Situation Heightened

Amber isn't really the colour of danger, is it? Unless you're a fly about to be trapped in it. If a starship goes onto amber alert it probably means mood music playing in the turbolifts. It's hardly blaring alarms and shrieks of "so this is it, we're going to die."

Meanwhile, black is not a reassuring colour. It's the colour of death and funerals, not situation normal. So you have to wonder why the former three-stage Government Alert State System went Black (look out for terrorists), Black Special (terrorists have been spotted) and Amber (the person next to you is a terrorist and he's fiddling with his shoes). I believe the last time we were at Amber was shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

Someone has finally woken up to the non-intuitive nature of the alert system and replaced it with Normal, Heightened and Exceptional. For the record, we are now at Heightened.

It still reminds me of the moment in Red Dwarf where Rimmer, having declared blue alert (the word "alert" lights up, in blue) decides to go to red alert instead. Kryten asks: "Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb."