Don't Panic!

Home Secretary John Reid, speaking in the House of Commons a few moments ago, announced that from 1st August the 'security threat alert' will be made public and revealed that it is currently
SEVERE
- we are not going to be adopting, it seems, the colour-coding used in the US, but the five stages of the threat ladder (reduced from seven under the old confidential classification) seem otherwise very similar.

Nothing very detailed yet on the BBC News Page (other than a headline ticker tape), although this has just appeared in the past few moments, or on the Home Office or MI5 websites.

In the news report from the BBC referred to above they are still quoting from the 7-stage list, but from 1st August the 5 will be (following Dr Reid's verbal statement in the Commons):
- Low (an attack is unlikely);
- Moderate (an attack is possible but not likely);
- Substantial (an attack is a strong possibility);
- Severe (an attack is likely);
- Critical (an attack is expected imminently).

All very interesting of course, but unlikely to change much in the lives of most people. I shall go on as usual - which for me means pouring myself another glass of rather lovely Puligny-Montrachet.