UK adopting US-style threat levels

Hmm. I'm very cynical about this move. The UK has adopted 5 threat levels (current level is SEVERE - the second highest). Do you have a vague feeling of disquiet or even dread? Good, then it's working. Is it going to make the UK safer, probably not.

So what really is the purpose of it? Well, like I said, I'm pretty cynical about this. Attempting to inspire a constant feeling of dread in a populace is best left to the Daily Mail. It's also counter-productive because there's always another threat - did Bird Flu just go away?

So far this information seems to be limited to websites. Which means unless your really crazy and check them all the time (luckily no RSS yet) you'll eventually forget about it. Let's hope the UK doesn't adopt terrorist-ometers in airports, train stations and outside government buildings, because that's really not going to reassure anyone.