AT this time of Brexit and Project Fear, we seem to overlook a potentially more worrying and neglected aspect of our future wellbeing which could affect our lives in a far more dramatic way.

I refer more particularly to our total reliance on electricity.

Take, for example, the likely prospect of banks discontinuing cheques with many shops now refusing to accept them and some shops even refusing cash payments in favour of debit and credit cards.

The corollary for this is the assumption of an unlimited availability and uninterruptible electricity supply.

Buying and selling today relies totally on the availability of an electrical supply.

On the day of the last general election, Russian hackers hacked our power stations and harvested an unknown quantity of information.

The only possible reason for doing this is to enable them at some future date to possibly disable them.

When you consider that the UK is Europe’s pre-eminent line of defence (something overlooked by our negotiators and the EU) against an increasingly aggressive and well-armed Russia, one could understand Russia’s logic in first disabling us, leaving Europe at its mercy.

We are living in unprecedented and unpredictable times. During the last war, most homes had coal fires and were supplied by local gas companies and local coal fired power stations, unlike today when we rely on a very few ageing power stations.

Even then, we were not self sufficient for food, but at least we had a large mercantile marine fleet and a navy capable of defending it.

This is no longer the case. Today, we have minimal food reserves which are supplied, just as our motor industry, on a just-in-time basis. The same goes for our gas and oil supplies where we have very limited reserves.

Our pursuit of everything electronic and internet based is all very well, but what if it stops working because of a lack of electricity?

Today, the high street is dying and local independent food retailers are few and far between. Just imagine what a prolonged power cut would do.

That governments have been neglectful in providing a secure and reliable power supply, not to mention an adequate defence capability, is an understatement.

We are but a light switch away from anarchy.

We carry on complacently as if life will just go on as before but what if it doesn’t?

What, I ask, is Bury’s plan B? I would invite the council to inform us of their arrangements for such an eventuality so at least we, the public, would have some idea?

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