nuclear war

[Sekwo]

its the cessation of normal life that will snuff most of the out, the ones that arent in the kill zone that is.

My current thinking, is that following a series of exchanges, that the US and UK will have no effective government, emergency services, health service or law enforcement for the first month.

a month? heck most non preppers would be dead or dying within that time frame.
no food for 3 weeks, no water for 3 days, no health services.

After a nuclear explosion, the most common injury is going to be burns. As I said, no medical help for the first month, and likely no comms either. So you've got to deal with serious burning with no medical help, or perhaps another serious injury, with no medical help.

Try looking on any prepper site for any advice in that circumstance, and like me, you'll find it doesn't exist. Food is relatively easy ...a jumbo bag of pasta will easily keep you going. Water is more difficult, because the only water you'll know is clean water after a nuclear explosion, is that which has been bottled. And you need a minimum of 100l per person, just for the first month.

So, you buy 5 20litre containers for water ... and then you're in a fallout zone and have to leave. The roads are down ... the water is now useless because you can't carry it.