As Civil Defence is mostly defunct, some of what appears on this site will be the authors own opinions. As much fact as possible is used and referenced with links appearing at the bottom where available.
Welcome to Civil Defence.co.uk – the website discussing modern day UK Civil Defence for over 20 years.
Since 1993 and the end of the Cold War, Civil Defence has disappeared from the scene. Through the early 2000’s and until 2012 there was a "regional" element to the newer Civil protection and resilience planning however that too has now stopped with the closure of the regional Government offices.
What is Civil Defence?
According to the Cold war document "Civil Defence - Why do we need it", Civil Defence is "to prepare ourselves so that we could alleviate the suffering which war would cause if it came." The Cambridge dictionary defines it as “the organizing and training of ordinary people to protect themselves or their property from an enemy attack during a war” whilst the Collins dictionary defines it as “the organization and training of the ordinary people in a country so that they can help the armed forces, medical services, or police force, for example if the country is attacked by an enemy."
What does that look like today?
According to the 2015 National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), the top risks that would fit this category remain unchanged since the 2010 National Security Strategy. In the top tier – these are:
- International terrorism
- Cyber Attacks
And in tier 2
- Nuclear War
There are 2 sides to each of these risks – how the Government responds and how the public should respond. Until 1993, the main risk was Nuclear War and the Governments “civil defence” strategies focused fully on responding to that threat.
We therefore pick these threads up as the structure of our website – looking at terrorism, cyber and nuclear war and how the Government and Us can/should respond.
What about Ukraine?
A lot of people have raised the question of Ukraine and how it impacts our civil defence. Whether Government have stepped up planning for civil defence is unclear. We shall consider this at various points
