How Resilient or Prepared is Enough?
From This Means War by Peter Roberts
April 15, 2026 · 33 min · Season 7 · Episode 4
About this episode
This episode discusses the UK's preparedness for national emergencies and the challenges in government action regarding resilience planning.
How prepared are states for national emergencies and contingencies? Russian actions in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and the Baltic States have triggered a number of nations to re-energise their national resilience and preparedness planning moving from a 'Just-in-Time' to a 'Just-in-Case' mentality. In the UK, as pointed out by Lord Toby Harris (chair of the UK's National Preparedness Commission), the understanding of the risk by successive governments is high; their willingness to do anything about it is low. Investing in resilient infrastructure, meaningful engagement with businesses and third sector groups, and having honest conversations with the public just don't appear as coherent government actions. As Toby explains, this level of neglect is symptomatic of a much longer-term malaise: it is even embedded in the Treasury department's process for prioritising public investments. For over 20 years, Lord Harris has been chivvying and annoying successive British governments by raising preparedness and resilience as a topic that needs addressing. This episode gives a flavour of where the UK sits in being ready for the next national emergency.
People in this episode
Host: Peter Roberts
Topics covered
- national preparedness
- emergency planning
- resilience
- government action
- infrastructure investment
- public engagement
Keywords
- preparedness
- national emergencies
- resilience planning
- government
- infrastructure
- public engagement
- risk management
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: UK's National Preparedness Commission
Places: UK, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Baltic States
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