Talk:UK Threat Levels

Notability
Today Her Majesty's Government has published the fact the Irish Republican terrorist threat level has risen from Moderate for Substantial. Should this be included in a new section? BritishWatcher (talk) 15:24, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Personally I think the section that we already have about what it was on what day is unencyclopaedic bollocks, so I wouldn't bother.
 * Essentially it lacks context so it conveys no useful information to the casual reader.
 * ALR (talk) 16:58, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Threat status is notable. BritishWatcher (talk) 17:05, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
 * What evidence have you got for the Threat level itself being notable? The concept and system probably just crosses the GNG threshold, but for individual threat levels I would disagree.
 * ALR (talk) 21:28, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Immediately following this announcement by the Home Office, Google News shows at least 20 articles discussing the increase of the Threat Level, from leading news providers including BBC, ITV, Sky, The Sun and The Express in the UK, and CNN, Business Today, USA Today, Irish Times and New Zealand Herald internationally. I think this indicates that the individual current level itself IS notable
 * Artemgy (talk) 15:34, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I disagree, but then I actually understand the subject...
 * And in future don't remove another users comments from a discussion.
 * ALR (talk) 16:38, 22 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I do not understand the subject, or its implications. You say you do. Please can you explain what those implications are, with specific detail on the meaning of 'minimise vulnerability and risk' in the case of the 'Exceptional' response to a Critical threat? By analogy, if Moodys or Standard and Poor downgrade a nation's credit status there are immediate and direct implications, and restrictions, on borrowing, therefore spending on vital public services are directly compromised. By implication, are there any public service issues with threat levels? For example, if the Tory govt was able to raise the threat level to Critical, could they declare a state of emergency, effectively repealing democracy itself? It seems to me that at the very least they could enforce a permanent nightly curfew and deny the right to an election on the ground that any such assembly of the public puts that public at risk! It seems to me that this mechanism is just one notch away from a potential for serious and dramatic abuses of power, given that we've already been at Severe level for over half a year, and today, as I write this, there is a warning that the threat's nature may become “enormous and spectacular” according to a statement publicly released by Scotland Yard's assistant commissioner Mark Rowley today. Given this, it is hard to see what could be declared next, short of Critical. Can you explain how we are protected, assuming there IS any protection, from a state likely worse than these terrorists themselves can inflict?31.51.98.34 (talk) 00:34, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

History
Personally I think the section that we already have about what it was on what day is unencyclopaedic bollocks, so I wouldn't bother.
 * ALR (talk) 16:58, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure whether its relevant to keep the History section, so I made the data source clear and leave that decision to someone wiser than I
 * Artemgy (talk) 15:34, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

As someone unfamiliar with the system, does the history section mean that the threat level was "severe" or whatever __on that day__, or does it mean that the threat level was __changed__ on that day (and stayed that way)? This is unclear, to me anyway. If anyone happens to know -- it's worth adding! 87.78.155.192 (talk) 01:39, 8 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The dates are of changes --Rumping (talk) 00:34, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Connection between Threat Level and DEFCON
I'm not too sure that the UK Threat Levels would be the direct British equivalent of DEFCON. DEFCON is more related to nuclear war while threat UK Threat Levels relate to terrorism. Puppier (talk) 16:39, 4 May 2014 (UTC)


 * I was just about to post the same thing. The UK Threat Levels would be the direct British equivalent of the (no longer used) Homeland Security Advisory System, not DEFCON levels. Both the UK Threat Levels and Homeland Security Advisory System deal with the likelihood of a terrorist attack, while DEFCON is an alert state regarding military preparedness. -AnonWikiEditor (talk) 21:57, 29 August 2014 (UTC)