Cat Finnie

I haven't had a chance to read this BBC article until now as I've been busy all day, but allegations of government doom-mongering aside, I am a bit of a civil defence/resilience nerd. A few things caught my eye: "An example of this is the new communication system being adopted by the emergency services, which will replace radio comms with mobile phone network technology, says Lord Harris, 'so if the mobile phone goes down it will also impact on emergency services communications'." The system the Beeb is referring to here is ESN (Emergency Services Network - known within policing as "ESWhen?"), which is supposed to be replacing the old system, Airwave. I used Airwave in a previous life, and even back then we were being told ESN was imminently coming (it's currently nine years late). But I digress… ESN is built on EE Business commercial 4G/5G mobile infrastructure, whereas Airwave uses dedicated TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) technology, which is seen as outdated. Which do you think will be the more reliable option in an emergency? Well, the one we’re getting rid of, of course. In essence, if 4G/5G were to go down post-ESN rollout (whenever that happens), the emergency services would lose all ability to communicate effectively and quickly. Madness. "The current urgency for disaster planning is coming at an interesting moment for technology we used to rely on. The UK's copper wire landline system - which would work even in a power cut - will be switched off on 31 January 2027." Why are we ditching the copper wire landline system? It clearly serves a purpose in the event of failure of other systems. I keep saying that analogue systems work when digital systems fail. Cash works when cards don't. Landline telephones work when mobile phones are down (assuming it's not a power issue). Many such examples. Why on earth are we ditching a reliable system - one which can withstand even a power cut - like the copper wire landline? "The future of FM radio is also under government review." Again, why?! We've already ditched long wave (in June of this year, when BBC Radio 4's long wave service on 198 kHz officially ceased transmissions). We know that FM will work when DAB and internet radio don't. During the post-Cold War optimism of the 1990s and 2000s, we dismantled pretty much our entire civil defence/contingency infrastructure in Britain - a terrible decision in hindsight. But we know that the legacy analogue systems we still have (such as copper wire telephone systems and FM radio) will still serve us well when all our exciting modern technology fails us. So why in God's name are we getting rid of these systems? I often think about public warning systems. When we dismantled all our civil defence infrastructure, we physically removed our air raid sirens (alongside leaving bunkers to rot, among other things). But that's not a problem, right? Because now we have the "Emergency Alerts" system (which I, perhaps controversially, support - if it's not misused by the state). But that, much like the new ESN, will only work if 4G/5G works! We have myriad professionals working within the civil contingencies and preparedness arena in government - why is, as it seems, nobody thinking of this stuff?