Brits should stock up to prepare for war, former Nato chief says

Households are being warned to begin stockpiling

The peer was Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2003 and also served as UK defence secretary in the late 90s.

He said that the UK needs to “move away from peacetime mode” and be prepared for attacks.

Among the items he said Brits should stockpile was “battery operated radios”, as well as candles and water.

Speaking at the Wigtown Book Festival on Friday, he said Britain was “under-prepared, under-insured, under attack and not safe”.

“It’s as simple and as brutal as that,” he added, as reported by The Times.

He asked the audience: “Have you all got torches with live batteries in your house? Have you a radio with batteries in it and candles for when the electricity supply is cut off? Have you got containers for water, which you could produce?”

“We need to get off a peacetime mode of thinking and move in an agile way," he continued.

"We have to accept a degree of responsibility, over time, for doing that. Having everything plugged into electricity means we are going to be blank in terms of information.”

He went on to explain how Norway sends leaflets to its citizens every year, and suggested that 'maybe we should be doing the same thing'.

“I think people should be genuinely aware of the risks and dangers they face. We could leave it until the lights go out and the hospitals close and the data centres melt and at that point I think the population would turn around to the political classes and say ‘hang on, why haven’t you done anything about this?’”

He added that the UK needs to “wake up” to potential threats, which can range from cyber to energy.

“Can you say it’s a coincidence that Jaguar Land Rover, Waitrose and Harrods have all just happened to be cyber-attacked by organised criminals? The UK is already under daily attack from aggressive acts, such as cyber-attack and information manipulation, causing harm to society," he said.

He added that the UK needs to think about its defence, and pointed to Israel's Iron Dome as an example.

“I think people think if a small country like Israel has an Iron Dome, we must have the same. But we don’t.”

Households urged to buy one crucial item to prepare for war

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Households are being urged to buy one appliance to prepare for the potential outbreak of WW3, or other mass disruptions like another pandemic, internet outages, and extreme weather conditions.

The government runs a website to prepare the public for national disruptions including war, extreme weather and cyber attacks.

As part of its list of advice for households, people are being told to buy one crucial item – battery or wind-up radios.

This is because this type of radio doesn’t need power from the National Grid, which may be disrupted during a crisis.You can get a wind-up radio from Amazon here for your home emergency kit. And it can be used for activities such as hiking and camping.