WW3 ?

@Wibbles

No, Wibbles, I am not scared. I grew up during the panic over nuclear attack in the 1970s and 1980s. I remember the worry it caused, especially for families who could not afford a fallout shelter or even the materials to build one at home. Every night, public broadcasts told us how to survive the unthinkable. Protect and Survive booklets came through every door.

When people talk about World War Three now, they do not mean soldiers marching. They mean sudden escalation, missiles without warning. And the truth is, we have no control over any of it. I have already lived through one round of nuclear panic. I will not be dragged into another.

I actually found the old Protect and Survive booklet online, see link below. I still remember how much fear it caused. They even gave us warnings in school. It didn’t calm anyone down. It just made the panic feel official.

So yes, I understand why people are worried now. The language has changed, but the feeling is familiar. Back then, we were told to survive with cardboard, tins and a stiff upper lip. Today, it is headlines and speculation. But just like before, most of it is noise.

The truth is, we have lived through this kind of fear before. And nothing came of it. No mushroom clouds. No fallout rooms. Just quiet resilience and a nation that carried on. We can do that again.

http://www.roc-heritage.co.uk/uploads/7/6/8/9/7689271/protectandsurvive.pdf

I had never heard of Threads until you mentioned it. I watched it on YouTube last night. It was first shown on BBC2 in 1984 as a drama, not banned, although I can see why people thought that. It was graphic for the time.

What really surprised me was how many clips of commentary from the era I found about the programme, and the fact that it was shown in schools to children as young as ten. It was considered educational, intended to raise awareness about nuclear war. Threads now carries a 15 rating. Back in 1984, it aired just before age classifications for home viewing became law under the Video Recordings Act.

The idea that it was shown in schools to ten year old's as “educational” speaks volumes about Cold War urgency. As you can imagine, there were a lot of angry parents whose young children were deeply disturbed and upset after watching. The urgency of the era seemed to override any concern for emotional impact. There is also a lot of commentary available now, including clips and interviews from the time and later retrospectives, which show just how seriously the broadcast and the threat of war at the time was taken.