COPY OF OBSERVER ARTICLE Dec 12th:
MILLENNIUM BUG PANIC WARNING
Start hoarding now, government agency tells families
by Nicole Veash
Britons have been warned to stock up with two weeks emergency food
rations
in anticipation of millennium bug-related shortages.
The statement by Gwynneth Flower, head of the Government's
millennium bug
taskforce Action 2000, is certain to cause severe embarrassment to
Labour,
which has repeatedly assured the public that food and power
supplies will
not be affected by computer problems at the turn of the
millennium.
Action 2000, however, is advising every household to take sensible
precautions against the millennium bug by buying in an extra
supply of
long-life foodstuffs in the direst warning yet of a potential
millennium
meltdown.
In an unprecedented statement indicating the level of panic in
official
circles, the Department of Trade and Industry-funded task force,
charged
with minimising potential damage caused by the bug, has said that
contingency planning for a worst-case scenario should start as
soon as
possible.
"We are talking about people having a judicious amount of surplus
food in
their kitchen cupboards. Anyone sensible would plan for this,"
said Flower.
"Because we don't want to see panic buying in the weeks leading up
to next
Christmas, consumers should think about this in advance."
Flower's warning has emerged amid increasing concern over the
impact of the
millennium bug - a computer code anomaly that will not allow many
of the
world's computers and a substantial percentage of computer chips
to
function properly when their internal clocks reach 2000.
Despite repeated assurances that the bug will be ironed out, it
has now
emerged that large numbers of government, utilities and corporate
computer
systems that Control every aspect of our lives will not be ready
for the
turn of the century. According to Action 2000 the Government will
issue a
leaflet either next spring or summer, explaining what sort of food
people
should keep in their stockpile.
"Tins, dried foods and grains will be very useful," Flower said.
"Cans of
soup, maybe half a dozen curries, tuna and packets of biscuits.
Long-life
milk would also be a good idea, although we wouldn't advise people
to
stockpile water.
"We are talking about the sort of common sense provision that you
would
automatically do to ensure against any potential emergency."
Despite Action 2000's advice, most of the major supermarkets are
not
planning to buy increased stocks of long-life products.
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury said: "We feel fairly confident that
everything
will be normal next year. Much of our millennium preparation is
going on
alcohol because we think people will be drinking more. We are
renting an
extra 400,000 sq ft of warehouse space for all that surplus
booze."
Jon Woolven, research director of the Institute of Grocery
Distribution,
said: "The millennium is going to be a considerable logistic
challenge for
retailers and manufacturers."
British pressure groups, including the Conservatives' own
Taskforce 2000
and the Institute for Social Inventions, are also advising the
public to
stock up with dried and tinned food, toiletries, household
products and
cash. And they suggest people should save large plastic drinks
bottles to
fill with water nearer the date, in case water supplies are
affected.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office, which co-ordinates millennium
bug
prevention, said: "We are very surprised at the advice from Action
2000 and
the Government disagrees with their analysis.
"The food and electricity industries are among the most prepared
sectors in
the country and they are investing heavily to ensure that delivery
and
output of their products will not be adversely affected by the
year 2000."
Meantime Helen Caldecutt (?spelling) is in USA trying to
get all superpowers to defuse their deep underground nuclear
missiles because they may go off because the millennium
bug could upset their computerised mechanism.
When will they ever learn. And lets just guess what is going
to happen with famines that result from Monsanto's Terminator
gene in developing countries.
MC and HYN to all.
--
- sent via an evaluation copy of BulkRate (unregistered).
end
==============
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
As vilified, slandered and attacked by One Nation
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
