Be afraid, be very afraid - all the time

[Banquo's Ghost]

The Uk government has gone even pottier:

Terror warnings made public

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Terror warnings to be made public

A new warning system is to alert the public to the threat of attacks by al-Qaeda and other terror groups.

From 1 August, details of current threat levels will be published on the websites of the Home Office and MI5.

The warning system, announced by Home Secretary John Reid, will form part of the government's counter-terrorist strategy, code-named Contest.

It will also include information on what kind of actions people should take in response to the threat.

Announcing the plans, the home secretary told MPs that the terrorist threat would only be overcome by "united action by all of us".

He said: "The importance of the public remaining vigilant at all times and reporting any suspicious activities is still the key message."

'Severe' threat

The system will show five different threat levels - low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical.


It is intended to simplify the current seven-tier system, which is not published in the public domain.


NEW THREAT LEVELS
Low
Moderate
Substantial
Severe
Critical


The home secretary revealed that the UK has been on a "severe general" level since August last year, equating to "severe" on the new scale.

He defined severe as the threat of a terrorist attack being "highly likely".

Some had lobbied for a system similar to that of the US, where alerts are colour-coded and range from green to red.

But that system has been criticised for being unduly alarmist.

'Transparency'

The government is publishing two documents on terrorism to coincide with Mr Reid's announcement.

A wide-ranging summary of the government's long-term strategy is being published by the Home Office. It aims to prevent terrorism and prepare for a potential attack.


CURRENT THREAT LEVELS
Negligible
Low
Moderate
Substantial
Severe general
Severe defined
Critical

The Department for Communities and Local Government will also publish a document on preventing extremism.

Mr Reid said he hoped the changes would "bring further transparency and understanding of the nature of the terrorist threat".

'Inappropriate reassurance'

The announcement came after the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) called for a more transparent warning system in the UK in a report on the 7 July London bombings.

The committee highlighted that the threat level had been reduced from "severe general" to "substantial" prior to the London attacks.

Its report claimed the current system had provided "inappropriate reassurance" to the public in the absence of intelligence about a plot.

The report, published in May, said the system should be changed to recognise the limitations of intelligence gathering and "that attacks may be at the planning stage without being detected".

The government spokesdroid was unable to say what exactly a chap was to do at each of the announced levels - apart from be 'eternally vigilant' at each one.

Being a helpful fellow, I have produced a helpful guide to the mildly bewildered amongst the citizenry (worth having tattooed on your forehead for emergency consultation when your RSS feed to MI5 starts blinking red) which is provided below:

NEW THREAT LEVELS

Low: Don't worry, it'll never happen. Parliament might grow a backbone.

Moderate: It's true, there are still a few Labour moderates in existence. If one is spotted, the Whip's Office will be scrambled, so relax. A bit.

Substantial: Uh-oh, the Lords have woken up and stealth legislation is under threat. There's always the Parliament Act.

Severe: We are at war with East Asia. We have always been at war with East Asia. Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring. OK, panic.

Critical: Stop thinking immediately! Look into my eyes, only my eyes! Vote Tony Blair! Vote Tony Blair!

[ZombieFriedNuts]

So if we know the terrorist are about to strike, the terrorist will know that the government knows about what they are doing which ether means that they will stop doing it as they might get court or go somewhere else and do it.
Or they could become paranoid and kill everyone in their group

[orangat]

Out of curiosity what new special powers of detention does the UK now have against suspected terrorists?

[Blodrast]

The Uk government has gone even pottier:

Severe: We are at war with East Asia. We have always been at war with East Asia. Don't panic, Mr Mainwaring. OK, panic.

I particularly like this one. I think this change of the threat levels was just "Oh, we don't have any _actual_ scarecrows right now, but since we have to meet our quota of scarecrows for the week (and to prevent John Dumb from slipping away from the 'proper' mindset), let's just make some pointless fuss about terror, warning levels and related issues".

my two cents, anyway.

[IrishArmenian]

The vote Blair thing is hilarious, even for a non-British person.

[caravel]

I wonder what the threat level is now? I'd bet it's sort of flickering randomly at the moment...

**runs off to fetch a pen so as to copy down the threat guide**

[Papewaio]

Reminds me of Red Dwarf:

Holly "Purple Alert, Purple Alert"

Lister "Whats a Purple Alert?"

Holly "Well it's worse then a Blue Alert, but not as bad as a Red Alert. A bit like a Mauve Alert really."

[discovery1]

Join the club. The US has had one of these for years. Haven't heard of it in a while though....

[macsen rufus]

Shouldn't there also be a "Quick! Shoot someone innocent with a slightly darker than average skin colour" level???

[Aenlic]

We've been ignoring our "fun with primary colors" alert levels over here for more than 4 years now. If you're lucky, it'll just be something to keep the politicians' childish little hands occupied so they can't get you all into bigger trouble. If you're unlucky, like we've been on this side of the pond, then they'll just use it as a finger warmup exercise before plunging into even more and worse mischief.

If the threat levels show a disturbing tendency to increase whenever there's an election, or whenever bad poll numbers come out, then you'll know you've been had.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

The crazy thing is lots of (noisy) people actually wanted this.

Its like announcing who the head of MI 6 is, its stupid and dangerous.

Undoubtedly this is actually Bush's idea, it makes the American system look less idiotic and it might prop up Blair's collapsing government.

[Blodrast]

Is there any rational attempt at justification for this ? What could possibly be useful in knowing that we're on a <insert favourite color here> alert ??
I'll be more aware of it... so ?? Then what ? How will I act any differently ? I'll run and buy all the bottled water and half a ton of cans, along with a few hundred liters of gasoline or something ? I'll stock up on ammo ? I'll shoot all the people of <insert enemy-of-the-day-race/ethnicity> that I see on the street ?
C'mon, gimme _some_ benefit of having it, I mean, some benefit for the average Joe.
'cause if it's not useful to the average Joe, then why the hell is it made public ? If it's only useful to the military or whatever, then let it be a military thing, only for the military, not known to the open public, where it can only cause panic, at best.

[drone]

I've always been fond of POE News' version of the terror threat level system. We are currently on "Mothra".


http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=32197

[Ronin]

go back to bed UK....you government is in control....
nothing to see here...move along...

[Aenlic]

I've always been fond of POE News' version of the terror threat level system. We are currently on "Mothra".

http://www.poe-news.com/features.php?feat=32197

Best post of the day, drone! I'll have to remember this alert system! Although a buddy of mine, in the band Blue &#214;yster Cult, might take exception to Godzilla being so low on the scale. Heh. I'm going to give him a call and tell him to call CNN and suggest that they play "Godzilla" everytime the alert level changes.