Muse Booze

The British government would like you to keep three litres of water per person per day, food that needs no fridge or cooker, a torch, a wind-up radio, a power bank and a drawer of small notes in case the cards stop working. It presented this with the cheerful tone of a council reminding you about bin day, and the Prime Minister added that nobody should hoard, merely be alert but not alarmed, which is the phrase Whitehall reaches for when it has decided you can handle the list but not the reason for it. So do the government's job for it and read the list backwards. The water means the pumps have stopped. The cooker-free food means the gas has gone with the electricity. The radio means your phone is a paperweight. The cash means the banks are too. Nobody writes that list for a storm. You write it for a week in which the state has already worked out it cannot reach you. Two days later the Defence Secretary gave the country a thousand days to prepare to fight. Three days after that the Pentagon told its bases to survive ninety days without the civilian grid. Ninety for the generals, three for you, and a leaflet asking you not to worry about the difference.

European governments question why their taxpayers should keep pouring billions into the American defence industry while Washington undermines European security. European defence policy is shifting towards domestic production. Future weapons contracts will favour European manufacturers. For the United States, the consequences will be enormous. Over the next 20 years, American defence companies will miss tens of billions of dollars in contracts. Trump may occupy the White House for another two years. The industrial consequences of his presidency will last for decades. Europe’s money will build Europe’s security, industries and jobs.