News3 mins ago
War Rationing.
7 Answers
If there was a 3rd world war, would there be rationing again?
I'm trying not to think of it as a nuclear war, but one as it would be today - but without the nukes. (Wishful thinking maybe.)
I'm trying not to think of it as a nuclear war, but one as it would be today - but without the nukes. (Wishful thinking maybe.)
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by MWB. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Food rationing would be introduced eventually as we import a lot of produce, and this inevitably would be affected by supply lines and disruption of the supply lines. In WW2 ships etc transporting goods and food supplies (about 50m tonnes per annum in the 1940�s) to the UK were prime bombing targets and this led to a potential future shortage, so rationing was introduced.
In any event where there is the potential for future shortage (i.e. stranded somewhere, holding out a fortress etc) rationing of food and water and many other necessities is a natural control to introduce in order to prolong and sustain existing supplies and the lives of the people who require them.
You only need to look at the source of the goods in your local supermarket to see how jiggered we would be, should the supply be diminished. We do not produce enough of our own resources to self-sustain the entire population for any particular length of time.
In any event where there is the potential for future shortage (i.e. stranded somewhere, holding out a fortress etc) rationing of food and water and many other necessities is a natural control to introduce in order to prolong and sustain existing supplies and the lives of the people who require them.
You only need to look at the source of the goods in your local supermarket to see how jiggered we would be, should the supply be diminished. We do not produce enough of our own resources to self-sustain the entire population for any particular length of time.
I agree with Octavius, as usual: Britain is no longer an agricultural country and doesn't produce enough food to feed its people. We'd all be eating spam and melting down our silk stockings to make parachutes. For all that, it's hard to imagine what a new war would consist of; the effect of creating the EU (quite deliberately) was to bind European countries so closely together that they could never afford to go to war with one another again. The conflictrs of the future are more likely to be economic, over water or oil supplies.
We would have major problems, since much of our food is imported, and of course, as Ethel says, fuel would be a major concern. We'd still have Bernard Matthews, of course, although probably much of the raw product is imported, but personally I'd rather become vegetarian and go back to 'Digging for Victory' than subject my family to that! Apart from that, with the way this government handles things in peacetime, I wouldn't hold out much hope for our chances of surviving adequately in wartime.