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Though if you click through to the Wikipedia page for the previous alert scheme it replaced, apparently the lowest "white" no-alert level under that was "known to have been used for periods between the Good Friday Agreement and the 9th of September 2001". Really, it's just a reflection of the times we're in right now.

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> Really, it's just a reflection of the times we're in right now.

How so? Looking at charts like [1] or [2] it seems current threat levels should be much lower than in the time before 2001. Notable terror attacks in the UK have gone from a regular occurance to a once-in-a-decade deal.

1: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6aa8066136b8b875fc4805...

2: https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/eca0e3ae8792b445038a7dd2...

The nature of the attacks is very different; the majority of historic deaths in those charts were of policemen and armed forces. It would be interesting to see similar charts with them excluded!

I think it's a bigger reflection of the fact that there is absolutely zero incentive to lower these alerts and that the police, who inform the threat level, generally benefit greatly from the "temporarily" expanded privileges from higher levels.

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