The fire-gutted remains of homes on Quarry Park Road on 17 August in Stourbridge, England after a wildfire that broke out across the West Midlands. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty
Government resilience campaign aims to ensure people can cope in a national disaster, in order to free resources for most vulnerable
UK citizens will be told to stock up on tinned food and take steps to ensure they are prepared for national emergencies as part of a new government campaign to improve the nation’s resilience.
The new campaign from the Cabinet Office will set out ways people can prepare for and potential attacks from hostile states, including stocking up on bottled water, sources told the Guardian.
The aim will be to ensure most households have basic supplies and knowledge about how to cope in a crisis, in order to free up immediate government resources for the most vulnerable.
Translation by dizzy: The government wants you to stock up for when the shelves are empty caused by climate change – the long dry summer has decimated agricultural produce.
Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
Mill Creek Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Louisville, Kentucky, is seen on February 14, 2026 in Elizabeth, Indiana. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
One critic of the president recently said that he’s “forcing higher power bills” on Americans while “fattening the wallets of his cronies—all with billions of our tax dollars.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has dedicated over $1 billion to boosting the coal industry, and on Thursday announced a report about reserves beneath federally managed public lands, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claiming that the polluting fossil fuel “is more important than ever to the production of electricity.”
“These 34 coal mines control more than 4.2 billion short tons of reported coal reserves. Most of the coal mines (31) and more than 98% of the reported coal reserves are on federal lands west of the Mississippi River,” according to the report. “Of all the states, Wyoming has the most coal mines on federal lands (14) and produces the most coal from federal lands.”
“The USGS estimates that more than 355 billion short tons of available coal resources remain beneath federal lands in the conterminous United States,” the document details. “Alaska contains substantial quantities of coal resources. The USGS estimates that Alaska has at least 140 billion short tons of identified available coal resources but may ultimately have as much as 5.5 trillion short tons of coal resources.”
A US Department of the Interior statement announcing the report highlights that if the reserves accounted for in the document were produced, “that would be enough coal to supply all the nation’s needs for at least 600 years at the current rate of consumption.”
Scientists have long argued that the international community must stop burning coal—plus oil and gas—to prevent a worst-case scenario future as the planet’s inhabitants already face a fossil fuel-driven climate emergency and its relatedextreme weather.
However, climate crisis-denying Trump—who returned to the White House backed by Big Oil’s campaign cash—and his Cabinet have spent his second term pushing polluting sources of energy, particularly as his illegal war on Iran drives up global prices, with oil surpassing $100 per barrel on Thursday.
Staying on message, Burgum declared in Interior’s Thursday statement that “American Energy Dominance is more important than ever, and so is beautiful clean coal’s role in the production of electricity needed to fuel our future prosperity.”
“Thanks to the USGS’s rigorous and independent assessment, we’re better equipped to manage America’s vast public lands responsibly while supporting energy security and economic opportunity,” he continued.
Sharing the statement on the social media platform Bluesky Thursday, sciencejournalist Emily Willingham said, “What an abuse of the USGS, the environment, and our intellects.”
An ore deposit geologist named Elizabeth also ripped the statement on Bluesky, writing: “There is a lot messed up with this press release, but the thing that bothers me the most is how poorly it is written. What an embarrassment!”
The USGS report came just two days after the Energy and Labor departments signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating a framework to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence, automation, and other emerging technologies in the mining sector.
Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said, “It is our commitment to you that this MOU will further President Trump’s promise to restore coal as a key driver of America’s energy supply chain and American coal will again be the envy of the world for generations to come.”
While attacking clean energy initiatives, including offshore wind projects, the administration “has bolstered coal, the dirtiest and most expensive fossil fuel,” The Guardian reported earlier this month.
According to the newspaper:
In September, the Department of Energy announced it would spend $625 million to “expand and extend the life of” coal-fired power plants, allocating $350 million to “modernize” coal plants, $175 million to fund coal projects powering rural communities, and $50 million to upgrade wastewater management systems to extend coal plants’ lifespans.
Last month, the agency also set aside up to $500 million from the Defense Production Act to “expand and reinvigorate” the capacity of 13 coal plants, and to help build a coal export terminal in Oakland, California. A week later, the department announced an additional $3.6 million to “refurbish or retrofit” nine existing coal plants.
Former Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a climate advocate and Trump critic, told the paper that the president is “forcing higher power bills” on Americans “by blocking clean energy, then he’s fattening the wallets of his cronies—all with billions of our tax dollars.”
“We pay more,” he said, “Republicans rubber-stamp it, and Trump’s donors walk off with the bag.”
Explainer by dizzy: Coal is regarded as an unnecessary, particularly highly-polluting fossil-fuel
Power-mad orange gasbag Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
The use of isolation, and in particular isolation booths, has become a growing source of concern among some parents. Picture posed by model. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images
Children with special educational needs more than twice as likely to be put in isolation, say Manchester researchers
One in 12 secondary pupils report being put into school isolation rooms at least once a week where they often spend in excess of eight hours, missing more than a full day of lessons, according to research.
Children with special educational needs were more than twice as likely to be placed in isolation, otherwise known as internal exclusion, while students from low-income backgrounds were also disproportionately affected.
Pupils on free school meals were more than one-and-a-half times more likely to be placed in isolation than their wealthier peers, researchers found from self-reported data provided by pupils.
Children who identified as LGBTQ+ were nearly twice as likely to be in isolation, while Black, Asian and mixed heritage children were also more likely to be in isolation than their white British peers, the research from the University of Manchester found.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
dizzy: While they are in a very vulnerable situation, I would suggest that pupils try to pursue their human rights in such circumstances. They should not be – but of course are – subjected to arbitrary punishment without a fair hearing and without being advised that they have any option to object, defend themselves or appeal. Human rights apply to all including school students.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
dizzy: This is a small excerpt (the closing paragraphs) of a long Guardian article by journalist Owen Jones. The whole article is recommended. Will these new laws lead to widespread challenges just as the proscription of Palestine Action has done? Is it too much to expect the arrogant Zionist Labour government to learn from it’s mistakes?
…
On the same day as the synagogue attack, the Israeli army killed at least 57 Palestinians in Gaza – another hideous tally in two years of daily atrocities that have left tens of thousands dead. British politicians and media outlets have barely concealed the lack of value they attach to Palestinian life. It is among the most brazen expressions of racism of our time. One wonders how history will judge this moment: politicians are accusing people who are protesting against genocide of inciting hatred, while they are supporting those who are committing genocide.
Our government has already crossed a dangerous threshold by proscribing Palestine Action, a non-violent, anti-genocide direct action group. More than 2,000 British protesters have been arrested, mostly for holding placards opposing genocide and supporting the banned organisation. Many of them are pensioners; one is a retired priest, another the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. When the state begins calling movements “terrorism” when they are nothing of the sort, it is attacking democracy itself.
It’s not hard to see where this all leads. In the US, Democrats helped to demonise pro-Palestinian protests: the former house speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that some were “connected to Russia”, while Joe Biden called such protests antisemitic. In doing so, they only helped to legitimise the authoritarian crackdown on such protests – and on freedom of expression in general – under Donald Trump. If Nigel Farage becomes prime minister, a hard-right government would be granted sweeping powers to control dissent. What do you think a Reform government would do with this repressive toolkit? Our ancestors struggled, suffered and died to secure our freedoms. We will come to rue how casually we let them go.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREPalestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Keir Starmer warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog.
I wanted to point out that I am not associated with the Labour MPs rebelling over severe cuts to benefits that will throw many disabled people into poverty other than supporting their objectives. I wish them luck and expect that they will be jobless come next election if they stick with Starmer & Co and their evil policies.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.