The one catastrophe not mentioned in the list of threats below is civil war. Civil war will be covered in the next post – the warnings of Professor David Betz.
‘Prepare now’: Why world leaders are pushing everyday families to start emergency prepping
The US military is stockpiling months of supplies while the UK PM is buying up beans. Here’s why the world is quietly preparing for the worst.
Jamie Seidel, news.co.au 30 Oct 2026
Don’t panic. Farmers are warning of famine. Strategists are warning of sabotage. Banks are warning of financial chaos. Scientists are warning of rapid-fire climate shocks. Politicians are warning of “state-sponsored terrorism”. Tech executives are warning of uncontrollable AI agents.
It’s a recipe for disaster, disruption and disarray. If you’re not prepared. Governments know this.
“Don’t wait for the emergency: prepare now!” the French district of Normandy warned its population yesterday.
It’s facing a hyperthreat. That’s where compounding disasters – in this case riots, wildfires, sabotage, disinformation and inflation – overwhelm a government’s ability to react. Other nations see this coming.
“I do like my beans, so I have plenty of those in the cupboard, and soup,” Britain’s Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, quipped at the weekend.
“I think those are the kind of things that I would recommend people to have.”
Others are taking matters more seriously.
“We’ve navigated single-shot crises like the financial meltdown of 2008 and the pandemic of 2020. This next year will be different,” warns Axios CEO Jim VandeHei.
“The real risk is a chain reaction: One shock sets off others — faster than we can process, and caused by AI dynamics we don’t fully understand.”