Just screenshot lots of ‘martial law’ tweets from today. Observations:

A lot of question marks used - a lot of instant reaction - and some sceptical pushback, including refs to army delivering PPE, and covering firefighters’ strike in 1977. But more fearful scenario-airing.

No refs to the big 70s scare re troops stopping traffic around Heathrow in 1974, which was an antiterror security op according to government; a sinister rehearsal according to others. (It was 4 months after Pinochet’s coup, which shook the British left.)

In the 70s, that Heathrow flap, & the use of troops in NI, were seen by some as ominous harbingers of the army being deployed against British pickets, maybe of a coup. Today, use of troops to free up police is being cast by some as a prelude to martial law after Brexit New Year.

One way to read this might be that in periods of flux and uncertainty, multiple worries fuse into nightmare scenarios. But that these are expressive of a broader anxiety as much as they are actual predictions.