People will be advised to store bottled water, tinned food and battery or wind-up radios at home to prepare for war or other emergencies as part of the UK government’s biggest public awareness campaign for decades.
The new campaign, to be rolled out nationwide later this autumn, will offer advice to households on stockpiling and how to stay in contact with the authorities in the event a conflict or blackout cuts off water and food supplies and telecommunications.
While there is no new or imminent threat to Britain from war, the ongoing grey zone activity by Russia – including cyber attacks and surveillance of undersea cables – the biggest El Nino weather event for centuries and the risk of an AI-linked accidental power cut have all raised concerns that the British public should be better prepared.
Two pilots injured in RAF jet crash in Wales
A Royal Air Force jet has crashed in Wales in the Pencarnisiog area of Anglesey shortly after taking off this afternoon.
Everything we know
The force said helicopters from the Coastguard and the Wales Air Ambulance were deployed to the scene and the pilots, who ejected from the jet, are being treated for minor injuries.
“We watched it climb, then as it was parallel with us it started to pitch up violently twice… then both pilots ejected, and the Hawk crashed about a mile away,” a witness told North Wales Live.
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Investigation launched
The RAF has launched an investigation into the crash.
- An RAF spokesperson said: “An incident involving an RAF T2 Hawk aircraft, flying out of RAF Valley, occurred near Anglesey. An investigation is underway and we will not comment further at this time.”
AI offers poor financial advice ‘majority of the time’ – what to know
Major AI chatbots provide inaccurate financial advice in 57 percent of cases, new research has found.
This rose to 88 per cent when they were asked harder questions.
One answer would have cost £17,500
Tech research firm Saturn used a paraplanner to run 121 money-related questions through 18 chatbots. One of the answers would have cost them £17,500.
- Amal Jolly, Saturn’s chief executive, said: “The low quality of financial advice from mainstream AI models risks leading to widespread consumer harm.”
Why customers get less protection with AI advice
Human financial advisers must charge for their services, making it a regulated product that has to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. If they provided misleading advice, customers could get compensation.
There are no such protections for those who get information from a chatbot.
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The pinch points of the UK’s Chagos Islands deal
Defence secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed the UK is reviewing its deal to hand over the Chagos islands, home to the critical Diego Garcia base, to Mauritius after Donald Trump called it “terrible” at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
UK wants US support
We have to [review the deal] because the United States doesn’t support it […] We have to do more work with our American allies, with President Trump and his administration, to get the deal to a place where he can support it.
UK Defence secretary Wes Streeting
The original deal
Mauritius argues it was illegally forced to give away the islands in 1965 to gain independence.
A deal was agreed in 2025 where the UK would cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius.
It would then pay an average of £101m per year to lease back a joint US-UK military base there.
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US opposition
Opposition from Trump caused Starmer to pause the deal indefinitely in April.
- Trump had been a frequent critic, branding the deal as “a blight on our great ally” and an “act of total weakness”.
High costs
Starmer agreed to lease back the Diego Garcia base for 99 years, with official figures giving the total cost as £3.4bn.
However, opponents said the real cost could come to £35bn when adjusted for inflation.
Worries the deal could endanger the security of Diego Garcia
With sovereignty lying with Mauritius once the deal was done, critics argued that the country could impose restrictions on the joint UK-US military base.
- There were also worries that the move could embolden China to establish a presence in the archipelago.
Over 450,000 people projected to die from super El Niño
This year’s El Niño is estimated to cause 451,000 deaths due to the additional heat it will bring over the next six months, climate scientists have predicted.
What is El Niño?
El Niño is part of a natural cycle, called the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and forms when warmer waters spread across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Brazil, India, Nigeria and Indonesia are some of the countries expected to worst affected.
The World Meteorological Organisation said there was an “exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100 per cent” that this El Niño will last until February 2027.
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Experts say what it means for the UK
Professor Ilan Kelman of UCL’s department of risk and disaster reduction said that El Niño could bring wetter and milder weather to the UK through the autumn and winter.
“There’s nothing definite, but in general we would expect a milder, wetter, and stormier autumn, a colder winter, and then a possibility of a hotter summer next year,” he added.
- The more severe impact of El Niño on other countries could also have a knock-on effect on the economy and daily life in the UK.
- Kelman said that the weather event could lead to more plane turbulence, flooding and impacts to electronic supply chains and imported food.
- Rice, sugar or coffee imports could be affected by potential flooding in South America.
- The shift of rainfall brought on by El Niño can also cause severe droughts in South East Asia and Australia.
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Why HRT patches are safer than pills
Oral hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) causes a slightly higher rate of blood clots – but there was no such risk from therapies applied to the skin.
The context
Why women use HRT
HRT is used by women going through menopause or for several years afterwards to stop hot flushes and reduce osteoporosis – where bones become weaker.
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The new research
Previous studies found HRT may cause a slightly higher rate of blood clots, heart attacks and breast cancer.
- A Danish study found women had a 60 per cent higher risk of blood clots from oral HRT, and a 20 to 30 per cent higher risk of strokes or heart attacks.
- But the total risk of blood clots was still very low, about one extra blood clot per thousand women per year.
- There was no blood clot risk seen with patches, gels or spray forms of HRT.
- But there was a higher rate of heart attacks with skin-based HRT if it is “cyclic”, alternating between oestrogen and oestrogen and progestogen.
Why might patches be safer?
Oral HRT is transported by blood vessels connecting the gut to the liver. There, it seems to increase levels of certain liver proteins involved in blood clotting.
When HRT is applied through patches or gels, the hormones are absorbed straight into the blood and don’t reach the liver at such high levels.
The NHS says the benefits of HRT usually outweigh the downsides, and that the risks of serious side effects are very low.
HRT is especially helping for combatting osteoporosis in women experiencing early menopause, before the age 45.
How the licence fee could be scrapped for a new monthly charge
The licence fee could be axed and replaced by an £11-a-month internet levy – and viewers invited to become “BBC members” – under new proposals.
The licence fee is becoming increasingly unsustainable, with 3.7 million households claiming to not need one, while half a million households stopped paying last year, forcing the BBC to find £500m in cuts.
‘Home internet levy’ fairest solution
A “home internet levy” method of funding is most likely to command public consent, the report, commissioned by campaign organisation 38 Degrees, found.
A BBC internet levy would cost £11 per month, an average increase of 35 per cent on the current cost of internet bills, but would be £4 a month cheaper than the current licence fee.
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The other proposals for the BBC
The report looked at other funding solutions such as keeping the licence fee, but adding a “news and culture levy” of £2.30 on to internet bills.
Also proposed was a £12 a month “household levy” or putting the cost of the licence fee on to streaming subscriptions.
Make BBC a ‘mutual’ society
- The report also proposed radical changes to make the BBC more accountable to the public by becoming a “mutual-style membership” organisation.
- Members would be chosen by lottery to take part in a member council, where they would serve terms of up to three years and be paid for their time.
- They would “hold the board of the BBC to account, ensuring that the organisation is meeting its duties to the public”.
- Under the proposals, the council would have no control over editorial decisions, hiring talent or decisions on programming.
The four key moments from Burnham’s meeting with Trump
There was no shortage of trip-wires that could have derailed Andy Burnham’s first meeting with Donald Trump, but in the end, it produced remarkably little friction.
Even without the charm offensive, Trump liked Burnham better than Starmer
In July, when Trump met Sir Keir Starmer at the Nato summit in Turkey after he had announced his resignation, the US President said he wanted to “bring him back” and “make him great again”.
Two months on, that affection has evaporated. Asked about a special relationship that has been up and down, Trump said things were “more up than they were under your last prime minister”.
No Trump attack on UK migration policy
Trump has previously said Britain is “on the edge of disaster” because of “insane” immigration policies, but in New York, he called it “a worldwide situation”.
For a Labour Prime Minister under pressure on small boats, being spared a public rebuke on his first outing is significant.
Trump thinks Britain has ‘tremendous potential’
Trump has previously called the UK “essentially bankrupt” for refusing to fully exploit North Sea oil and for relying on green energy. He has also claimed the country is “dying” under alleged mass migration.
This time he said Britain had “tremendous potential” and compared it favourably with other countries whose leaders he meets but in which he sees little promise.
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Burnham swerved a Trump rebuke over West Bank
- Many expected Washington to condemn Britain’s sanctions on illegal West Bank settlements.
- When asked directly, Trump did not engage. He said he did not know about the move and left the question for Burnham to answer.
- It was an odd moment, but a useful one for No 10. A US president who wanted to punish Britain had an open invitation to do so and passed it up.
Vapes and prescription medicine now used to spike victims
Drug-laced vapes, as well as prescription and over-the-counter medications, are increasingly being used to spike victims, police have said.
Various drugs used in vapes
Cases have emerged where officers have encountered vapes containing THC, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, and the synthetic drug spice, alongside the use of high doses of common medications such as antihistamines and travel-sickness tablets.
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Victims targeted in private settings
We’re seeing offenders use a wider range of substances than ever before, including everyday medications and substances added to vapes, while increasingly targeting victims in private settings such as homes, parties and student accommodation
Metropolitan police spiking lead Detective Superintendent Dan Thompson
How widespread is the issue?
- Over the past year, more than 2,700 spiking-related offences were reported to the Met, but only 131 resulted in a charge, caution or summons.
- This marked a 20 per cent increase over the previous year.
- More than half the victims were aged 18 to 35.
- A YouGov poll from December 2022 found that 10 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men said they had had a drink spiked.
The advice to stock up on bottled water, non-perishable food and first aid supplies is not new and is already listed on the government’s Prepare website.
But a poll of more than 10,000 people for the Cabinet Office published last month revealed that just 14 per cent had visited the site.
Water, batteries and radios
Battery-powered or wind-up radios would be essential to listen for official broadcasts from the police, government or other authorities if an attack or disaster took out mains power, phone networks and the internet.
The advice on how much bottled water to store is flexible, but people are advised they would need 2.5 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, while 10 litres per day would cover cooking and basic hygiene.
The campaign is expected to include a targeting of younger people on social media such as TikTok and Instagram. The government’s Prepare website is also being refreshed.
Ministers are under pressure to go further and reissue a physical booklet to every household, similar to the Protect and Survive handbook last distributed during the Cold War in the 1980s and those given out to homes in Nordic countries.
The government is also preparing to publish later this year the first new version of the “war book” in more than 20 years.
The war book is a blueprint for all Whitehall departments on how to transition the country from peacetime to a war footing, to be used in the event of a “break-glass crisis”.
However this will not be made available to the wider public.
And next year the government will carry out the biggest emergency planning exercise since the end of the Cold War.
Local resilience forums, which consist of councils, emergency services, utility companies and voluntary groups, are responsible for drawing up plans to respond to disasters in their area.
Hotels and conference centres would be requisitioned
But it has emerged that the government would requisition hotels, conference centres and other large venues to use for mass evacuations of people from their homes in the event of war on the homeland or other major disaster.
The venues would be used to shelter people from missile or drone attacks, a nationwide blackout or natural disaster if arrangements by local resilience forums become overwhelmed.
The details were revealed in a letter from Jonathan Martin, director of project delivery and major events at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the chair of the Lords Resilience Committee, published this month.
The letter also reveals that the Cabinet Office does not hold a central list of evacuation venues “because incidents vary, and facilities must suit the incident’s location, considering factors like seasonal impacts”.
Instead, “responders within Local Resilience Forums are responsible for developing emergency plans, including arrangements for emergency shelter,” it says.
“They are best placed to identify suitable response spaces, drawing on their detailed understanding of local needs, risks, geography, and established relationships with owners of civic and community assets.
“At the national level, the Cabinet Office has arrangements to secure nationwide facilities if local arrangements become overwhelmed. These could include hotels, conference centres, or other suitable venues.”
A government spokesperson said: “National security is the first duty of government, which is why we are delivering the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War and investing in the capabilities needed to keep the British people safe.”
Suggested emergency stockpile list
Battery or wind-up torch – torches are safer than candles.
Portable power bank for charging your mobile phone.
Battery or wind-up radio to get updates during a power cut – a car radio can be used, however in severe weather it might be safer to stay inside.
Spare batteries for torches and radio and a backup battery for any medical equipment you rely on.
A first aid kit (or some first aid items) including items such as waterproof plasters, bandages, a thermometer, antiseptic, eyewash solution, sterile dressings and gloves, medical tape for dressings, and tweezers.
for hygiene purposes when the water is off.
Bottled water – there is no standard figure for this as emergencies can vary in duration and people use different amounts. A minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day is recommended by the World Health Organisation for survival. 10 litres per person per day will make you more comfortable by also providing for basic cooking and hygiene needs. Additional water might be needed to make up baby formula, for medical devices and for pets.
Non-perishable food that doesn’t need cooking, such as ready-to-eat tinned meat, fruit or vegetables (and a tin opener). As with water, how much you need will vary based on your own circumstances. Don’t forget food for pets.
Baby supplies such as nappies and baby formula – ready made or ‘ready-to-feed’ formula is best as you may not be able to boil water or sterilise bottles.
Rather than buying all the items at once, you could just add to your emergency kit when you are able and build it up over time.
Source: the government’s Prepare website