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Learning from the unrest

I’ve been told there will be more riots tonight but I think it will be token. Although we should consider that this could be the nearest we get to a SHTF event. Or, at least I hope it is and as this is one of the events we have been preparing for and we should examine it in detail and see what we can learn from it. I’m not going to bother about the reasons. A bad guy died, that sort of thing doesn’t happen in the UK so other bad guys didn’t like that and protested. It spiralled from there. We won’t go there here bar to note that it was something that could happen any time. Lesson 1.

As we know from the news the ‘peaceful protesters’ decided to stock up on the nicer things in life without going through the laborious process of paying for it with their welfare cheques. The way they did this was to smash their way into shops looting and then setting fire to the shops. Initially, they did not deliberately target people, they were just caught in the fires that were set and had to abandon their homes. Many lost everything. Subsequent night’s people were looting and setting fire to the buildings again while some took advantage of the unrest to attack Plod, mug people and, in one case, deliberately shot and killed a man.

Most looters were just interested in the swag and were so careless about it that they didn’t even disguise themselves. Those and the well known ring leaders, will be tracked down and the courts will be busy slapping wrists for years. Many troublemakers however, wore disguises, and had gone out with the intention of not getting caught. Most will remain unpunished.

Plod and the rest of the emergency services kept out of the way and contained the rioters. We won’t go there either. Lesson 2.

For us though, we need to see what it means to our preparations as individuals (not businesses). What lessons can we learn?

  • If you can get out. Get out early with all your important stuff and stay out. It is not about defending your property like they did in the LA riots. You can’t. You won’t be allowed to and you risk everything doing so
  • Ensure you have your main belongings safely away in fireproof containers or off site. Photo collections, shares, cash, birth/wedding/divorce certificates should be moved now. With key items on you in a money belt or something similar. Have some change in your pocket for if you are mugged, no cash, cards, rings, watches, phones or wallets outside the money belt
  • Stay indoors and keep your head down. Be prepared to evacuate in the event of a fire. Arrange a rendezvous somewhere safe and make sure everyone knows what to do in an emergency to escape, where to rendezvous and test that plan
  • If you are forced out of your home. Get away as quickly as you can to outside the riot area. Don’t carry anything and don’t draw attention to yourself by shouting or gesturing. Go directly to the rendezvous

This way you and your family should be safe. That is the important thing.

Unfortunately, you will lose most, if not all, of the stuff in your house if it catches fire. There is nothing you can do about that. If you have insurance you will get some back but if you lose your preps then you will have difficulty claiming for those. As it looks like all riots end up with flames (Lesson 3) we must build that into our prepping. We either fire proof everything or we store our preparations in a remote location. As most of us cannot afford to have two locations nor will be able to fireproof everything then I can only suggest that you move. Lesson 4.

So, what did we learn?

  • You don’t want to be above any shops, warehouses or garages in an event. Living in any of those places will mean you cannot really prepare
  • Anything can spark a riot
  • Riots like fires
  • The State will not help you
  • No matter what we prepare it can easily be for naught

Those are the lessons that we can take away from the last few days. Consider them when you are making your plans.

16 comments to Learning from the unrest

  • tinkertytonk

    The lesson is simple & the reasons for riots don’t matter (as far as you intimidate safety is concerned). The lesson is this:

    You have to be able to bug out at all times!!

    Preferably planning for an extended period of bug out time. You also have to see things coming. I moved out of living near Luton as I saw ten years ago that our cities were going to burn; I moved to the Welsh border for this reason. I have been telling people for ten years that our cities (across the whole country) were going to burn. They have and will continue to do so for years to come…………

    Learn from this and have the bulk of stuff you need for your survival away from large towns and cities.

  • Hi Skean,

    Some good points there, what struck me watching the chaos was people forced from their homes in just the clothes they were wearing, one poor woman in just a nightdress while her home burned.

    A bug out bag and clothes always at the ready is a must wherever you live.

  • lee

    if these looters are faced with 500 army personel “they will go home”the government should come down hard.no more pussy political corectnes..the police are out of ther depth.so let the army do the job. the police are good for parking tickets but thats all…hit them hard….and they will stop!!!!

  • Skean Dhude

    Tinkertytonk, Nick, Agreed.

    Lee, Welcome.

    Yes but the army are trained to shoot people first and arrest them second. This is why it is frowned on. It may stop the riots but it will simmer for longer and when it does boil over it will be much worse.

    I also seem to remember that evidence used against dictators was that they had set their troops on the citizens. Wasn’t our government one of those that complained about that. 🙂

  • Skvez

    The punishment for rioting should be severe but I think summary execution without trial (by being shot by the army) is too severe.
    There are probably innocent people trapped in the groups of rioters.
    We objected when China drove tanks over protesters, sometimes it’s a fine line to decide who is rioting and who is protesting when a minority of a peaceful protest start to riot.

    However the power do need to be seen to come down hard on the rioters and re-establish order. If the Chavs see their peers getting away with it elsewhere they may all try it in every city and town.
    Looting damage to even a quarter of the UKs shops would result in a survival scenario as many people ran out of food and were unable to buy more. Panic buying would strip the shelves from those that were still able to operate. It’s scary to see just how precarious our finely balanced society is balanced.

  • tinkertytonk

    My theory is a simple one; bug out at the first sign of trouble. However, you have to bug out with your stuff which if you have to bug out for months/weeks will weigh an awful lot. I therefore bought one of these:

    Truck Trolley

    My trolly is exactly the same as the ones in the link above and cost me £15 from a car boot. Remember, you have to get allot of stuff in your car in a quick period of time. Taking twenty or so boxes to your car especially if you live in a flat will be exhausting and time consuming. Due to that you will have to spend allot of time loading up and therefore being ‘spotted’ loading your car is a distict posibility. With a trolly like this it can be done in five trips to the car at most.

    I strongly advise buying one; they are cheap, small and durable (I have tested my trolly out). This is a vital piece of kit for getting your bug out stuff to your car quickly and repetitively effortlessly. It also helps when you when you get to you bug out location (another house or the hills/woods) for the same reasons.

    Please add to you kit; it may save your life.

    As well as the above I also recomend an ladder for if there is a fire and you are trapped.: Firesafety Escape Ladders

  • Skean Dhude

    Skvez,

    I agree. That is the sign of a totalitarian state.

    Simple use of the justice system, show it is being applied with no whingey whiney excuses and people will settle down.

    It is in reality an event.

    Tinkertytonk,

    I have a trolly as well. I would recommend that you get a solid one though. The cheap ones collapse when you load them up. Try it out with your stores to see how it works.

    Unless you live in a ground floor flat or a bungalow then you need a ladder for every floor above ground. Although if you live in a tower block you are likely to be out of luck. Most ladders not being able to handle over 3 stories.

  • Ronnie

    I agree with Lee on this. Get the army out. The scum setting fire to buildings and cars and looting are not citizens.

    The death toll has been low considering the damage, and properties set on fire. Tough luck if some scum get hurt. I believe that army teaches much more than how to kill, skills that would have been useful in these circumstances. I don’t see these kids standing up to or ignoring 20 men with guns as they ignored the police in their lines with batons. In these cases, police shouldn’t have their hands tied with red tape. Water cannon all the way!

    Do people think its over or with this keep happening (either in next few days in other places or longer term next months as spontaneous looting?)

  • Skvez

    @ Tickertytonk
    If you have another house to bug-out to then most of your preps should already be at the bug out location. This isn’t possible if you’re going to the woods but if you’ve a fixed location to go most of your preps should already be there. This has a number of advantages
    1] You don’t have to waste time packing
    2] You can bug out from anywhere, you don’t have to go home to get your preps first
    3[ You can’t loose your preps by them being taken off you while you pack or while you travel. If you see a roadblock you can abandon the car and take off on foot.

    Ideally you should life at your retreat.
    For those of us who can’t but have a retreat with a structure to bug out to, most of our preps should be already staged there. We only travel with the bug out bag.
    For those of us who don’t have a structure to stage preps at to bug out to we are forced to carry our preps. That’s a bad situation to be in.

  • Skean Dhude

    Ronnie,

    TPTB will not do that at this stage. It will be political dynamite. The default is to give Plod more powers and restrict our freedoms. I think they will do that. In addition there are not enough Army or Plod to go around if there is a coordinated uprising as we have seen in other countries.

    The other problem is that it isn’t just some scum getting hurt. It is ordinary people because of a few scumbags.

    I think riots are here for a while. Certainly there are a lot of people who feel it is the only way to get TPTB to pay attention. Will make things interesting during the Olympics when our masters Zil lanes come into action and the city clamps down on, well, everything.

    Skvez,

    Agreed. After these riots I think bugging in at those locations is doomed to fail. Alternatives must be sought.

  • AnnieBobanny

    Um, what does “TPTB” mean? And I assume “Plod” means police?

    The thing that struck me about the looters is that, for the most part, they were all minors, or very young anyway. It’s proven scientifically that teenagers have a strong sense of invincibility and engage in risk-taking behaviour far more than adults, especially males. This fearlessness served a purpose in evolutionary terms, but has become problematic in modern society. There are no longer large game to be hunted or hostile enemy tribes to fight off. And they haven’t matured enough yet to understand in their bones the consequences of what they are doing. They think it’s cool and makes them feel empowered. Ask them in 10 years how cool they think they were and I bet they sing a different tune. I believe that in any huge urban population, there are always going to be those who feel like they don’t belong and aren’t included and therefore have nothing to lose from the destruction. This is a fundamental flaw and a glaring problem of modern society and the dynamic of no longer living in small, sustainable communities where everyone has a common purpose. It’s impossible to achieve that in a city as huge and diverse as London. I’m not making excuses for these kids. On the contrary, I think every damn one of them needs to be sent off to boot camp for some discipline, focus, and sense of purpose. I don’t think locking them up will solve anything, yet they need to experience consequences for their actions. I don’t know what the anser is. Anyway, I guess part of my point was that given their youth and lack of judgment, the situation was that much scarier in my opinion. They weren’t a unified group with a pre-determined purpose of getting needed supplies or whatever, they were an anarchic mob. I could understand if they were adults getting their hands on food for their children (and I’m assuming adults wouldn’t set fires in order to do so), ie doing what’s needed for survival. But the burning and wanton desctruction was just mind-boggling. I suppose when TSHTF they will come out again. God help us all when that happens. I don’t know what the f I’m going to do, because I don’t have a retreat to store my preps in or go to. I just have to gather things up and load my car when the time comes. And then hope my petrol will get me far enough out of here to be safe.

  • Skean Dhude

    AnnieBobanny,

    Welcome.

    TPTB = The Powers That Be

    Plod = Police

    Like everything else we have developed to meet certain enviromental condition. The physical body that was required for that is no longer required. We now use technology to augment our bodies and this enables us to perform tasks that our bodies did not allow us to do before. Go into space or dive deep into the sea for example.

    This lot however are simple the children of our society. Socialists who believe they are entitled to everything without having to work for it. Our government told them so and supplied the toil of others for free. So they know it is true. I believe in 10 years time they will think no differently and imo someof them do deserve to go to prison. I believe that it is the only way to teach them that actions have consequences. Socialism teaches them the opposite.

    As far as your own position I would be looking at moving out as soon as possible. I don’t see this getting any better and I’m convinced that adults will set fire to everything as well. It’s a mob thing. Loading a car and then travelling takes too long and I think will not be successful especially as you have no clear destination. You can’t move faster than they can after a trigger only before. You need to sort that before anything else.

  • AnnieBobanny

    Thanks for the clarification Skean.

    Yes, I totally agree that these kids feel entitled to have things they haven’t worked for and earned. That’s the problem with raising kids on welfare, they feel that their livelihoods should be given to them. Fuck that. lol.

    Yes, I’ve been thinking seriously about getting out of here soon. I’m sick of the city. Even if all hell doesn’t break loose, I still really want to get back to the earth and live as self-sufficiently as possible. Well, hopefully I’ll win the lottery soon : )

  • Skean Dhude

    AnnieBobanny,

    There are plenty of places in the UK much cheaper to live in than the cities. The only problem being jobs but if you win the lottery that won’t be an issue.

    Of course I suggest that while you wait for the lottery you get started with the planning and prepping. 🙂 It will work out even if you somehow, although unlikely, don’t win the lottery soon.

  • AnnieBobanny

    Ha ha, guess what’s coming on the tv? “I Am Legend”. How apt. I’ll watch it again a bit closer this time and see if there are any useful survival tips!

  • Skean Dhude

    AnnieBobanny,

    If you learn anything let the rest of us know. Save us having to watch the film.