{
  "id": 12181283,
  "title": "Preppers used to be ridiculed – but we’re all stockpiling now | Zoe Williams",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/preppers-used-to-be-ridiculed-but-were-all-stockpiling-now-zoe",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-05T15:47:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/05/preppers-used-to-be-ridiculed-but-were-all-stockpiling-now"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The UK government recently advised citizens to prepare for potential threats by stockpiling a three-day supply of food and water. This directive seems less like an overreaction and more like a proactive measure, considering the absence of a national food reserve since the 1990s.\n\nThomas L. Friedman, a renowned journalist, once posited that no two countries with a McDonald's would ever go to war with each other. However, the reality today is far different. We now share a global presence of McDonald's outlets, alongside the unfortunate reality of wars disrupting food supplies.\n\nFor individuals reminiscing about the World War II era, or those who feel they do, the instinct to stockpile is deeply ingrained. My grandmother, for instance, maintained a trunk filled with condensed milk to safeguard against a nuclear war, a practice that continued throughout the 1980s. When the Berlin Wall fell, her preparations were once again reignited, this time in response to the Gulf War.",
  "summary": "The UK government urging households to prepare for unknown threats with a three-day supply of food and water doesn’t feel like an overreaction. But is there a bigger plan to go with it? There is no national food stockpile and there hasn’t been since it was wound up in the 1990s. It feels like a metaphor for the delusions of that era: nothing bad can possibly happen again; no two countries with a…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}