IT’S been many decades since air-raid sirens have wailed their warning in this country.
So it’s hard to imagine what impact they’d have today if a hard and real threat sent us scurrying for cover once again.
On Tuesday the residents of Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido Island were subjected to this ordeal after North Korea fired a ballistic missile, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, over their heads.
Messages reading ‘missile launch’ and ‘take refuge’ sprang up on mobile phones, sirens shrieked and electronic loudspeakers warned of an ‘imminent’ threat.
We can only imagine the consternation that must have caused, especially as no one knew the target until the missile disintegrated 730 miles out over the Pacific.
It was the latest and most outrageous in a series of provocations by a rogue nation with a dangerous and unpredictable leader.
Even China, which advocates diplomacy over war, has admitted that this action may be the ‘tipping point’.
Certainly, for the US, it’s probably the final straw.
Japan and South Korea, which is even more imperilled by its belligerent neighbour, are both close US allies.
The US Navy’s 7th Fleet is actually based in Japan, while America’s missile defence system is being installed in South Korea.
Only last week Mr Trump announced that his hardline approach to Pyongyang, including sanctions by the Chinese, was working.
Regrettably, it appears he was mistaken.
Now the UN Security Council has met in an emergency session and we are told “all options are on the table”.
These range from pressurising China to deal decisively with its wayward neighbour, to an all-out nuclear strike.
Dictator Kim Jon-Un is playing a dangerous game and the world looks on in trepidation.