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News from our live data
Short, sourced stories from the trackers we run every day: power cuts, fuel, weather and floods, the harvest and health. Each one links to its figures and to the official sources behind them.
For journalists: this page updates whenever our trackers move. Figures by area, network or month on request from hello@preparedbritain.co.uk.
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The record El Niño and Britain's winter: what 75 years of Met Office data show
We put every strong El Niño since 1950 against the Met Office's own rainfall and temperature records, then added what our trackers read today. One pattern holds, and it is not snow.
18 October 2026, 12:00
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The full picture, for your home
Each week, what's happening across Britain set against your own address: your water company, your power network, fuel for your car and the gaps in your kit. Free for your own home. Opening in October; the first 100 on the list get in first.
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Only 4 in 100 adults have three days of bottled water at home, the government's survey shows
The government's own 2026 preparedness survey of 10,791 UK adults asked people to count the litres of bottled drinking water they keep at home. Set against their household size at 3 litres a person a day, 4% had three days' worth or more and 82% had less than one day. Asked a simpler tick-box question, 37% said they had three days. What else the survey found on food, torches, radios and power banks, what stops people, how it differs by nation and area, and the cheap ways to close the gap.
21 October 2026, 13:45
Food inflation held at 1.3%. Wholesale cabbage and cauliflower are up a third. Both are true
UK inflation rose to 3.5% in September from 3.1%, with motor fuels the biggest push. Food inflation did not move: 1.3% for the third month running, the lowest since 2021. At the wholesale markets of England and Wales, white cabbage is 35% dearer than a year ago and cauliflower 33%, though most of that is last autumn's low prices. What each figure shows, what has really moved, and what nobody can yet say.
21 October 2026, 09:51
Aldi recall: shoppers warned of hairdryer electric shock or fire risk. How to check yours
Aldi is recalling one hairdryer: the Ambiano Ionic Hairdryer, model 849855, in black, white, yellow and orange, sold in August and September 2025. The Office for Product Safety and Standards rates the risk high: over time the power cord may become damaged, exposing live parts or overheating. The four barcodes to check on the underside, how the refund works, what the notice does not cover, and how to check any appliance you own against a recall.
21 October 2026, 06:09
No planning permission needed for cross-pavement EV chargers: what changes in England
From 21 October 2026, a cable channel under the pavement for charging a car parked on the street no longer needs planning permission in England, as long as the council installs or authorises it. What changed, what still needs the council, and where it doesn't apply.
21 October 2026, 04:45
Massive Google outage crashes banking apps: the cash and numbers to keep offline at home
A power fault in one London zone of Google Cloud ran from 07:08 to about 15:00 on Tuesday 20 October and took banking apps, a budgeting app and the courts' video platform down for parts of the day. Google says it has been mitigated for most customers. What was confirmed, what was only user reports, and what the day says about keeping a second way to pay.
20 October 2026, 17:14
Storm Austen named: first storm of the season, 70mph gusts possible late Thursday into Friday
The Met Office named Storm Austen at 10:45 on Tuesday 20 October, the first named storm of the 2026/27 season. It expects disruptive wind and rain from late Thursday into Friday, with gusts above 70mph possible on exposed coasts and 20 to 30mm of rain in many places. On 21 October it issued an amber wind warning for Devon and Cornwall from 3am to 10am on Friday and extended the yellow warning.
20 October 2026, 17:04
65% of Shell-branded forecourts charge £2 for diesel. Almost no supermarket forecourt does
UK average diesel has been under £2 a litre on Fuel Finder since 8 October, and the share of forecourts charging £2 or more has fallen from a third to a quarter in eight days. The average hides a split by brand. On 20 October, 449 of the 689 Shell-branded forecourts reporting a diesel price, 65%, still charged 200p or more; off the motorway it was 64%. Of 1,208 forecourts branded Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's or Morrisons, 3 did. Shell, BP and Esso together are four in five of every forecourt still at £2. Where they are, what it costs a tank, and why the sign is not the whole story.
20 October 2026, 08:13
Union claims strike by offshore workers could disrupt fuel supplies: what Unite, Apache and our forecourt data say
The 24-hour strike by more than 160 Apache offshore workers went ahead from 6am on Wednesday 21 October. The government says it does not expect any disruption to fuel supplies, and our forecourt data shows prices flat since the strike was called. Here is what each side says, what the pipeline carries, what our data shows today, and why there is no reason to fill up early.
19 October 2026, 13:58
UK drivers warned of fines for car heater mistake in winter: what you can actually be fined for
Regional papers are warning drivers of fines for a car heater mistake this winter. There is no offence of using the heater. The fines quoted are the careless and dangerous driving penalties, which apply if tiredness leads to poor driving. Here is what is true, and the winter fines that do exist.
19 October 2026, 13:50
Storm Austen expected to bring very strong winds: amber warning for Devon and Cornwall
The Met Office has issued an amber warning for wind for Storm Austen, covering Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and Plymouth from 3am to 10am on Friday 23 October, with gusts of 60 to 70mph widely and around 80mph on exposed headlands. The yellow wind warning now runs from midnight to 2pm on Friday and covers 23 council areas in England, Kent now included, and 16 in Wales. Here is the full list, what the Met Office expects, and what to do before Thursday night
19 October 2026, 13:30
Diesel prices are easing, except at motorway services, now 17p a litre dearer
Diesel at motorway services averaged 216.0p a litre on 15 October, against 198.6p at every other forecourt. The 17.4p gap is the widest since our Fuel Finder series began on 24 September, and it widened by 3.0p in a week while the average elsewhere eased. UK average diesel is back under £2, at 199.0p, and the share of forecourts charging £2 or more has fallen by a quarter in under two weeks. On a 55-litre tank the motorway gap is £9.57 for diesel and £10.18 for petrol.
16 October 2026, 11:48
No water company will give a date for lifting its hosepipe ban. Here is what it would take
Ten English water companies still have hosepipe bans in mid-October, and none will give a date for lifting them. England has had 10% of its usual October rain so far and its reservoirs are at 54%. The National Drought Group says 120% of typical rainfall over seven months is needed for every area to leave drought; the companies say only that recovery takes autumn and winter. The Met Office gives double the normal chance of a wet October to December, but says it is too early to call drought relief.
15 October 2026, 18:30
El Niño has set a new record. Here is what the last three giants did to Britain's winters
NOAA's weekly El Niño reading has set a new high for the third week running, and its July–September index value is the highest for those months since 1950. Britain's weather records show what the last three giant events did here: a cold February in 1983, a record-warm February in 1998, and a flooded December with three named storms in 2015. Three cases are not a forecast.
15 October 2026, 11:40
England's barley and oat harvests are the smallest since 2012, Defra figures show
Defra's provisional estimates give England its smallest barley and oat harvests since 2012 after a hot, dry growing season. Feed, fertiliser and wholesale vegetable prices are up on a year ago, while shop food prices rose 1.3% in the year to August.
15 October 2026, 09:10
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