Monbiot: Prepare campaign can't fix government-driven crises — SkimNews
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- The Prepare campaign advises stockpiling non-perishable food, washing hands after feeding wild birds, and packing flood "grab bags," but the government has declared datacentres "nationally significant infrastructure projects" that can bypass planning, despite Water UK warning there isn't enough water to support them and a freedom of information response revealing the government doesn't know what the datacentres are used for
- The National Risk Register estimates drought risk at 0.2-1% over five years and heatwave "significant impact" risk (200-1,000 deaths) at just 1-5%, even as the government recorded 2,877 heat-associated excess deaths in England during May and June this year — a figure similar to the 2022 heatwave
- One in nine new homes are being built in areas at risk of flooding, according to Aviva data, and a recent High Court judgment reveals the law prevents local authorities from blocking such developments even when they fail a crucial safety test
- A government "poultry sector growth plan" pushed at lobbyists' behest will multiply factory farms that the Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds identifies as where highly pathogenic bird flu first arose, while the shooting industry continues breeding tens of millions of pheasants and partridges released to mingle with wild birds
- Anonymous senior food executives warned their industry is "defaulting to quick-fix crisis management" in the face of "material reductions in yield, quality and reliability of supply," with companies either lobbying against necessary regulations or staying silent
- Andy Burnham at Labour conference pledged to tackle deregulation as one of five great evils, but tied his own hands by committing to stick to fiscal rules that Larry Elliott has argued were developed by Westminster think tanks and pushed by the media rather than emerging from government
Why it matters: The piece exposes a contradiction at the heart of UK policy: ministers urge households to stockpile supplies and pack grab bags while simultaneously declaring water-hungry datacentres nationally significant, building one in nine new homes in flood-risk areas, and expanding the factory farms the government's own scientific task force identifies as avian flu incubators. Households are being asked to absorb risks that only systemic policy can address, and Monbiot argues national resilience is arguably lower than at any time since the second world war.
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