil defence guide to its 9.83 million households from November 2025, reaching about 97% of them by early January. It asks for at least seven days of supplies, and its introduction lists threats "from natural disasters and epidemics to extreme weather and the threat of aggression from China". Japan's new National Disaster Management Agency opens on 2 November, and its minister, Goshi Hosono, plans to ask households to keep at least three days of food, water and emergency toilet supplies, ideally a week. His statements cite earthquakes and a possible eruption of Mount Fuji, not war, and the date is simply the agency's opening day, fixed by the cabinet in September. Canada (72 hours) and New Zealand (at least three days) have not changed their advice, and frame it around natural hazards. The countries that have actually come under missile fire this year urged people not to panic-buy. During Iranian missile attacks in June, the Jerusalem Post reported that there was no need to stockpile food in Israel because supply chains were working, and in March the UAE's economy minister urged people "to avoid hoarding and to purchase only what they need". ### Has it ever been this big, and is it normal? It has been bigger. During the Cold War the US President, John F Kennedy, asked Congress in 1961 for money to mark and stock fallout shelters across the country. Switzerland introduced a duty in 1963 to build a shelter in every new home, and it now has about 370,000 shelters with room for over nine million people. Sweden's 2024 brochure is its fifth, after 1943, 1952, 1961 and 2018. For the UK it is unusual, but it is not new. - 1980: Protect and Survive, the Cold War nuclear advice, was never posted to homes. A minister told the House of Lords the plan had been to send it to every household only "in times of crisis". It was put on sale instead, for 50p. - 2004: Preparing for Emergencies was posted to about 25 million homes across the UK, including every home in Northern Ireland, at a cost of about £8 million. It advised keeping bottled water, ready-to-eat food and a tin opener "in case you have to remain in your home for several days", along with a battery radio, a torch, a first aid kit and cash. The then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said people "should remain alert but not alarmed", the same phrase ministers are using now. In Northern Ireland, the then Northern Ireland Office minister Angela Smith said it was "developed not because of any specific threat". - 2024: the previous government launched the Prepare website with a household kit list. Launching it, the then Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, said: "This is not about stockpiling, this is about sensible safeguards." What is different in 2026 is a firm three-day target, a campaign planned to last at least three years, and the fact that it runs online, on radio and social media and through more than 500 partner organisations. The government says it uses a "low-cost strategy", working through partners such as "libraries, utility bills and via healthcare providers", with paid advertising aimed at priority audiences. It has not published the budget or said whether printed guidance will go to every home, as the 2004 booklet did. The fair description, in our view, is the biggest push on household preparedness in Europe since the Cold War. That is our assessment, not an official phrase. Officials describe the security situation itself as the most serious since the Cold War, and the defence think tank IISS says Europe's effort is "not, however, a return to a Cold War mentality", and that countries "remain stronger in diagnosis than in delivery". Across Europe, keeping supplies is now normal advice: CountryHow long it asks you to be readyDoes the advice mention war?UK (Be Ready, 2026)3 daysNoRepublic of Ireland (booklet to every home, 2026)No set number of daysNoLuxembourg (guide to every home, 2026)72 hoursBriefly, as one possible cause of a power cutCzechia (guide to every home, 2025)72 hoursNoNetherlands (booklet to every home, 2025 to 2026)72 hoursYesFrance (guide, 2025)72 hoursYes, wars in Europe and the Middle EastPoland (guide to every home, 2025 to 2026)At least 3 daysYesDenmark3 daysNo, but it names cyber attacks and sabotageFinland72 hoursYes, military conflictsLatvia and Lithuania72 hoursYesEstoniaA weekYesGermany (guide, 2025)10 days if possible, at least 3YesSweden (brochure to every home, 2024)At least a weekYesNorway (brochure to every home, 2024)One weekYesSwitzerlandFood for about a weekNo One detail matters to readers here. The UK government's launch release said three-day advice "is also used by France, Ireland and The Netherlands". Ireland's own booklet, posted to about 2.2 million homes from 21 September 2026, sets no number of days. Records released to TheJournal.ie show Irish officials decided in late 2025 to move away from a 72-hour message, after focus groups found that early designs for the campaign could make people anxious. So the UK is late rather than early, and asks for less than many of its neighbours. Most of the countries nearest Russia say plainly that war is one of the reasons. Several further west, including Ireland and Czechia, do not, and Luxembourg mentions it only in passing. Neither does the UK campaign, which leaves that to ministers. ### Did the government website outage have anything to do with it? In the same week, on 21 October, the team behind PHP, the programming language that runs on the servers behind a large share of websites, fixed two critical flaws, nicknamed "PHP2Shell", that could let someone who had not logged in run their own commands on a web server. The flaws were found with the help of AI tools. Cloudflare's chief executive said his company saw millions of attempts to use them. The National Cyber Security Centre told organisations to update straight away, and to consider taking systems offline only if they could not protect them in time. On 22 October the cyber minister, Baroness Lloyd of Effra, told the House of Lords that 32 government services were unavailable and four partly unavailable, "largely" as a precaution, and that she knew of no confirmed compromise in the UK. In Northern Ireland, Ards and North Down council warned of temporary disruption while it made security updates, and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council had several online services down after an outage at a supplier's portal. The outage did not cause the campaign: Be Ready was promised in July and its launch statement does not mention it. But it is the kind of disruption the checklist is meant for, and Streeting said incidents like it will happen "more and more". There is nothing for households to fix: the flaws were on web servers, not on phones or laptops. What the public notices is websites and online services going down for a while, which is where cash and a radio help. ### What it means in Northern Ireland The advice here. The UK government says Be Ready was developed with the Northern Ireland Executive, and Jarvis told MPs the devolved governments all back it. But we could find no public statement about it from any Executive minister or department by 29 October 2026, and the campaign sends people in Northern Ireland to nidirect for local advice. The UK government's July report on resilience said the Executive Office would launch a "Be Ready NI" campaign "during the summer". We could find no sign that it has. nidirect's household emergency kit page was last updated in July, before the launch. It sets no number of days, gives no amount of water, and still lists candles and matches, while Be Ready says "torches are safer than candles". Until nidirect is updated, Be Ready's three days and 3 litres per person per day are the only figures either government has published. The priority list works differently here. In England, Scotland and Wales, households can join one Priority Services Register, and having a child under five is one of the reasons to qualify. There is no such register in Northern Ireland. Instead: - NIE Networks' Customer Care Register is for people who rely on electricity for their healthcare, such as home dialysis, feeding or lifting equipment. Members get priority calls and updates during a power cut. You can join online, by WhatsApp or on 03457 643 643, and NIE's postal form can sign you up with NI Water at the same time. NIE says it does not supply generators in severe weather, so people on the register still need their own plan. - NI Water's Customer Care Register is for older people, people with a serious medical condition and anyone who needs extra help. NI Water says members get priority consideration for bottled water if supply is interrupted. Call Waterline on 03457 440 088 or register online. - Your electricity and gas supplier must also keep a care register for customers who are of pensionable age, disabled or chronically ill. Ask your supplier to add you. Numbers to keep on paper (the campaign suggests writing them down, because your phone may be flat): - Power cut: NIE Networks, 03457 643 643, 24 hours a day. The 105 number used in Great Britain does not cover Northern Ireland. - Water supply: NI Water Waterline, 03457 440 088. - If you smell gas: NI Gas Emergency Service, 0800 002 001. - Flooding: Flooding Incident Line, 0300 2000 100. - In an emergency, 999. NHS 111 does not operate in Northern Ireland. What an outage here has looked like. StormHomes and businesses that lost power in Northern IrelandÉowyn, January 2025About 285,000, roughly a third of all properties (NIE Networks). The last were reconnected about ten days later, and NI Water had around 1,000 customers without water at one point.Amy, October 2025About 65,000 at the peakChandra, January 2026About 10,000 at the peakBoelo, October 2026About 12,500 Three days of water, food and a torch would have seen most households through most of these, though not the longest outages after Éowyn. Heating is worth thinking about here. The government says 61% of households in Northern Ireland heat their homes with oil, and most oil and gas central heating needs electricity to run its pump and controls. A power cut usually means no heating, even with a full tank, which is why blankets and warm clothing are on the list. Landlines are changing too. The old copper phone network is being switched off across the UK, including Northern Ireland, by 31 January 2027, and Openreach says digital phone lines need power to work. A corded phone on an old line may still work in a power cut; a digital one usually will not. If you rely on your landline, for example for a telecare alarm, Ofcom's rules say your provider should give you a free back-up option that lasts at least an hour, so ask them what they offer. ### Can everyone afford it? No, and the government accepts that not everyone can. Jarvis said: "Those who can follow this advice should follow this advice." The site points out there are "lots of suggestions here that won't cost anything": writing down phone numbers, keeping your phone and power bank charged, and checking what is already in your cupboards. Not everyone is convinced. Prof Ruth Patrick of the University of Glasgow said the guidance "will appear at best tone deaf" to households in poverty. The Conservatives' Alicia Kearns said the government should get its own house in order before "lecturing the public", and Reform UK's Danny Kruger called it "bossy lectures about bottled water". Replying to the Budget, the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told MPs that "three days of baked beans and a wind-up radio are not going to save us". Others backed it: the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat said "I don't think it's a big ask to ask people to have a couple of days of supply", and the psychologist Dr Sarita Robinson called it "realistic, quite low level, and should be reassuring". MPs have asked the government how much it is spending on the campaign, how many printed copies there will be for people without the internet, what help there is for households that cannot afford the supplies, and what it estimates the supplies cost a household. As of 29 October 2026, none of those questions had been answered. ### What happens next - Adverts and a toolkit for partner organisations are due "over the coming weeks". The campaign is planned to run for at least three years. - The US holds its midterm elections on 3 November. President Trump was reported to have said he would not attack Iran before then, and has not said what happens after. Qatar has put forward a draft deal to end the war, and Iran was expected to reply by the end of the week. - Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold further US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi in November, but no date has been confirmed and the fighting continues. - The EU says its own 72-hour household guide will be published "later this year". - SONI is due to publish Northern Ireland's electricity outlook for this winter; last year's came out on 11 November. - A storm summit is planned in Cornwall towards the end of November. - At Stormont, MLAs have asked the Finance Minister whether any departments, agencies or arm's-length bodies took websites or online services offline over the PHP flaws (answer due by 6 November), and the Agriculture Minister whether his department has assessed the need for strategic food stockpiling (due by 3 November). The Assembly next sits on 2 November. - On defence, the Chancellor will set out the path to 3% of national income in 2030 at next year's Spending Review. The War Books are being rewritten, Exercise Albiston Shadow takes place in 2027, and the Defence Readiness Bill has yet to be introduced. We will update this page if the Executive or nidirect publishes advice for Northern Ireland, or if any government says more about what it is preparing for. ### How we checked We used the written and oral statements to Parliament (Hansard and the Parliament written statements and questions services), the Be Ready website and checklists, GOV.UK releases from the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence, Foreign Office and Treasury, the Strategic Defence Review, the National Security Strategy, the Resilience Action Plan and the National Risk Register, the Cabinet Office's 2026 preparedness survey and its Northern Ireland tables, the Budget, the Met Office, MI5, the National Cyber Security Centre, the PHP project, nidirect, the Executive Office, NIE Networks, NI Water, the Utility Regulator, NESO and National Gas, the National Archives copy of the 2004 booklet and historic Hansard. For the international picture we used NATO's summit declarations, resilience requirements and the Secretary General's transcripts, the European Commission's strategies and speeches, the published threat assessments of the Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish intelligence services and the US Director of National Intelligence, Ready.gov and FEMA, US state emergency agencies, and the official advice of the Irish, Dutch, Polish, French, Czech, Luxembourg, Danish, Finnish, Baltic, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Swiss, Taiwanese, Japanese, Canadian and New Zealand governments. News reports from the BBC, the Press Association, the Guardian, Reuters, AP, Al Jazeera, the Mirror, the Express, HuffPost, TheJournal.ie and Northern Ireland World are used for events and quotes, and are named where they are the only source. Some reports, including the Wall Street Journal, the Telegraph and Politico, could only be read as quoted by other outlets, and we say so where they are used. A second reviewer checked every claim against its source. We will update this page as official information changes. ## Questions people ask **Why are so many countries telling people to stockpile at the same time?** Because their governments agreed to. NATO members have committed to strengthen civil preparedness and resilience and can count up to 1.5% of GDP a year towards it (The Hague, June 2025), and the EU set a target in March 2025 that households should be able to cope for at least 72 hours. Both rest on the judgement that Russia could be able to attack a NATO country by around 2029 or 2030, and both also cover storms, blackouts, cyber attacks and pandemics. The UK's Be Ready campaign is part of its Home Defence Programme, which the government links to its NATO commitments. **Is something specific about to happen?** No government, intelligence service or alliance has named a specific expected event or date as of 29 October 2026. The UK says Be Ready is not a response to any specific or imminent threat. The nearest near-term warning is Danish intelligence's 'low but growing risk' (24 September 2026) of a limited Russian attack on a NATO country bordering Russia, possibly in the coming months, with no sign of an invasion. Sabotage and cyber attacks blamed on Russia, and the energy shock from the war with Iran, are already happening. **Why is the UK government asking people to stockpile food and water?** The UK's Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October 2026, asks households to be able to look after themselves for three days in an emergency such as a storm, power cut or water outage. The government's stated reasons are last winter's storms, the 2026 wildfires, low public preparedness (13% of UK adults and 9% in Northern Ireland feel well prepared) and bringing the UK into line with Europe. The campaign is also a strand of the government's Home Defence Programme. It does not use the word stockpile and suggests building supplies gradually. **Is the UK preparing for war?** The Be Ready campaign does not mention war: its 18 listed emergencies include storms, power cuts, cyber attacks and terrorism. Separately, the government is preparing for the possibility of conflict. The campaign is part of its Home Defence Programme, the National Risk Register includes an attack on the UK mainland as a scenario, the War Books are being rewritten, a national exercise is planned for 2027, and the Defence Secretary has set a goal of being 'warfighting ready by 2030'. The UK's military chiefs have described a significant direct Russian attack on the UK as a remote chance, though a growing one. **Is America telling people to stockpile too?** Not in a new way. US federal advice on Ready.gov still says to keep supplies for several days and does not mention war, and FEMA's National Preparedness Month runs every September. Washington, Oregon and Hawaii ask for two weeks because of earthquakes and hurricanes. The Pentagon's 2026 plan for bases to run off the civilian grid covers military sites, not households. **How much water should I store for the Be Ready advice?** Be Ready says 3 litres per person per day for drinking, for three days, so 9 litres per person and 36 litres for a household of four. More is needed for cooking and washing. It says bottled water is the safest option. **Does the Be Ready advice apply in Northern Ireland?** Yes. It is a UK-wide campaign that the UK government says was developed with the Northern Ireland Executive. It sends people in Northern Ireland to nidirect for local advice, but as of 29 October 2026 nidirect's emergency kit page had not been updated with the three-day or 3-litre figures and still listed candles, which Be Ready advises against. **What is the power cut number in Northern Ireland?** Call NIE Networks on 03457 643 643, 24 hours a day. The 105 power cut number used in England, Scotland and Wales does not cover Northern Ireland. **Is there a Priority Services Register in Northern Ireland?** No. Northern Ireland uses Customer Care Registers instead: NIE Networks' register for people who rely on electricity for healthcare (03457 643 643), NI Water's register for older people, people with a serious medical condition or anyone needing extra help (03457 440 088), and a care register kept by each electricity and gas supplier. **Has the UK asked households to keep emergency supplies before?** Yes. In 2004 the Preparing for Emergencies booklet was posted to about 25 million UK homes, including every home in Northern Ireland, advising bottled water and ready-to-eat food in case people had to stay at home for several days. The GOV.UK Prepare website carried a household kit list from May 2024. What is new in 2026 is a firm three-day target and a multi-year campaign. **Which countries ask people to keep emergency supplies?** Most of the UK's neighbours. The EU encourages at least 72 hours. The Netherlands, France, Poland, Czechia, Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania ask for about three days, Sweden, Norway and Estonia for a week, and Germany for up to ten days. Ireland posted a booklet to every home in 2026 but set no number of days. Most of the countries nearest Russia name war as one of the reasons; the UK, Ireland and Czechia do not. **Did the PHP website outage cause the Be Ready campaign?** No. The campaign was promised in July 2026 and its launch statement does not mention the PHP flaws fixed on 21 October 2026, which led to 32 UK government services being taken offline, largely as a precaution. The Defence Secretary did say such cyber incidents will happen more and more. **Has the Be Ready campaign caused panic buying?** The Guardian found no evidence of mass panic buying. Some sales rose: BBC Newsnight reported Iceland's tinned food sales up 40% over the first weekend and Maplin's torch sales up 284%, and Iceland said its supplies remain healthy. The campaign advises adding items gradually on normal shopping trips. **How many people already have emergency supplies at home?** In the Cabinet Office's 2026 survey, 60% of people said they had about three days of food that needs no cooking (66% in Northern Ireland). Far fewer had enough water: about 4% across the UK, and 7% in Northern Ireland, had three days of bottled water at the recommended 3 litres per person per day. Photograph by Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0 ## Sources - Be Ready (GOV.UK campaign site) https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/ - Be Ready: be ready for emergencies (checklist) https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/be-ready-for-emergencies/ - Be Ready: checklist (PDF) https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/252/2026/10/Be-Ready-Checklist_English.pdf - Be Ready: be informed about hazards (the 18 emergencies) https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/be-informed-about-hazards/ - Written statement HCWS409: Strengthening community resilience across the UK (22 October 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-22/hcws409 - Cabinet Office: households encouraged to take small, simple steps (22 October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-encouraged-to-take-small-simple-steps-to-stay-prepared-in-an-emergency - Hansard: Strengthening Community Resilience, Commons statement (27 October 2026) https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-10-27/debates/033A4632-E9CB-4301-A756-56212FF2943E/StrengtheningCommunityResilience - 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Luxembourg: My guide to 72 hours of autonomy (2026) https://letzprepare.public.lu/dam-assets/images/guide-letzeprepare/hcpn-campagne26-guide-accessible-en.pdf - Government of Ireland: Review of Storm Éowyn (October 2025) https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/a4d6b12a/Review_of_Storm_%C3%89owyn_161025_2.pdf - ENTSO-E: final report on the 28 April 2025 Iberian blackout (20 March 2026) https://www.entsoe.eu/publications/blackout/28-april-2025-iberian-blackout/ - Poder Judicial: Audiencia Nacional closes the blackout sabotage inquiry (12 January 2026, Spanish) https://www.poderjudicial.es/cgpj/es/Poder-Judicial/Audiencia-Nacional/Noticias-Judiciales/El-juez-de-la-Audiencia-Nacional-archiva-la-investigacion-por-el-apagon-general-del-pasado-el-28-de-abril-al-no-existir--un-minimo-indicio--de-sabotaje-terrorista - IISS and FOI: Civil Defence in Europe, an initial assessment (April 2026) https://www.iiss.org/globalassets/media-library---content--migration/files/research-papers/2026/civil-defence-in-europe-an-initial-assessment/iiss_civil-defence-in-europe_an-initial-assessment_-21042026.pdf - Danish Defence Intelligence Service: assessment of the threat from Russia (24 September 2026) https://www.fe-ddis.dk/globalassets/fe/dokumenter/2026/trusselsvurderinger/-assessment-of-the-threat-from-russia-.pdf - Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste: Vurdering af truslen fra Rusland (24 September 2026, Danish) https://www.fe-ddis.dk/globalassets/fe/dokumenter/2026/trusselsvurderinger/-vurdering-af-truslen-fra-rusland-.pdf - ERR News: Estonian intelligence, Russia has no intention of attacking NATO this coming year (10 February 2026) https://news.err.ee/1609935905/kaupo-rosin-russia-has-no-intention-of-militarily-attacking-estonia-or-nato-this-coming-year - MIVD annual report 2025 (21 April 2026, Dutch) https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/dossier/blg-1247130.pdf - Politico Europe: German army chief Christian Freuding warns of rising Russia threat (11 June 2026) https://www.politico.eu/article/we-must-be-ready-to-fight-germany-army-chief-christian-freuding-warns-of-rising-russia-threat/ - Estonian World: Germany's top general warns of possible Russian attack by 2029 (BBC interview, June 2025) https://estonianworld.com/security/germanys-top-general-warns-of-possible-russian-attack-on-nato-by-2029/ - ZDF heute: BND and intelligence chiefs at the Bundestag hearing (5 October 2026, German) https://www.zdfheute.de/politik/nachrichtendienste-anhoerung-bnd-russland-bedrohung-100.html - Wall Street Journal (syndicated by To Vima): US intel finds Putin could test NATO's resolve with limited incursion (6 August 2026) https://www.tovima.com/wsj/u-s-intel-finds-putin-could-test-natos-resolve-with-limited-incursion/amp/ - CNN via CP24: US intel assesses Putin could launch attack aimed at testing NATO unity (7 August 2026) https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2026/08/07/us-intel-assesses-putin-could-launch-attack-aimed-at-testing-nato-unity/ - The Star (Reuters): Lithuania says Russia could use Ukrainian drones against Baltic region (6 August 2026) https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2026/08/06/lithuania-says-russia-could-use-ukrainian-drones-against-baltic-region - European Commission: Commissioner Kubilius at the Future Forces Forum, Prague (21 October 2026) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_2229 - European Commission: Commissioner Kubilius on the 3rd Hybrid Threats Report (23 October 2026) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_26_2242 - The Guardian: Latvian intelligence warns of Russian provocation against the Baltic states or Poland (26 June 2026) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/26/russia-provocation-baltic-states-poland - CBC News: what NATO's eastern flank fears, and President Trump's remarks (31 August 2026) https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/russia-poland-ukraine-nato-attack-drones-missiles-9.7324731 - US Office of the Director of National Intelligence: Annual Threat Assessment 2026 https://archive.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2026-Unclassified-Report.pdf - GOV.UK: Chief of the Defence Staff's RUSI lecture (15 December 2025) https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chief-of-the-defence-staff-speech-15-december-2025 - AFP via Arab News: Finland's Supo on Russian influence (10 March 2026) https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2635939/world - NBC News (AP): UK sentences five over Russia-linked arson (24 October 2025) https://www.nbcnews.com/world/russia/uk-judge-sentences-5-men-russia-linked-arson-attack-london-rcna239603 - The Star (Reuters): Polish PM on the railway blast (18 November 2025) https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2025/11/18/polish-pm-says-two-responsible-for-railway-blast-worked-for-russian-intelligence - GOV.UK: UK exposes covert Russian submarine operation (9 April 2026) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-exposes-covert-russian-submarine-operation-in-and-around-uk-waters - Written statement HCWS404: undersea infrastructure White Paper (22 October 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-22/HCWS404 - Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy: subsea telecommunications cables (HC 723, 2025) https://committees-api.parliament.uk/api/Publications/49566 - Al Jazeera: Russian missile detonates in Poland (30 July 2026) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/30/nato-jets-scramble-as-russian-missile-detonates-in-poland - AP via News4Jax: Germany blames Russia for Leipzig airport drone attack (1 September 2026) https://www.news4jax.com/news/world/2026/09/01/germany-blames-russia-for-last-months-attempted-drone-attack-at-leipzig-airport/ - AP via NPR Illinois: NATO jets shoot down a drone in Lithuanian airspace (15 September 2026) https://www.nprillinois.org/2026-09-15/nato-jets-shoot-down-a-drone-in-lithuanian-airspace - CNN via KVIA: Berlin blackout after arson attack (7 January 2026) https://kvia.com/news/us-world/cnn-world/2026/01/07/thousands-of-berliners-lost-power-for-days-after-climate-activists-struck-heres-what-happened/ - The Irish Times: Latvian government collapses over stray drones (14 May 2026) https://www.irishtimes.com/world/europe/2026/05/14/latvian-government-collapses-over-russia-bound-ukrainian-drones/ - gCaptain (Reuters): timeline of suspected undersea sabotage in the Baltic Sea https://gcaptain.com/timeline-of-suspected-underwater-sabotage-in-baltic-sea/ - PBS NewsHour (AP): US and Israel launch a major attack on Iran (28 February 2026) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-and-israel-launch-a-major-attack-on-iran-trump-says-supreme-leader-khamenei-killed - Reuters (via Internazionale): ship attacks in the Strait of Hormuz hit a record in October (23 October 2026) https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/10/23/ship-attacks-in-strait-of-hormuz-hit-record-high-in-october - CNBC: oil prices, 23 October 2026 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/23/oil-price-brent-wti-iran-war-saudi-arabia.html - CNBC: oil prices, 29 October 2026 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/oil-price-today-wti-brent.html - Al Jazeera: Trump ponders new attacks on Iran (24 October 2026) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/24/iran-says-wont-allow-us-warships-to-get-close-as-trump-ponders-new-attacks - Reuters (via Internazionale): Qatari mediators present Iran with a new deal (28 October 2026) https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/10/28/qatari-mediators-present-iran-with-new-deal-to-end-the-war-official-says - The National: Iran yet to respond to the Qatari draft deal (28 October 2026) https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2026/10/28/iran-welcomes-negotiations-after-reported-qatari-mediated-draft-deal/ - European Commission: Commissioner Jørgensen on energy prices (28 October 2026) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_26_2278 - Written statement HCWS1551: oil stock release and fuel supply (29 April 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-04-29/HCWS1551 - Written statement HCWS394: RAF operations over Saudi Arabia (20 October 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-20/HCWS394 - Foreign Office travel advice: Iran https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iran - Foreign Office travel advice: Saudi Arabia https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/saudi-arabia - Foreign Office travel advice: Poland https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/poland - Written statement HCWS366: heating oil (13 October 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-13/HCWS366 - The Irish News: Consumer Council urges NI households not to panic-buy heating oil (3 March 2026) https://uk.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-consumers-urged-not-to-panic-buy-as-oil-prices-rocket-due-to-middle-east-conflict-P4JZAS6OEZCTZBWRDQBNIDXJJM - NESO: British electricity supplies secure this winter (23 October 2026) https://www.neso.energy/british-electricity-supplies-secure-winter-despite-global-instability-1 - National Gas: 2026 gas winter outlook (23 October 2026) https://www.nationalgas.com/media/news/national-gas-publishes-2026-gas-winter-outlook - Energy Ireland: Mutual Energy and Northern Ireland's security of supply https://www.energyireland.ie/security-of-supply-and-the-role-of-mutual-energys-assets/ - LBC: government denies fuel rationing plans (28 September 2026) https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/cost-living/fuel-rationing-50mph-speed-limit-diesel-crisis-uk/ - RAC: diesel price hits a record high https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/fuel-news/diesel-price-hits-record-high/ - DESNZ: weekly road fuel prices https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-road-fuel-prices - Commons written answer 124510: no national food stockpiles (16 April 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-04-10/124510 - GOV.UK: Defence Secretary's speech at the opening of Telford gun hall (22 October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/defence-secretary-wes-streetings-speech-at-the-opening-of-telford-gun-hall - STV News (PA): Streeting urges public to be alert, not alarmed (22 October 2026) https://news.stv.tv/world/streeting-urges-public-be-alert-not-alarmed-amid-call-to-stock-up-for-a-crisis - The Mirror: Wes Streeting on Question Time (22 October 2026) https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/wes-streeting-stockpiling-question-time-37801965 - HuffPost UK: Streeting's Telegraph article on being ready by 2030 (25 October 2026) https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/west-streeting-ready-for-war_uk_6addc181e4b04f5132f46176 - Commons written answer 27196: how the campaign will be delivered (29 September 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-09-03/27196 - Commons written answer 37440: the campaign and the Home Defence Programme (27 October 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-10-22/37440 - MI5: Director General's annual threat update (13 October 2026) https://www.mi5.gov.uk/mi5-director-general-delivers-annual-threat-update - MI5: terrorism threat levels https://www.mi5.gov.uk/threats-and-advice/terrorism-threat-levels - House of Lords written answer HL9178 on conscription (21 July 2025) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-07-07/HL9178 - Hansard: Lords debate on the Defence Readiness Bill (9 July 2026) https://hansard-api.parliament.uk/debates/debate/228F2A06-711D-4A51-8382-58C731BDEB2F.json - HM Treasury: Budget 2026 speech (28 October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-2026-speech - HM Treasury: Budget 2026 document https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2026-document/budget-2026-html - GOV.UK: Budget breathing space for Northern Ireland families and businesses (28 October 2026) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/breathing-space-for-northern-ireland-families-and-businesses - Ready.gov: build a kit https://www.ready.gov/kit - Washington Emergency Management: from 72 hours to two weeks after Cascadia Rising (2018) https://mil.wa.gov/news/looking-at-successes-of-cascadia-rising-and-preparing-for-our-next-big-exercise - Oregon Emergency Management: 2 Weeks Ready https://www.oregon.gov/oem/hazardsprep/pages/2-weeks-ready.aspx - Hawaii Emergency Management Agency: 2 weeks ready https://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/2-weeks-ready-in-hawai%ca%bbi/ - American Red Cross: survival kit supplies https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit-supplies.html - FEMA: 2026 National Preparedness Month theme (11 August 2026, PDF) https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFEMA/2026/08/11/file_attachments/3742900/FEMA%20Advisory%20FEMA%20Announces%202026%20National%20Preparedness%20Month%20Theme.pdf - Newsweek: map shows nations urging people to stockpile food (28 October 2026) https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-countries-urging-residents-to-stockpile-food-12629524 - The War Zone: the Pentagon's FORTRESS plan for bases (26 October 2026) https://www.twz.com/nuclear/90-days-no-help-fortress-americas-goal-to-make-bases-resilient-bastions-in-a-crisis - Taiwan Ministry of National Defense: In Case of Crisis, Taiwan's National Public Safety Guide (English, PDF) https://prepare.mnd.gov.tw/assets/pdf/manual.en.pdf - Taipei Times: civil defence handbook delivery begins (19 November 2025) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2025/11/19/2003847440 - Cabinet Office of Japan: Minister Hosono's press conference (20 October 2026, Japanese) https://www.cao.go.jp/minister/2609_g_hosono/kaiken/20261020kaiken.html - FNN: Minister Hosono on household stockpiles (27 October 2026, Japanese) https://www.fnn.jp/articles/-/1140337 - Public Safety Canada: Emergency Preparedness Week 2026 https://www.canada.ca/en/services/policing/emergencies/preparedness/get-prepared/emergency-preparedness-week.html - New Zealand Government: home emergency checklist https://www.govt.nz/browse/housing-and-property/home-safety/home-emergency-checklist/ - The Jerusalem Post: nationwide restrictions after Iranian missile fire (8 June 2026) https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-898674 - Gulf News: UAE urges residents not to stockpile food (8 March 2026) https://gulfnews.com/business/economy/uae-urges-residents-not-to-stockpile-food-reaffirms-markets-remain-well-supplied-1.500467501 - The American Presidency Project: President Kennedy's address on the Berlin crisis (25 July 1961) https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/radio-and-television-report-the-american-people-the-berlin-crisis - Swissinfo: Switzerland's shelters (10 June 2026) https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/demographics/switzerland-trying-to-keep-nuclear-shelters-up-and-running-with-some-being-turned-into-wine-cellars-or-party-rooms/91560820 - PHP: security release of 21 October 2026 https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php#2026-10-21-5 - NCSC: critical security issue affecting PHP (21 October 2026) https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/critical-security-issue-affecting-php - Hansard: Lords Private Notice Question on the PHP vulnerability (22 October 2026) https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2026-10-22/debates/14CB4C6D-4E16-4377-8FCF-C2CF77BB5CC0/details - LBC (PA): government services offline, Cloudflare figures (22 October 2026) https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/74365c9975d1467496696a1be806a306-5HjdkGW_2/ - Northern Ireland World: cyber security issues affecting NI councils (22 October 2026) https://www.northernirelandworld.com/news/people/cyber-security-issues-are-affecting-some-ni-councils-with-services-limited-including-armagh-banbridge-and-craigavon-plus-ards-and-north-down-9304092 - Historic Hansard: Lords debate on home and civil defence (5 March 1980) https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1980/mar/05/home-and-civil-defence - Historic Hansard: written answer on Protect and Survive (21 March 1980) https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written_answers/1980/mar/21/civil-defence - Preparing for Emergencies: what you need to know (2004 booklet, National Archives copy) https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20090429162303id_/http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Dealingwithemergencies/Preparingforemergencies/DG_176035?IdcService=GET_FILE&dID=189524&Rendition=Web - BBC News: emergency advice booklet for every home (26 July 2004) https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3923949.stm - 4NI: UK's 25m households to get booklets (2004) https://www.4ni.co.uk/uk-national-news/31494/uk-s-25m-households-to-get-terror-attack-booklets - 4NI: minister welcomes launch of emergency procedures leaflet in Northern Ireland (2004) https://4ni.co.uk/northern-ireland-news/31516/minister-welcomes-launch-of-emergency-procedures-leaflet - GOV.UK: Deputy Prime Minister's speech launching the Prepare website (22 May 2024) https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/deputy-prime-minister-speech-on-resilience-22-may-2024 - gov.ie: Be Emergency Ready campaign launch (28 August 2026) https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-defence/press-releases/minister-mcentee-launches-campaign-to-help-households-prepare-for-emergencies/ - Be Emergency Ready booklet (Office of Emergency Planning, Ireland) https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/749e8ee7/JAV16262_OEP_Preparedness_Campaign_Accessible_EN_V4_Web.pdf - TheJournal.ie: 72-hour supplies advice dropped from emergency booklet (19 October 2026) https://www.thejournal.ie/emergency-booklet-72-hour-supplies-advice-ditched-7195386-Oct2026/ - Rijksoverheid: booklet Bereid je voor op een noodsituatie (17 November 2025, Dutch) https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2025/11/17/minister-van-oosten-presenteert-informatieboekje-bereid-je-voor-op-een-noodsituatie - Netherlands: information booklet, prepare for an emergency situation (English) https://english.denkvooruit.nl/site/binaries/site-content/collections/documents/2025/11/25/information-booklet-prepare-for-an-emergency-situation/information-booklet-prepare-for-an-emergency-situation.pdf - Poland: Poradnik bezpieczeństwa (security guide, Polish) https://www.gov.pl/attachment/fa491036-8872-457c-95e4-d1292e4a8203 - France: guide Tous responsables (SGDSN, November 2025) https://www.sports.gouv.fr/guide-tous-responsables-face-aux-risques-agissons-10008 - Denmark: Forberedt på kriser (Danish) https://samsik.dk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/forberedt-paa-kriser.pdf - Finland (NESA): new guide on preparing for disruptions and crises https://www.huoltovarmuuskeskus.fi/en/a/new-guide-provides-instructions-on-how-to-prepare-for-disruptions-and-crises - Germany (BBK): Vorsorgen für Krisen und Katastrophen (German) https://www.bbk.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Mediathek/Publikationen/Buergerinformationen/Ratgeber/BBK-Vorsorgen-fuer-Krisen-und-Katastrophen.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=41 - Sweden (MCF): the brochure In case of crisis or war https://www.mcf.se/en/advice-for-individuals/the-brochure-in-case-of-crisis-or-war/download-and-order-the-brochure-in-case-of-crisis-or-war/ - Norway (DSB): how to contribute to Norway's emergency preparedness https://www.dsb.no/en/Safe-everyday-life/Self-preparedness/How-to-contribute-to-Norway_78s-emergency-preparedness2/ - Switzerland (BWL): Notvorrat (German) https://www.bwl.admin.ch/de/notvorrat - nidirect: be ready for emergencies https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/be-ready-emergencies - nidirect: household emergency kit https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/household-emergency-kit - nidirect: care registers https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/care-registers - nidirect: energy, power supply and utilities https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/energy-power-supply-and-utilities - NIE Networks: Customer Care Register https://www.nienetworks.co.uk/help-advice/vulnerable-customers/customer-care-register - NIE Networks: contact us https://www.nienetworks.co.uk/help-advice/contact-us - NI Water: Customer Care Register https://www.niwater.com/education-and-the-community/community/customer-care-register - NI Water: prepare for winter (20 October 2026) https://www.niwater.com/about-us/news/clocks-going-back-are-a-timely-reminder-to-prepare-for-winter-with-ni-water - Power NI: what is the Customer Care Register https://powerni.co.uk/help/general-information-policies/energy-charter/what-is-the-customer-care-register-and-how-do-consumers-get-on-this-register/ - NIE Networks: Storm Éowyn update (3 February 2025) https://www.nienetworks.co.uk/news/article/2025/storm-eowyn-update - NI Water: Storm Éowyn impact on NI Water assets (27 January 2025) https://www.niwater.com/about-us/news/2025/storm-eowyn-impact-on-ni-water-assets-1 - NIE Networks: restoration after Storm Amy (October 2025) https://www.nienetworks.co.uk/news/article/2025/restoration-efforts-drawing-to-a-close-following-storm-amy - NIE Networks: Storm Chandra update (27 January 2026) https://www.nienetworks.co.uk/news/article/2026/storm-chandra-update-tuesday-27-january-12pm - BBC News NI: Storm Boelo, power restored (26 October 2026) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqe9lykm93jmo - Be Ready: water supply interruptions or outages https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/be-informed-about-hazards/water-supply-interruptions-or-outages/ - Be Ready: phone and broadband outages https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/be-informed-about-hazards/phone-broadband-outages/ - Openreach: the big switch off https://www.openreach.com/big-switch-off - Ofcom: guidance on protecting access to emergency calls in a power cut https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/123118/guidance-emergency-access-power-cut.pdf - BBC News: reaction to the Be Ready advice, including cost of living concerns (27 October 2026) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6x238kpxj8do - Express: Conservative and Reform UK reaction (23 October 2026) https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2259691/labour-government-stockpile-scaremongering-2259691 - Commons written question 37791: support for households unable to afford the supplies (unanswered at 29 October 2026) https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-10-26/37791 - Hansard: Budget resolutions debate (28 October 2026) https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-10-28/debates/2A014CAF-3610-4AA1-8A76-A529368815B7/BudgetResolutionsAndEconomicSituation - BBC News: Burnham suggests stocking up on tinned food and bottled water (23 October 2026) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckr5yz2pqqppo - NI Assembly: written questions tabled 19 to 29 October 2026 (open data) http://data.niassembly.gov.uk/questions.asmx/GetQuestionsForWrittenAnswer_TabledInRange?startDate=2026-10-19&endDate=2026-10-29