The ongoing war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis dominate people’s fears. According to a regular Government poll that tracks public opinions and social trends in the UK, 78% of adults were worried about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and 74% about the rising cost of living.
That has outstripped people's immediate fears about the environment (55%), new coronavirus variants (47%), and the impact of the pandemic on their lives at present (36%). The Ukraine war - as well as contributing to the cost of living crisis by driving up fuel and energy costs - has raised the chilling prospect of World War III, and pushed relations with Russia back to the days of the Cold War.
The terrifying vision of all-out nuclear war has even been raised by threats emanating from the Kremlin. Dmitry Kiselov - the Russian TV presenter sometimes referred to as President Vladimir Putin’s “mouthpiece” - warned an underwater missile hitting the UK would produce a 500m-high tsunami and leave the nation as a “radioactive desert”.
