
I think I’ve got most events covered (been searching for oil hits $150 a barrel but could only find $40 and $200). But then what’s the point? I suppose if a government had any sense, they would have built up strategic reserves (like China and some others).
But then again what happens when you wait and wait, and nothing happens?
I attended some Cabinet Office workshops on X-risks in 2015. The group agreed that a pandemic was the most probable high impact event from a very long list. This was modelled but fell apart partly because they modelled the wrong kind of virus and partly because the Treasury – having been stung by stock piling Tamiflu many years before – refused to pay. Moreover, unlike farmers who plan for a bad year or hold some seed back, organisations tend to prioritise profits or costs savings in the short-term (jam today). Honestly, if we have trouble getting people to remember to buy flowers on Feb 13 for Feb 14, what hope have we got getting people to prepare for likely power cuts by buying candles and matches?

