This week Sir Keir Starmer announced his resignation and Andy Burnham entered parliament tipped to take his place as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Meanwhile spending on nuclear weapons is expected to become 25% of the UK’s total military budget. Russia’s illegal war demonstrates the utter uselessness of nuclear weapons. Had Ukraine had them, they could not have been used to prevent Putin’s attack and Russia’s possession of them has not changed Ukraine’s four-year-long successful resistance.
It requires more than a change of PM to shift the mindset that calls nuclear weapons ‘security’ or ‘defence.’
Burnham still has vestiges of this colonial GREAT BRITAIN thinking. Sadly, he still uses the deluded ‘deterrence’ word to describe a suicidal threat of ending liveable life for half the planet.
He supported the 2016 parliamentary decision to build a new generation of submarine-launched nuclear weapons to replace those currently based at Faslane and Coulport.
He is silent about the US military recently basing their nuclear bombs in England.
As mayor of Manchester, he was supportive of the nuclear industry despite its dependence on overseas uranium mining, thousands of years of nuclear waste and links with the nuclear weapons industries.
His one positive intervention has been acknowledgment of the harm and injustice suffered by military employees exposed to the UK’s nuclear tests. Let’s see what transpires.
Meanwhile thank you for making the arguments against nuclear weapons where and when you can. Thank you for every time you put them in writing to your political representatives.
Scottish CND tends to celebrate the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in January when it entered into force but, if you feel like something to celebrate, you could plan something for July 7 when it was officially adopted in 2017.
Also, that day you can sign up free to an upcoming webinar hosted by
CND North East Scotland and Aberdeen Climate Action. Kate Whitaker (Friends of the Earth Scotland) and Professor Stuart Parkinson (Scientists for Global Responsibility) will explain the climate implications of militarism and war.
This time of the year, Scottish CND invites some of its member as well as activists from other organisations to contribute to a magazine promoting peace and disarmament.
We’re delighted to launch this year’s edition of Nuclear Free Scotland, available to read and download here.
If you would like a paper copy of Nuclear Free Scotland, please contact us at scnd@banthebomb.org with your address and we will post one to you.
Finally, Secure Scotland and Defend Our Juries are looking for people to don a Nessie costume at an event in Edinburgh very soon. If you’re interested, please contact Janet Fenton at janet@wordsandactions.scot.