Trident

Trident: the elephant in the cuts 'debating room'

Posted by Louise Edge — 8 April 2010 at 4:53pm - Comments

Cuts, cuts, cuts! – the papers are full of debate about the budget, whether it was radical enough, what cuts different political parties are going to make if they get elected, what should be protected, what should be axed, when they should act…

Yet so far our politicians are missing the easiest cut of all. Cutting plans to waste money on new nuclear weapons which, as last year's In the Firing Line investigation revealed, will cost UK taxpayers a shocking £97 billion over the next 30 years.

What are your election candidates saying about climate change?

Posted by jamie — 7 April 2010 at 10:36am - Comments

Election time is here again © CC Rodrigo Ono

And we're off! The election campaign is officially underway, although in practice it's been rumbling away for months. Listening to the news over the past few days, the political commentators seem certain that it's currently anyone's guess as to who will form the next government: Labour, the Tories or (whisper it) a coalition.

This uncertainty is no bad thing. For a start, it makes the process much more interesting, but it also means that with no party certain of victory, constituents have a chance to influence their parliamentary candidates' stances on various issues, particularly if they're in one of the key marginal constituencies which will decide the election. It's not a fair system but for the time being, we have to work with what we've got.

Darling's budget: green shoots but only a little green growth

Posted by jossc — 25 March 2010 at 4:06pm - Comments

The chancellor promises £1bn for clean energy projects, but much more will be needed

Although heavily trailed by the chancellor’s supporters as an environmental budget, in the end it turned out to be a lot less than a comprehensive green win.

Despite Mr Darling’s assurances that he gets the need for tougher carbon reduction targets, he backed away from raising fuel duty and found more money for motorways under pressure from road lobbyists.

Reduce nuclear arms, set an example

Posted by jossc — 22 March 2010 at 4:38pm - Comments

Sandra Butcher, senior program coordinator, international secretariat, Pugwash. This article first appeared in Comment is Free on Monday 22 March.

 

Gordon Brown told the Foreign Press Association in London on Friday that he would highlight the upcoming "moments of opportunity and challenge". He said we "must now urgently do more to build upon that brief moment of collective international will", and he reminded us that "global problems need global solutions".

Despite this rhetoric, and earlier UK statements promoting the ultimate goal of a nuclear weapons-free world, in reality Brown's comments on nuclear weapons were tepid, sadly leaving him in some ways behind the Tory party lines as discussed by shadow foreign minister David Lidington last week at the Royal Society. There was certainly no sign that Brown intends to encourage his government to show transformative leadership in this area.

Army chief sees no need to replace Trident

Posted by Louise Edge — 11 March 2010 at 2:54pm - Comments

Trident: replacement costs are spiralling out of control

Former chief of defence staff, Lord Guthrie, said last night that the UK should consider cutting plans to replace the Trident nuclear missile system and build the UK’s largest ever aircraft carriers.

In a speech at the centre-right thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, he said there was a gaping hole at the heart of Britain's military budget which was "too big to massage, to trim, to rely on efficiency savings and prayer". Britain, he added, faced a "moment of decision" in shaping a new defence strategy.

Video: that Parliamentary projection in full...

Posted by jossc — 8 December 2009 at 6:44pm - Comments

Peace campaigner Louise gives us all a quick behind the scenes look at how to successfully project a slogan onto the Houses of Parliament...

Trident - a financial projection from Greenpeace

Posted by jossc — 8 December 2009 at 12:13pm - Comments

What a pain it must be to be in charge of the nation's finances in these challenging economic times. It's easy to imagine the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, working feverishly into the night in a frantic attempt to make the sums at least appear to add up as he prepares for tomorrow's crucial pre-budget report. But what to cut when everything is a 'tough choice' - education, the NHS, or the unthinkable alternative - raising taxes?

Brown proposes paltry Trident cut

Posted by Louise Edge — 23 September 2009 at 4:17pm - Comments

With great fanfare and just ahead of the Labour party conference Gordon Brown has launched his contribution to nuclear disarmament on the world – reducing the number of Trident replacement submarines from four to three.

Will champagne corks be popping in the living rooms of peace campaigners across the land tonight? Well, while it may seem churlish to criticise any positive noises being made about nuclear disarmament, the answer is a resounding no. When you look behind the spin at exactly what has been announced it's clear there's little to celebrate.

£97 billion for Trident: five times government estimates

Posted by Louise Edge — 18 September 2009 at 7:35am - Comments

This week's news has been dominated by debate about the dire economic outlook facing the nation, and the likely severity of the cutbacks we'll need to make to pay down our now massive national debt. Ministers wring their hands about it but can't escape the reality that Britain plc needs to make cuts across the board - unless, of course, it's weapons of mass destruction that are under discussion.

Trident: wot no parliamentary debate?

Posted by Louise Edge — 16 July 2009 at 1:43pm - Comments

In recent months it has become increasingly clear that the UK has a massive hole in its national budget and whoever comes to power after the next election is going to have to slash government spending. The debate about what should be cut has just begun, but already emerging at the top of many people's lists (certainly mine) is the planned £76bn replacement of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

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