This Means War How Resilient or Prepared is Enough?
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Apr 15, 2026 Lord Toby Harris, chair of the National Preparedness Commission and long-time UK security advocate. He discusses shifting from Just-in-Time to Just-in-Case planning. Short takes cover how other countries model preparedness, political and Treasury barriers to long-term investment, the need for whole-of-society planning, and why honest public conversations and realistic exercises matter.
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Resilience Is Recovery Plus Learning
- Resilience means more than recovery; it includes learning and building back better after shocks.
- Toby Harris frames preparedness as societal instinct: organize so individuals and institutions know what to do when unexpected events occur.
Border States Make Preparedness A Civic Duty
- Countries bordering hostile powers embed preparedness across society so businesses and citizens see it as a duty.
- Finland is given as an example where decades of planning made resilience part of national culture and private responsibility.
Novichok Revealed Critical Contingency Gaps
- The Novichok incident exposed hidden fragility when many emergency vehicles were scrapped due to contamination.
- A senior civil servant warned a mass contamination on the London Underground would have been extremely difficult to manage.