The last time the British people were this concerned with Crimea was the winter of 1854. British troops had been sent there, along with the French, to defend the Ottoman sultan from the predations of Russian Czar Nicholas I.
Fighting far away from their usual supply lines, British soldiers froze to death, not for lack of supplies but for lack of competence. Vital supplies went down with ships sunk by winter storms or sat idle in the harbor at Balaclava while men died on the heights above. Despite spending on what was needed, the bureaucracy couldn’t deliver to those in need.