Safety and Self Defense in the UK (Part One)

It’s a war zone in some parts of the UK and I think few would disagree about that.

Dangerous for anyone for all sorts of reasons including crime (knife, gun, and other street weapons), gangs, drunks and druggies, people just having a bad day, to the failed system of mental healthcare that puts violent ‘nut jobs’ onto the streets to look after themselves.

Another issue that has been growing is the self-righteous, buck the system, ‘You can’t tell me what to do’, entitled, self-important, and belligerent personality that has evolved because they have been ‘influenced’ into thinking their rights are more important than yours.

Plus a lack of respect for children, females, the elderly, frail, for anyone apart from themselves. Add a touch of color, difference of religion, or culture, and you’ve sort of got a snapshot of why our once green and pleasant country has turned into a melting pot of anger, ignorance, and danger.

So, what can you do to protect yourself?
By following the rule of law VERY LITTLE.
The law does allow you to defend yourself, only not to carry the means to do so. Even then, if you do defend yourself and cause harm, you’ll often find yourself on the wrong side of a police supported legal case for damages against you.

Such is our system of law.
It protects the victim, even if that victim was the aggressor who came off worse.

Going equipped.
Carry a knife without good reason (i.e. for work purposes or for religious ceremony) and you’re instantly in the wrong.
Carry a gun, ninja sticks, or whatever, and you are definitely in the wrong.
What of mace, CS, maldeodorants (Skunk),  or pepper sprays?
Nope, not allowed.

Definition of an offensive weapon.
Any article which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him or by some other person.

A VERY BROAD DESCRIPTOR that basically means that anything you could use, excluding harsh language, (and even then you have to be careful it’s not racist, anti LGBT whatever, sexist, ageist, anti religion, not politically correct or socially unacceptable) is banned.

Right, legal B.S. aside, what can you carry for self-defense?
As said, officially NOTHING!

Which doesn’t exactly mean you are defenseless.
BUT, before I talk about that in part two, you might like to read two OLD posts I scribbled on being IN TRANSIT (2013) and  ON FOOT (2018).

Only get a mug of coffee or tea first.
End of part one

Not once, but twice.

President Trump impeached for historic second time, heightened security in Washington ahead of inauguration, and police search for far-right extremists within ranks.

Heightened security? Nice polite way of saying the city is rammed full of national guard and a whole host of TLA agencies and LEO’s.

So everyone is safe now?   You’re kidding right!?!

Only a fool attacks a well armed citadel.
Even though there’s a few of them around.
It’s not them you need to be watchful for.

I’ve got it in my mind that when security is heavy in one place, it makes it light in others. That’s guerilla tactics 101. You attack what you know you can take.

The impact will be the same and, in this case, central government will be kicking itself for not thinking outside the box.

So who or what being targeted would be a spectacular of sufficient magnitude to make the whole world sit up and go “WOW.

The two obvious ones are Trump and Biden.
Impossible targets? Nothing is impossible.
All it takes is MONEY to employ the right person or fund the right group!

Then there are the key members of the administration.
I could, for instance, talk about the speaker.
And right down the political food chain.

The principal of destabilization by the ‘abrupt removal’ of key leadership is not unknown. After that it’s more a case of who flinches first as who would want a job that makes you a target? Especially if you saw that your predecessor, and the one before that, ‘retired’ before their time.

I’m also minded of an infamous quote by the UK’s nemesis, the IRA.
Following the failed Brighton Bombing that targeted Margaret Thatcher.
“Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once”.

I’m not quite sure what the mindset of the US people are, but I’ve got a nasty feeling that this won’t end just because a ceremony goes off without hitch. The angst will remain active for a considerable time. Besides that, “To the victor goes the spoils”, and it is the most stupid of the victor that then exacts punishment on the vanquished.

Last time I checked, I found that politics was also rammed full of stupid.

Tier 5? What comes next, barbed wire?

If you listen to our media the UK is in a state of Nirvana.
After all we just won “Freedom” aka Brexit.
ONLY IT ISN’T NIRVANA and the devils’ detail within Brexit is turning up all sorts of sell outs by our government. Problem is the news is getting out there so we’re expecting a bit of civil disorder when it all sinks in.

With London the cause of all this ‘wild fire’ virus outbreak, the only thing the London-centrist politicians are scared about is losing face (and their jobs). As a result they are panicking, and as usual making really bad, knee jerk policy.

Hence this talk of Tier 5 and raising everyone into Tier 4. That effectively grants free travel to everyone in the country as currently you are not allowed to travel from one tier to another. AS SAID REALLY BAD KNEE JERK POLICY.

To that I add the vaccine roll out has turned out to be a zip code / post code lottery, And no one seems to be able to find our code.

Anyway. The situation in the UK IS GOING TO deteriorate badly in the more impoverished NW, NE, W, Mid, and East Midlands. Which, funny enough is where we live.

Currently, we have a few shops open, shelving is occasionally bare, and the supply chain is already struggling because of panic buying, so a further lockdown will only make matters worse.

If they also bring in local travel restrictions, that may turn out to be the trigger for foraging. That and perhaps an increase of local crime.

Anyway, with that in mind, I have been checking my local resources (foraging) map as popular thought around us (and in my mind) is we are about to be VSF.

After all, the UK Gov couldn’t organize a boozy night in a free brewery (if you don’t include the Houses of parliament’s member’s bar).

South Africa and their Christmas gift.

As one commentator put it:-
Their biggest export since AIDs, what a wonderful contribution to society their kind make.

What they are talking about is the South African version of Covid-19 that has hit our country. Highly infectious, kill rate still unknown, and (funny enough) came in on an international flight, then into London (no surprise there), then the East of England (no surprise there), and onward to the North West of England.

So, who was at fault?

• The carrier(s)? We’ve no idea if they were even symptomatic.
• The airline? Should they have insisted on a negative test before boarding?
• Heathrow? For not screening EVERYONE that passes through the airport holding them there until the result came through. (Now there’s a thought!)

• How’s about the useless jerks in the UK government that should have stopped ALL FLIGHTS, Shipping, and anything passing through the Channel Tunnel. Thus totally isolating us from infections brought in from other countries from MARCH OF THIS YEAR?

Too easy? Not if you put money before lives.

So, on Christmas Eve, from 9am, all flights from South Africa were banned. Only we won’t mention the SEVEN FLIGHTS that arrived through the night before 9am. Or the other flights from South Africa that landed in Europe and probably onward via city hoppers, ferries, or the Channel Tunnel into the UK.

Sometimes you REALLY despair about the inadequacies of the UK Government.

Still we are now the proud holders of a new title.
The Untied (not a typo) Kingdom and,
Europe’s Covid Central.

As a result of the criminal stupidity of our government, we all sit in a Biological HOT ZONE, virus ridden, falling apart socially, economically, and in a ruined country of their making. Locked down, restricted, and all because of the lure of money that wouldn’t let the most obvious of containment measures be introduced.

BORDERS CLOSED – NOTHING IN OR OUT!
COME BACK WHEN WE ARE ALL VACCINATED.

Je vous présente notre gouvernement inutile
Our useless Government.60% plus from independent schools.
Rich in university education.
Resulting in nothing less than abject stupidity,
criminal negligence by putting money before lives and,
For most of this year, the highest death toll in Europe.

Thank’s PM Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson aka Boris , Matt the Muppet, and the other host of ‘YES PRIME MINISTER, what a totally spiffing idea” limps, that make up the above.

 

Sometimes it ‘s good to learn in the comfort of your armchair.

I don’t usually name sources I watch but I think this could be of interest. Active Self Protection (ASP) on YouTube. I’ve been a fan for a few years now. To me it’s a useful refresher course on a wide range of tactical issues (and not one blue barrel or a beep machine in sight) and I find myself nowadays running the clip through WITHOUT the preamble to work out for myself WTH is going on and my probable reactions from my take on things. Then I run it through with sound to see if I was right.

Getting around the guns for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The unpredictability and possible scope of interpreting the scenario WRONGLY is huge, and I freely admit, I do read a lot wrong!

Having said that, most of it is police involvement, and therefore their actions are pretty predictable. Even though those “professionals” are dealing with the worst in unpredictable i.e. civilians.

However, where it gets interesting for me is when it’s civilian v civilian.
Good v Bad, variations where bad comes in as insane, born mean, enraged, drunk, drugged, and just plain stupid. From a victim side of things mugging, street and venue crime, and home invasions in particular.

Try it sometime. After all it beats the hell out of hearing, “Shooter ready”, BEEEEP! and loosing shots off in an environment that DOESN’T shoot back.

There again, that’s what a good session with urban (MOUT) Airsoft comes into it’s own. (And a few hardened gun nuts fall to the floor laughing hysterically).

In real life, I still retain the ability to look at something with “What’s wrong with this picture” which is kinda useful. Top that up with the occasional episode of hyper-awareness, and I don’t usually miss a lot.

Yet there lies a major problem for me.
I still tend to slap leather that isn’t there and something I just can’t get out of. That could be taken as a threat / danger IF I was ever to carry again. Only it isn’t and something that was hammered into me by my mentor.

A handgun held covertly is wayyyy better than having a fast draw.

What is it they say?
The eyes show the intent but it’s the hands that do the deed!
ASP has a variation on that theme, but that’s what I was taught years before YouTube. So, if walking at night or in a elevated state of awareness, I’m always looking into eyes, counting hands, and worrying about what’s in a dudes pocket he’s got a hold of.

I suppose the final bit has to be a few questions.
How street aware are you nowadays?
Are you ‘suitably equipped’ ALL THE TIME?
Has that awareness rubbed off on your partner?
If it hasn’t, do you automatically position them to reduce the risk to them?

Plus the old adage,
It’s sometimes OK to meet and greet, be polite, friendly even, but always have a plan to put that person down should they turn ‘nasty’.

Be safe people.

Political Correctness Kills.

And nothing demonstrates that better than the 2017 Manchester Arena Bombing where an eighteen-year-old event security guard (on minimum wage) “had a ‘bad feeling’ about suicide bomber Salman Abedi did not approach the terrorist because he feared being called a racist”, the public inquiry has heard.

I smell a sacrificial lamb being cooked, do you?

Still, been there with the bad feeling bit and apparently I have profiling issues.
Once upon another life, I challenged a black drug pusher at a venue who kicked off about racial profiling and the venue security manager sided with him telling me, “People of color are NOT to be challenged”. As a temp I did what was my right, I walked off the job to threats about “you’ll never work again”.

My reply?

Then port security.
Walked into the interview, told them straight what had happened, and got hired on the spot. Difference there was the ‘hirer and firer’ was ex-forces who said with a smile, ‘I don’t give a toss about political correctness or profiling, only getting things right’.

Best bit about that job was dealing with the broad spread of European nationalities and languages. That and drug smuggling, weapons finds, drunks and druggies, abusive behavior, fights, and the occasional unbalanced personality. To that I’ll add three cars seized as stolen, and an attempted child abduction foiled by Special Branch who swooped in when we reacted to a watch notice.

As for the night shift?
Illegals getting off trucks and thinking they had made it.
We had a nice little room for them to warm up, and a free ‘escorted’ ticket back on the next ferry as, although they had landed, they were still in a controlled area so hadn’t actually got into the UK.

BUT, take a flying guess who caused ALL OF US the most problems?
The ‘B’ bit of BAME from London and the ‘BME’ bit of BAME from Jihad Central, aka The Midlands. BAME? Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic.

Funny thing was they all argued and raged in perfect English until the police arrived. Then they mysteriously forget all their ‘multilingual skills’.
The hilarious bit was the holding area had CCTV and voice recording.
Something we really enjoyed playing back to the police in front of the “no speak English” detainees.

UK is now a cyber terrorist nation

Britain has carried a series of covert attacks on Russia’s leaders and their allies, the former cabinet secretary has disclosed. Lord Sedwill said the UK Government had launched cyberattacks to punish President Vladimir Putin and his senior allies. He said the aim of such actions had been to ‘impose a price greater than one they might have expected’ in response to aggressive Russian behavior. (DM)

So, does that mean we as a nation can no longer claim the moral high road as we’re now no better than Russia? I think that is now the case.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the UK is a mere baby as regards to cyber warfare and the retaliation could be WAY MORE damaging than anything GCHQ and MI (whatever) could do as our critical systems security, through private users, big business, and military, are all fundamentally weak.

Why? Because they are used in the main by people who don’t understand computer / network security and still do stunts like leave their passwords on Post-it notes or in desk diaries, or use their works computers for game playing and social media, in the supposedly secure environments they work in.

Plus the ‘never leave their sides’ smartphones.
Most are Bluetooth capable, and suffer from the dumb’s urge to put unknown security rated apps on them as fast as their pudgy little fingers can work the screens.

Why is that noteworthy? Simple.
Most laptops and some desktop units come with Bluetooth capability and there are two basic Bluetooth hacks called ‘bluesnarfing’ and ‘bluebugging.’

• Bluesnarfing is when hackers connect to your device via Bluetooth and access the information on it. Hackers typically download the data before the device goes out of range
• Bluebugging allows hackers to make calls, send text messages and access the Internet via the device’s connection as well as accessing personal information (One of many sources)

Plus there is also the UK’s government track and trace facility some fools installed into their phones. What you actually did was enable your phone to be interrogated by others without your permission, including the government who, by their latest of stunts, have proven they view your privacy with about the same moral compass as an alley cat on heat. I.e. screws anything that moves or, in this case, monitors your digital activities.

Still, it does make life infinitely easier to understand.
EVERYONE IS HACKING SOMEONE and a lot of that hacking is government snooping under the excuse of National Security.

Unarmed and unable to mount a defense?

CAUTION- This post contains graphic thoughts about self defense.

There are laws you must abide to.
Your problem is the bad guys won’t do the same.
So you have to decide now.
Or are you going to play nicely and get hurt or dead,
Or say fk’ the law and do anything you need to in order to survive.
That’s a decision only you can make. 

So, Unarmed and unable to mount a defense?
Cobblers! is what I say to that!
When at home there are many things you can use for self defense that doesn’t include firearms.

Only there are two important issues here.
Something is happening on your property, i.e. outside, or
When your security is breached as in an intruder.

The first thought is IF IT’S OUTSIDE, JUST LET IT GO!
The why is straightforward and something I learned working in high risk locations. “DON’T GET OUT OF THE VEHICLE!”. Which is the same as you staying inside.

If you get angry enough about some POS stealing your stuff you may just run out straight into the other guy you hadn’t seen or a knife wielded by the snot nosed kid you’re after. To be outside of the physical protection afforded by your building is to invite harm because you have NO IDEA about another’s capabilities.

So what if you have a gun or other weapon?
Does that assure your safety? Not at all.
As said many times, all it takes is your opponent to be a little quicker, more accurate, sneakier or luckier than you and you will lose.

Part Two. Intruder!
If someone enters your home, make no mistake about it, they can do you great harm. Thus this is probably the time to forget about the niceties of ‘proportionate force in self defense’, and more about ‘Don’t stop until the threat is neutralised or runs away’.

The scholars talk about two types of defense.
One coping with a home invasion (usually by tricking you to open the door or simply busting their way in), and the other we call breaking and entering, aka theft.

The experts then launch into home invasion is about brute force and putting you under their control. Meanwhile a simple theft starts off as that but can quickly escalate into violence. Especially if the elderly are involved.

BUT REMEMBER. It really doesn’t matter what form the intrusion takes. If someone breaches your security, your life and anyone else’s present is at risk.

You have to plan for these two BEFORE the main event.
Then everyone has to train and practice the response.
Remember it is NEVER about you with a family.
It’s everyone plays a part.
After all, if the aggressors are just after you, once the intruder(s) have finished with you, there is no downside for them attacking the others.

So what to do?
Get everyone into a designated safe room (I’ll come back to that one) and trigger your house alarm, sound bombs, smoke and strobes. Not got any of those? OK, just hope the door holds, and phone the police and fire department.

Why the fire department? Thieves and home intruders want control over you and nothing blows that more than a team of fire fighters turning up at the door, AND the police.

So what about everyone in the safe room and you stood outside armed and looking like Sgt. Rock on steroids i.e. DEAD SCARY!
That’s a no and it’s a perfectly stupid thing to do. If the intruders put you down, you’ve given them a hostage, and having one of those is like a magic key as someone always opens the door to save them from hurt.

Yet I’m sure someone will do just that and win.
Good for them but the odds aren’t in their favor as all it will take is someone on their bad guys side to be a little quicker, more accurate, sneakier or luckier than you, and down you’ll go.

Can you afford to take that chance?

That safe room.
So what’s the basics? Strong walls, floor and ceiling.
Small arms proof, fire and flood proof.
A REALLY stout door and door frame.
Good bolts and multiple manual (not electronic) locks
Mobile phone, land line, and a power supply.
Water and provisions for seven days. A porta potti (with toilet paper).
A damn good wrecking kit to get you out! Basic camping gear.
Military rated gas masks, a first aid kit and, if possible, a few shotguns.
Only don’t forget ear and eye protection.

Doable? If you’ve got space. If you haven’t, at least do the highlighted items.

And finally I must talk about expedient weapons.
The “grab something” to use for self defense.

It boils down to how to stop someone from hurting you.
If they cannot see, breath or stand, it will allow you time to ESCAPE.

See. That’s the eyes, and where I always start from.
Why start with the eyes?
Close your eyes and take me on a walk around your home.
No peeking. How far do you think you’d get?
Now imagine being under physical attack the whole time without the power of sight.

THAT’S WHY I SAY GO FOR THE EYES BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.
Boiling water or hot cooking oils, kitchen – toilet – and corrosive bath cleaners.
Bleach, ammonia, all nasty stuff, only be careful.
You don’t want to get splashed by liquids or breathe in ammonia fumes.
Sprays i.e cleaners, bug and hair sprays. Soap powders, flour, salt, cayenne pepper, hot spices and curry powder. And don’t stop!
Only be careful not to contaminate you or others in your group.

Breathing. That’s the throat, chest, and neck,
Standing is all about the legs.
i.e. Doing SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THEM.
Rolling pin, knife, chair, broom handle, and bottle.
The aim is to crush or pierce that throat.
Or put multiple holes in their chest or abdomen.
As for the legs? It’s damn hard to dance with a broken knee.
All of this is WAY more dangerous as you have to be REALLY CLOSE.

A note about using a blade.
If you don’t like blood either use something else or throw up afterwards.
Contrary to popular belief, a single stab or slash rarely downs a person “instantly” unless you are incredibly lucky and stop the heart or sever the spinal column high enough.

Stabbing usually works by the bad guy losing a vast amount of blood quickly. That causes hemorrhagic shock and down they go.
So forget about a one ‘stab’ kill. USE FAST, MULTIPLE DEEP STRIKES and keep them close together. Your aim is to make sure that blood loss is massive and fast. Multiple wounds making multiple ‘leaks’.

Only don’t expect an instant response.
It takes time to bleed out because, be it by blade or being shot, and even if you are losing blood fast, you can still operate in the short term.

Another myth is a sharp knife can cut through anything.
Flash news, IT CAN’T and although Hollywood shows a gentle pass across the neck downing a person, to cut through a neck takes a heck of a lot of force and ‘sawing’. Some also think a sharp point will easily penetrate clothing. Try stabbing webbing or leather. Not so easy is it, and something they might be wearing

The purists will talk about severing the femoral (groin), subclavian (shoulder by neck), brachial (inner arm and elbow), and neck blood vessels (Carotid and Jugular). All very nice but you need to know what you are aiming for and how best to strike.

Only if you are having to react instantly, without a hell of a lot of training,
KISS. Keep It Stupidly Simple.
EYES, THROAT, AND SMASH THE LEGS FIRST PEOPLE.

With a blade, always strike from cover, NEVER BRANDISH A BLADE as it is a weapon of ambush. Psychologically it says a lot about you. I’m armed and trying to frighten you BUT I really don’t want to use this blade.

Hit fast, hard, and just keep on going.
Aim center belly or the kidneys for bits not protected by bone,
As for the neck? That’s vulnerable at the front and sides because of the heavy duty blood vessels. Additionally, a blade directly into the throat does tend to discourage the attacker from carrying on as damage will inhibit breathing.

Only remember the mantra, Distance is king in combat.
If you are close enough to hurt him, he is close enough to return your kindness. 

Why no talk of you using guns?
We live in the UK where only criminals carry weapons and get away with doing so. The law abiding are often left to be counted by the police who nearly always arrive AFTER THE FACT. No I’m not knocking the police but that is the reality of living here in large areas of the UNTIED (not a typo) KINGDOM.

And very finally.
Some will be thinking this is not something I can do.
OK, that’s your choice and I respect that.
Only what’s going to be your alternative for dealing with ‘one or many’ who are intent on hurting you and your own?

Novichok? How and why isn’t anyone else sick / dying?

Germany’s unequivocal finding that the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok.

So, produce your evidence! Only you won’t will you.

I know the West thinks the Russians are somewhat stupid, but to use the same agent as last time, within two years? That’s borderline lunacy!

This time only ONE was poisoned?
Last time it was the target, daughter, and a policeman.
Last thing we were told was it was in the tea?
So lets get this right.
A nerve agent was dripped into a cup of hot tea, which would have vaporised some of it almost instantly, and was then consumed (I presume, because so far it’s all guesswork) in public??

And no one else was contaminated?
Neat trick.

This is all to do with Russia’s North-stream gas line isn’t it.
The West (US) don’t want it, Germany (Merkel) wasn’t listening, so out comes the ‘let’s make things up’ department who declare it’s Novichok. Only who did the poisoning? With this years stream of lies from the politicians, the list of whodunit already decided, what’s next?

CCTV with Russian agents walking the streets on the day would be nice while holding a scent bottle for everyone to see.
Even better if they found GoPro or phone footage of the dastardly act.
A flood of chatter on the secret lines would be useful.
A memo signed by some top department or even Putin GOLD.
How’s about a signed confession from a Russian agent.
Perhaps just one known Russian agent found dead.

Put up your Intel Germany and everyone will see it’s true.
If you don’t, people like me will remain skeptical.

Please Sir can you help me?

If someone calls at your door or stops you out on the streets BEGGING, it sets off all sorts of alarms for us. Yet how many people would be prepared for such an event?

Mental preparedness means running through scenarios and deciding what you would do BEFORE the event. Except few do, or can’t be bothered.

Except all I’m “asking” them to do is think about it.
After all thought is free and the Gov haven’t worked out a way to tax it (yet).

Things that stop or don’t even start mental preparedness.

• It’ll never happen to me.
• I’ve no time, money, or anywhere to store stuff [delete as appropriate].
• Sure I’ll share, just a little, then they will leave me alone.
• I’m Christian, Muslim, or whatever [delete as appropriate], my faith says I should help others.
• To be neighborly is good just in case I find myself needing help.

The list goes on. Such is the modern society.
Any excuse to do nothing.

Except the scenario of ‘Please Sir can you help me’ is closer than you might imagine and can end up at your door. For example.
During the initial UK corona Fk.up, with nothing in the shops for less than a week, there were tales of strangers calling at houses and asking if the home owner had any ???? spare. Complete with babies and young kids in tow.

Tales of desperation, no money, empty shops, hungry kids, tatty clothing, no welfare, almost homeless. Real heart rending stuff (not).

Apparently the spongers had some success in Londonstan and other cities, then one crew was seen waiting on the kerbside for the almost new car to pick them up. Probably laughing at the gullibility of some.

Social media was all over it but predictably the police said there was nothing they could do about it. Yet where the police failed Twitter worked, and thereafter doors remained closed and unanswered.

That’s just supplies. It wasn’t violence.
Only neither was this.
In the US I watched video of Mr and Mrs Lawyer in their garden brandishing weapons as BLM walked past them. My first thought was “Oh look, two reactive targets just begging to be picked off.”

What I saw was part of the problem in America.
Those with privilege, worried about being contaminated by the great unwashed, poorly prepared, and overly confident that they could intimidate others.

So was the strategy well thought out?
I doubt that. Was it successful? Yep, but not because of the threat as the protesters had no interest in them.

Was there EVER a danger to their property? Perhaps, but if you have no external perimeter, is it foolish to go outside to confront something that may never have happen? I submit yes!

Except what would you do when faced with violence at your doorstep or as a home invasion, or a burglary gone wrong?

For years I’ve been banging on about a crisis where neighbors call around for help in the food, water and other things, saying the best answer is NO! I’ve said that if you give in once, they’ll do it again and maybe tell friends they did it. Only what if you then say NO! to others you know but are not your neighbor who come calling?

To invite trouble to your door is not wise and being kind, morally or religiously bound, or just plain stupid, starts with being ‘generous’ to those without.

As for violence? There are always precursors for violence and VERY LITTLE gets past and surprises those who are situation-ally aware, well informed, and have planned for and practiced mounting a defense.

Which doesn’t mean they will be able to cope with all that comes to their door, home, or when out and about, BUT they stand a much greater chance of surviving what happens.

However, I would remind you that it is a foolish person, and dangerous to others, who thinks they will be always be able to take on everything and escape without mishap, injury, loss of material, or life.

In conclusion.
Having friends is nice as is having a prepper ‘buddy’.
Only remember EVERYONE you meet, know, or otherwise befriend and team up with, may not turn out to be your friend come a crisis.

Thus your planning should include an element of being wary, situational-ally aware, and having a plan to disarm, eject or, at worse, stop them from hurting you.

As said, Survival is all about being selfish and putting you and your own before everyone else. If one mantra sticks with you let it be that.

Leicester and the forecast invasion into our seaside town on July 4.

Guardian. (with edit)
A rapid investigation into the Covid-19 outbreak in Leicester by Public Health England has revealed it has been driven by increased infections in the under-19s and people of working age.

Now they are thinking if the return of children to school is connected to the growth in infections. There were also infections at one of the sites of University Hospitals of Leicester NHS trust with a dozen staff found infected but were asymptomatic.

Crunch time!
The ethnicity of the people infected broadly reflected the makeup of the population, which is about 50% from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Then came this laughable statement.
The increase in infections was attributed, in part at least, to an increase in testing.  So does that mean testing INCREASES your chances of getting infected? That’s a bit of a sobering thought.

So, what’s the mood where we live?
Some of it is way more than slightly aggressive within the more feral sections of our community who have extended families and are desperate to protect their own elderly and vulnerable relations.

In a nutshell, Visitors from Lincoln, Leicester, Nottingham, Coventry, and the rest of the Midlands are unwanted.

Most don’t want them anywhere near us!
That anger being readily expressed in our shops and on our streets.
As for the many worried? They are BIG TIME.
Yet most of that is also coming out as ANGER towards our loving, caring government.

The Why?
Because the visitors will invade, infect, then bugger off home leaving us with our piss poor healthcare to pick up the pieces.

In short it may literally be the death of our little town.

What to do?
Nothing we can do as there is nowhere safe to run to in this Corvid infected wonderland called the Untied (not a typo) Kingdom.

In preparation, most of our street has recently ‘gone shopping’ and the sensible now have at least 14 days (most close to 30 days) worth of supplies laid in. Enough? It’ll have to be.

Meanwhile we are fully tanked up with fuel as our minor shopping won’t be within our town. It’s not that there won’t be a lot but as there are VERY FEW supermarkets or other food suppliers, they stand more of a chance of becoming carriers / infectors than anywhere else in our county (state).

Defunding the Police, the Sadiq Khan Way

London, and once again the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, proves conclusively that he has lost the plot. He has a money problem. Coronavirus has hit hard, businesses are closing or decamping out of London because it is so expensive to do business there. So all in all, London’s mayor is facing financial pain.

“My first priority is to protect front line emergency services” says he.
This he does by proposing budget cuts of £110million for the policing of London.

Not that it will matter as the police can’t police anymore.
Nowadays their bosses watch words are political correctness, multicultural and religious tolerance. Plus rules of engagement that endanger everyone from the police to the little people. As a result of all this, they run when they should fight and kneel before the rabid mobs.

On July 4 Sadiq Khan’s streets will see a chaos of drunkenness, violence, if not anarchy. Add a bit of BLM and it should see the Met Police in serious trouble. His part of the effort to protect London? De-fund the police.

Only if there is any doubt about that happening, Liverpool won a football match.

Thousands of very sensible (not) Liverpool fans celebrated their club’s historic win for a second night. Multiple people were injured in fights during a night of chaos in the city center which saw fireworks set off causing a fire to break out in the iconic Liver Building, and police granted extra powers to clear the crowds.

Yep, well behaved, sensible, social distancing aware, football fans.

Going for a drink? Take ID and lose your privacy.

It’s expected that going for a drink in a bar or venue in the UK will end up with you having to produce ID and your details will be kept to “ensure your safety” should someone in the same place and time gets infected.

Privacy Guard organizations are going loopy at this one and I don’t blame them. The questions being asked include:-
How will this information be kept,
Who will have access to it, and
How long will it be kept.

Would you willingly give a stranger in a bar or venue your personal details and feel safe doing so? I wouldn’t.

Thus the off licenses (selling alcohol for home consumption) are still going to be doing a roaring trade.

What’s next?

It seems to me that it’s time to review my WTF is going to happen next!
The why is pretty straight forward.

The most terrifying words in the English language are:
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” (Ronald Reagan)

Help and government.
Two words that never sit comfortably together.
Their poor performance thus far made the whole current situation WAY WORSE than it should have been and I cannot see them doing any better in the future.

The current dangers to us because of them are:-

1.  The pandemic, CORVID-19
2. The easing of social distancing and the danger of a second wave
3. The collapse of the national healthcare system.
4. The RACE riots, and the increasing social disorder and the collapse of the national police force.
5. The collapse of the UK Economy and the subsequent deprivation and civil disorder that always follows a massive depression.
6. The government and their agents.

The main problem of the first two is quite straight forward and is part of basic CBRN ‘Distance yourself from danger’, and self-defense 101 ‘Distance is king in combat’ doctrines. Except money won, the people will lose, the second wave will hit and it will hit HARD.

Item 3. The NHS is already exhausted both in manpower and facilities / equipment. There still is non cure and even if there was one, a country on its knees, financially ruined, and locked out from EVERYWHERE, won’t have the wherewithal to protect the health service.

Item 4.
It should be quite easy to sort out.
Outlaw BLM and all protest groups.
Militarize the police, or bring in the Army to support our ailing law enforcement.
Nice thought, sort of, and something I have spoken about before.
The use of troops to enforce civil control is abhorrent and will be seen as a totalitarian government gone mad aka the formation of the USSB – United Suppressed State of Britain.

I can’t see how that would happen anyway as it would be the political death of the present government following HUGE public outrage.

As for the police?
In their current form and management, I doubt they will see Christmas unless they are properly equipped, UNFETTERED, and mandated to ‘do what is necessary’ to restore order.

Which would call for media censorship. Why?
Because disorder sells, ‘public opinion’ matters, and the loss of revenue to them would ensure heaps of lawsuits and campaigns to ‘restore the free press’.

Item 5. The reason why most of this will occur.
The government ‘furlough scheme’ will end soon.
Of that I have no doubt as the piggy bank of the UK must be running on empty by now or stuffed full of debt notes.
After that comes massive unemployment as businesses will shut down because order books are gathering dust and, because mass unemployment kills sales, there simply isn’t the money available to keep staff sat at home.

With that in mind the media are reporting that the Bank of England are once again going to QE us to financial death with another £100 Billion in Fiat currency to add to the £200 Billion they have already printed in March when the pandemic hit us. Thus bumping up the total amount of toilet paper to £645 Billion.

How I missed that one I don’t know.
That SECOND figure came as a shock to me but now I know how the government were able to run the furlough scheme.

It also explains why the UK “Worth” has plummeted as QE has always affected the value of our money on the international markets.

Except this whole financial disaster scenario may get worse faster than the government can imagine WHEN the second wave of the pandemic bursts upon us. A new shutdown will kill the economy stone dead.

Item 6.
Summed up already.
The most terrifying words in the English language are:
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
Ronald Reagan

Damn I hate being so pessimistic but show me just one positive sign things are improving (only don’t you dare quote UK Gov figures at me), and I’ll start smiling again.

BLM was the trigger, but the UK’s filth did the rest.

It was footage of the fighting in the streets around the country.
In London, one white man being beaten down by 11 black guys, faces hidden, but they forgot to cover their necks, arms, and fists. Once down and on the floor defenseless, it was only because another black man scooped him up and carried him, on his shoulder, to the police, who were only yards away doing their usual nothing, that he was saved.

Black lives matter? No. Only one out of twelve blacks matter.
That’s what is running through my heart this morning.

BUT when I’m wrong I admit it and another side of the day trip to London and at various venues around our nation showed just how wrong I was.

While some protests had only minor trouble, that could not be said of London. Which surprised me not one little bit.

There were peaceful counter protests about the destruction and tagging of monuments, road signs, and removal of anything historical that were heavily policed to ensure the two opposing sides didn’t mix in London.

Only the Riot Control handbook must have got lost as someone forgot to mention to the police that a mass protest in a city will turn into a fluid, fast moving scenario, without good Intel and planning.

As such you can’t keep giving up ground to support others as eventually you’ve no more ground to give up!
Yep, you’ve guessed it, that’s what they were doing as the thin blue line was being sorely tested at times. What happened was the B team was moving from flash point to flash point, on foot, and paying a heavy price for doing so.

Only while the police were doing that, it left glaringly large holes in the side streets and park’s security which both black and white rabbles exploited.

So where was the police’s high tech Intel gathering.
The drones, the watchers, the CCTV?
Without up to the second Intel any response is going to be limited if not ineffective.

Anyway, for one particular flavor of white filth (caught on camera kicking a group of whites who were quietly having a picnic in Hyde Park), their day was all about attacking anyone, white or BAME, but especially the police.

The footage of what went down there and other places was irrefutable and it’s all over the place on social media, YouTube, and in the UK and world’s media.

Except most of the ‘action’ had little to do with the actual protest and counter protests, BUT IT WAS ALL TO DO with terrorist organizations like ANTIFA and various factions intent on fighting each other and destroying what they could. Plus an underclass that was tanked and hyped up, mostly of military age, every one of them aholes, and their aim was to fight anyone but especially the police.

As for the police? A couple of words seems applicable to their performance on Saturday, BUT it’s not a slight on the individual street cops, only their leadership. Those words? Shambolic and Ineffective in the face of mass crowd control and civil disorder.

I’ve seen Christmas shoppers better tooled up than they were.
It was clear that they were ill prepared for the numbers they encountered and operating on limited or no Intel.

As for who had trained them in riot control?
I would say they need to get their money back as backing up others in trouble wasn’t well choreographed at all. Something that was videoed numerous times as individual officers were downed by flying kicks and the response slow and uncoordinated by others.

Yet that is a bit unfair when the situation clearly showed they were badly outnumbered and being in transit does not allow you to mount a defense. Out in the open makes matters worse because you can be picked off one by one.

I honestly felt sorry for them, especially the diminutive female officers who were an obvious target for the white filth AND BLM supporters intent on doing harm to the police. Physically their boiler suits and helmets couldn’t hide the fact that some of them were smaller and less well-built than:

I am going to return to weaponry.
There was so much more they could have done with basic non-lethal riot control equipment to ‘force multiply‘ their presence and effectiveness.

Instead, they had those dinky little batons and Captain America shields!
Even if they all had tasers (which I seriously doubt), tasers are absolutely useless in a melee.

They needed large volume CS, pepper or PAVA.
Even dry powder or CO2 fire extinguishers would have been effective in pushing people back a couple of meters if not more.
It’s that sort of space that deters aggression not barriers which just allows the aggressor to get hyped up and plan their next move.

Upping the ante would have brought in pepper ball guns and baton rounds (rubber bullets) but the weenies in charge were either stopped from doing so or just chose to sacrifice troops in order to not ‘inflame the situation’ which got totally out of control anyway.

Water cannon was an option once upon a time and the only sensible thing Boris Johnson did as Mayor of London. He bought three units from Germany. Except the Home secretary (later PM by default) at that time, THERESA MAY, banned them from being used in England and Wales.

Only it gets better. Take a wild guess who sold them off for scrap value?
That would be London’s present Mayor, Sadiq Khan.

All in all it has become blatantly obvious that the UK’s civil police force, as far as riot control and stopping mass protests is concerned, is in the shit BIG TIME.

Meanwhile, the ‘uncivil’ side of the population now have proof they can run amok with impunity and there is little the police can do to stop them.

So, apart from the few who are too stupid not to get caught or too technology ignorant to understand that just about everything gets caught on Smartphones and plastered all over social media or end up on CCTV as we are the second most surveilled country in the West!

I say watch out folks, steer clear of ‘protest’ events, and keep your support (if you do) for social media from the safety of your home. That is unless you like hospital food.

There is just one more point I’d like to mention.
Like a stuck record I still see the possibility of a Corvid rising infection and death rate because of the lack of control letting anyone mix regardless of whether they were masked or gloved up. That I still think will be VERY noticeable come the Summer Solstice on the 20th of this month.

So, if you are preppers like we are, you may like to consider topping up your store cupboard before the 20th June. (JIC)

BLM have caused this mess while the UKGov fiddles on.

Warning, Non Politically Correct Content.
If you don’t want to read such an article, leave now!

Britain behind boards, cowering, like their leadership.
The statues being covered up range from Churchill to Nelson Mandela in London, to Baden Powell in Poole, Dorset, while graffiti on Penny Lane road sign in Liverpool just gets one one-line. Our history is under attack, statutes daubed with paint and chucked in the water, tit-for-tat sees another bleached. Antifa and other radicals see this as an opportunity to wreck the place, and the nationalists and other English patriots are gearing up for a fight.

Our police are being used as footballs and over 300 were injured last weekend. In short, they are undermanned, under gunned, with little of the recognized equipment for control, or the political will to deploy that equipment, to reinstate law and order.

If anything comes out of this mess it will be even more resentment, greater racial and immigrant hatred, than we’ve seen for years!

Wanna know why?
The UK professes to be a multicultural and religious tolerant state.
That’s utter B.S. as seen from the streets.
This process started by politicians and forced upon the population.
There was no discussion, it was pure 101% political ideology.
It split communities and caused a massive ‘white flight’.
Does anyone seriously think that made bridges?
Hell no, more like canyons!
It also allowed no-go areas to blossom, and a huge increase in gang culture.

Yet the Nero’s in the UK central and regional government sit there fiddling their PC harps as the temperature of resentment grows.

So is it any wonder why a degree of white ‘bite back’ is building up as the nationalists see the UKGov kowtowing to BAME and liberalism?

Someone needs to shut this down NOW!
Only the top dog hasn’t got a pair, so he ain’t going to do anything.
Thus, it might just be left to the streets to sort out and, having lived on those streets, I can say from experience:- The streets don’t take prisoners.

Stress pushing me into ‘what was’.

A night of dreams, although I slept, and the realization that I’m slipping back into ‘what was’. The stress of living in yellow and occasionally red for the last five months, with my head in a swivel, is beginning to tell.

The constant CP, gently guiding my lovely keeper in the hope she doesn’t object (too much). The running interference between her and the gormless with loads of restraint on my part as I carry none of the tools of old and the knowledge I’m now just a little old man.

Today we were talking about our life together and how this year has been our worst for arguments EVER. Which is mainly down to me. Combat stress is what I suffered from once and the signs are all there but it took a quiet conversation with my keeper for me to really look in the mirror and into my eyes. Tired and jaded stared back at me, red from not taking time off for a simple blink when out and about, and little sleep.

Worst bit about it?
Things are going to get worse over the next few weeks as the brain-dead sheeple flock to our county (State), into our little town, to play in the sea.

Us back into a self-imposed lockdown like so many other residents.
All of us thinking “Go home!”
Dawn and late night walks for the dog to avoid all but the locals doing the same.
As for shopping?
Once a month, in a neighboring town, before 8am or after 9pm.
Tuesday to Thursday are the quiet times.
Jeez! What air I had left in my balloon just ran out at that thought.

That and knowing there
Just isn’t anywhere safe
To run to!

The big die off. Prepper Myth? Maybe not.

Not all preppers are obsessed with TEOTWAWKI.
However, some of us make our plans using a worse case mindset when prepping for a serious long term event.

Personally, I’ve got a really ‘down to Earth’ approach to short and long term.
To get to long term, you need to survive the short term.
After that, long term depends on you suiting your individual needs for the scenario you find yourself in.

Generally speaking, multiple ‘local’ TEOTWAWKI events around the world have proven that when people try to help themselves after no one else will, government steps in and makes things harder by using the full force of law or military controls to stop them doing what is necessary to save themselves.

Those agencies saying, “Stop what you are doing, I’m from the government and here to help you.”

The concept of “The Big Die Off”

“Wanna know the funny thing about the end of the world?
It’ll still be there afterwards”.

So if you remove the masses, quaint controls, politics, and laws, disaster will generally present you with opportunity if you are resourceful enough to use it.

Where am I going with all this?
The world and it’s latest pandemic.
The first round of infection still not finished, the governments around the world are going to force a new normality (get back to work) onto the masses for the simple reason that they are losing too much money.

Preppers view this as a second disaster waiting to happen and you can clearly see that starting in the rising number of deaths as lockdowns are eased.

Only this time the death toll will be larger and will see medical facilities overwhelmed.

So how are we hoping things will go?
Perhaps, the magical vaccine will appear just in time. (ROTFL)
More realistically the carnage could see smaller more remote populations wiped out and major utilities lost as professionals and tradesmen die off.

Which suits our TEOTWAWKI’ survival mindset of “Disaster makes opportunity”, with only one caveat.

The death toll may not be high enough leaving some sort of governance which will try to retain control over the masses AND over the survivors they have/had no intention of helping in the first place!

HEPA filters unsafe for DIY face masks MYTH!

There are video’s going around saying DO NOT USE HEPA VACUUM BAGS for making DIY PPE masks as they can contain fiberglass and one even claimed Asbestos.

While that may be true about fiberglass in some filters used in the automotive or furnace filters, vacuum cleaner bags DON’T use fiberglass and definitely NOT asbestos.

HEPA came about in vacuum cleaners because it helped allergy sufferers so using something that could spew particles in to the air, especially irritants, glass, and ASBESTOS, isn’t exactly a good idea.

HEPA, is an acronym for “High Efficiency Particulate Air” or “High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance.”There are two main types detailed below.

The main differences between HEPA-type and True HEPA (the gold standard of filtration) filter are the filtration efficiency.

In general, HEPA-type filter has a 99% efficiency rate of capturing particles as small as 2 microns. True HEPA filter up the game with a better 99.97% efficiency rate at particles as small as 0.3 microns.

Numbers, and VERY small numbers, always confuse me so I’ll try to explain them.

2 microns is 0.002 of a mm. Which is “small”.
0.3 microns is 0.0003 of a mm.
Which is soooooo tiny it manages to stop most particles.

Only Corvid-19 is way smaller than that!!!
“Mr. Average” coronavirus particles is around 125 nm or 0.000125 of a mm.
Does that mean it passes straight through a HEPA FILTER?
In theory YES, if the HEPA was a single layer.
Only they aren’t. They are LAYERED!
So in real life, YES they do stop most viruses.
HEPA filters can catch nearly 100% of 0.0001mm ultra-fine particles but are only TESTED to 0.0003 of a mm by HEPA standards.

So does that render you completely safe from the virus?
Nope, there is no such thing as being 100% safe!
Especially if you are doing table top PPE like we are.

This virus is transmitted as a particle carried by moisture in a person’s cough. So you touch something that has been coughed on – it’s on your hands.
Or, if droplets get into your eyes, you’ve got it.
Or, if you rub your now contaminated hands on your face or rub your eyes,
Or, if you eat something without washing your hands, it can get into you.

So why bother with a mask? Seriously?
HEPA WORKS BUT NEEDS HELP, YOUR HELP!
You could for instance cover your eyes wearing wrap round glasses,
DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE is a huge one as adjusting face masks is so easy to do without thinking about things.
Wearing impervious gloves helps, but above all that:

WASH YOUR HANDS
WITH SOAP AND WATER!

Don’t just rely on alcohol rubs or no soap hand gels.
The why is soap bursts the individual virus’s protective shell.
Clean surfaces regularly with disinfectant or even soapy water.
We use “baby bleach” (aka Milton) in a fine spray bottle (mainly because I trust bleach) but normal kitchen and washroom cleaners are said to be just as effective. CAUTION ELECTRICITY AND LIQUIDS DON’T MIX”

We also wipe down stuff you bring into your home and, where appropriate, discard external packaging.

Do I need to say don’t bleach your fruit and veg? I hope not!
We do however run it under the tap, pat dry, and leave to dry before racking it.

Why do all this?
A blob of virus will survive well on hard and soft surfaces.
Some ex-spurts saying in ideal conditions, over 72 hours.
Impervious surfaces being the worst culprits i.e. metal, plastics, glass.
The why is the virus needs it’s bubble of water to survive and once dry, it dies.

This is all CBRN Decontamination 101 folks.
Let alone good housekeeping.

So where am I getting all this data from?
The Internet, NASA, CDC, WHO, NHS, and official bodies in the medical world who are falling over themselves to inform you.

Vacuum cleaner bag science is extensive as well as is the details about HEPA filtration. A few universities have done studies on DIY PPE recently. This is all part of researching your subject and something I did a lot of before starting to make masks.

Yet, having said all that, being a prepper I had laid in a stock of FFP3 masks.
That’s equivalent to N98 in US terms.
We use them when in enclosed spaces as social distancing is NOT the UK’s sheeple way of doing things. Stupidity they do well. Anything else seems to much bother and involves thinking.

And finally.
Distance is king in combat and this is a fight only against a much more cold blooded killer. So, keep your distance to more than social spacing (2m), cover up, wash often, and PLEASE download a basic guide to CBRN and decontamination.

And yes, I’m still going to be making DIY masks as the proper PPE has been price gouged above our means and largely unavailable at this time.

Will they work as well as the “proper gear”.
Probably not but something is better than NOTHING!

As always, don’t take my word for anything.
Do your own research as that’s the responsible thing to do.

1984 has a new Big Brother.

George Orwell might just be smiling in his grave as his novel 1984 becomes even more pertinent in 2020.

Who controls the past controls the future :
Who controls the present controls the past.

George Orwell wrote this in this novel 1984, and why this book isn’t on the required reading list for every prepper and survivalist escapes me. I humbly suggest you download a copy before this novel is digitally erased as being subversive.

So what are these “US Gov agents” in all but name doing now?

Expanding fact checks on YouTube to the United States

Over the past several years, we’ve seen more and more people coming to YouTube for news and information. They want to get the latest on an election, to find multiple perspectives on a topic, or to learn about a major breaking news event. More recently, the outbreak of COVID-19 and its spread around the world has reaffirmed how important it is for viewers to get accurate information during fast-moving events. That’s why we’re continuing to improve the news experience on YouTube, including raising up authoritative sources of information across the site. Today, we’re continuing this work by expanding our fact check information panels — which we launched in Brazil and India last year — to the United States.

You are approaching
full mushroom status America.
Kept in the dark and only fed B.S.

After that I’ve only got one thing to ask.
As you run out of public access forums and social media that aren’t moderated (aka censored).

Where will you look to find out the truth
You need to know and not only
What “they” want you to know?

Just think about that for a second.