The recent winter only highlighted the lack of preparedness of both the UK government and public at large. The finely tuned society soon began to stutter at the first flurry of snow and did not abate. Panic buying Road Salt from Scandinavia was a pitiful demonstration of lessons not learnt from the previous year. If ever confronted by a true natural, national disaster I think it's fair to say that British public would not be in a position to look after themselves.

Originally posted by CX
You can't help noticing recently the emergance of many threads on the subject of survival here on ATS. Mind if i ask a few questions on this?

From what i can make out, the majority of the people actively participating in these threads are from the US. Why is this? Where are the UK members on this issue and why are'nt they starting survival thread after survival thread?

I rarely hear about survivalist groups or the likes here in the UK, but some of the threads i read on here from our US members, such as outlining the virtual armoury they have stashed away "just incase", are commonplace.

How long has this been the norm in the US? How much is sensible preparation and how much would you say is paranoia or slight overkill? Do you feel your country is in that bad a way that you have to learn to survive in the most deadliest way before it's too late?

I know there are different levels to this. Some people are just ready for an emergency such as floods or whatever nature throws at them, then there are the more extreme sides to this. Don't get me wrong, i think it's great to prepare, as i was always taught, remember the 7 P's.....prior planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance!

I just wonder sometimes about the stockpiles of ammo people talk about, the mass of weaponry stored, knives bigger than Rambo's (jeeez he has a lot to answer for!), the need for tactical gear and people talking as though they're on constant standby for a black ops mission. Do you honestly believe all this is really neccessary?

Maybe us Brits are too laid back and underprepared, what do you think? I certainly don't envisage having to fight for my life and having to survive off of the land any time soon here in the UK, but who knows....maybe that will be my downfall one day?

I'm not just finger pointing at americans here, it's just they make up a large majority of the people i am referring to. Maybe other countries are similar in this way?

What is it that makes you prepare as much as you do? Seriously, i'm not talking about general readyness for floods and storms etc, i mean the more extreme survival readyness, comms, weapons, stealth bows etc? Do you really think you'll be using all that in your life time?

Thanks for listening, i don't want this to sound negative towards survivalists or anything, i think it's great to learn some of these skills and i enjoy participating in these threads. Just interested in your views thats all.

CX.

The problem is people in the UK are lazy, urbanised and have been brainwashed into a push-button society.
The areas of survivalism in the UK are:

Highlands of Scotland
and
Wales

All other areas are covered by the Government via National Trust / Heritige which forbids people wild camping and basically being adventurous.

To live in the UK and be a survivalist is precarious, if you own an FAC rated weapon you can't be too gung-ho or pro-gun rights/self-defence or the plods (cops) will try and find out who it is and you'll get a phone call to pull your videos and forum content etc.
You've also got the fact that gun owners (FAC) are typically insular, club-based and live in a world of secrecy that verges on a secret society. That's why no guns are shown or displayed (usually).

The consumer masses of the UK think, for want of a better word, that outdoor living is 'weird', gun ownership people are closet gun-nuts gearing up for a killing spree and being self-sufficient is pointless.
With this level of hostility survivalists are ultra-wary of even peeking above the parapet.
I personally know a gun owner who was threatened by the cops (his firearm enforcement officer) to shut-up, delete his YT videos and all forum content! That's how bad it is if you try to show your rights in the UK!

Prepping is more popular in the UK.

But yes, the OP is right people in the UK are too laid back and mind-numbingly banal when it comes to survivalism. The welfare state and a broad combination of social problems also factor into this.