Lemmee see here -- the bomb that just went off across the street blew in the front of my shop, and there's a bunch of folks lying injured in the street.

Now where did I put that booklet?

Gotta love the Pommies.

The function of a pamplet wouldn't be for Don's scenario, but rather would tell people things like
--if the people in the street are gagging and clawing at their eyes, DON'T go out to help unless you've got equipment.
--Before an incident, get a dust mask in case you need to evacuate (remember all the folks with lung problems after 9/11?)
--know direct numbers of who to call about what specific type of emergency if 911 (777) are just giving busy signals.
--have good walking shoes in your place of business if you have to evacuate on foot.
--have a set of glasses if you have to evac thru a dusty environment.
--in general, a pre-event check list.

It's easy to forget that the Pommies have been experiencing Terrist attacks for over 50 years now. They have more than covered this stuff long since.

The assumption is that folks will (a) get it and (b) read it before the attack hits.

How accurate might that assumption be?

Not very.

Issuing a pamphlet is a fine way to spend money and give the appearance of action. A better way to handle it is to deal with the problems inherent in the First Responder folks -- and here or there, that's a Far larger sort of problem.

On one point, though, there's no real issue. The Brits are big believers in Sensible Shoes, so my wife's rellies tell me. (Their feedback on the Terrorist Pamphet discussion is less than completely positive this morning. They think the idea is more daft than anything else.)

The mere Appearance of action does generate Public Trust. It's still just an appearance.

"Why yes -- we Did prepare people for a terrorist attack. We made these nice pamphlets available just last month."

Just gotta love it!

Y'know, I agree with Don. A better way to handle it is to deal with the problems.

But then, the Brits are already in Iraq, so I guess they're just covering secondary bases right now.

You can read it here if you like: http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/26_07_04_terror.pdf

"go in, stay in, tune in" - is the slogan

There's nothing really new or that interesing in it. Should be more about first aid, either in detail or where to go to get more advice.

Also, should be more for businesses since its more likely that a terror attack will be in a city rather than suburb. Maybe there's a seperate innitiative for larger businesses.

Mainly its an opportunity for the government to demonstrate what its doing about consequence management, i.e. sending out pamphlets.

On a political point its interesting to note that during the Cold War several councils boycotted a major civil defence exercise in 1982 (Exercise Hard Rock). Among those leftist wreckers of government civil defence arrangements was Sheffield City Council, whose leader at the time was David Blunkett. I bet he’s trying to keep that one quiet now.

quote: "if the people in the street are gagging and clawing at their eyes, DON‘T go out to help unless you’ve got equipment." - I hope I don't need to read a pamphlet to tell me that ;)

I went out and looked at the pamplet, and the business resource cited is MI-5. The MI-5 preparedness site is essentially business continuity stuff -- computer disaster recovery, business functionality recovery. Big yawn.

The useful stuff is the direct numbers. My experience with storms/hurricanes is that 911 jams if there's a real problem, 911 give you that lovely "beep-beep-beep all circuits are busy" message....

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (Click here should you choose to sign out.)

As you post your comment, please mind our simple comment policy: we welcome all perspectives, but require that comments be both civil and respectful. We also ask that you avoid the extensive use of profanity, racist terms (neither of which we consider civil or respectful), and other boorish language.

We reserve the right to delete any comment, and to prohibit you from commenting on this site, if we feel you have broached this policy. As a courtesy, we will first send you an email noting a violation so you understand the boundaries. This will occur only once, however, and should we ban you from our comment forums we expect that ban to be permanent.

We also will frown upon those who suggest that we ban other individuals for voicing unpopular opinions, should those opinions be voiced in a civil and respectful manner. The point of our comment threads is to provide a forum for spirited though civil and respectful discourse … it is not to provide a forum in which everyone will agree with your point of view.

If you can live by these rules, welcome aboard. If not, then we’re sorry it didn’t work out, and thanks for visiting The Command Post.

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: