At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s it seemed almost inevitable that a terrifying nuclear arms race would spread to all corners of the globe, threatening the future of humanity. That’s why the international community got together and agreed to ban nuclear weapons.
Fifty years on, almost all nations reject the need for nuclear weapons. Today only nine countries still possess them – in clear contravention of international law.
Greenpeace believes that only by cutting our nuclear addiction can we place nuclear materials under strong controls – and ensure they don’t get into the hands of terrorists and dictators.
Posted by jossc — 13 October 2010 at 9:57am
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In a letter in today’s Guardian 36 science professors are calling on the Prime Minister to protect core science funding - by cutting government investment in developing new nuclear weapons. We asked Stuart Parkinson, co-ordinator of the letter, to tell us what it’s all about...
As the announcement of the government’s spending review gets ever closer, the lobbying to defend this or that area of public spending is becoming more and more intense.
Posted by Louise Edge — 21 September 2010 at 3:26pm
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Deputy leader Simon Hughes opposes Trident replacement: "the case is winnable and we must not yield."
Monday and Tuesday at conference have been a bit of a rollercoaster for Team Trident.
Political conferences, stuffed as they are with politicians and media types, are always awash with rumours. And as we followed the speeches, the press coverage, the tweets and just plain old chatted to people we swayed between pessimism and optimism.
Posted by Louise Edge — 20 September 2010 at 12:08pm
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Greetings from a bustling Liberal Democrat party conference in Liverpool! Team Trident (aka Simon, Zoe and me) are here to talk to people about one of the big issues of the day – whether or not the coalition government proceeds with hugely expensive plans for a new generation of nuclear weapons in the midst of the biggest cuts to public spending in living memory.
Posted by jossc — 19 July 2010 at 3:52pm
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HMS Vanguard, Britain's first Trident submarine
No one has been more insistent that Britain must commit to replacing Trident than new defence secretary Liam Fox. Despite the lack of credible targets and the exorbitant cost, Dr Fox has fought doggedly for a new generation of nuclear weapons to protect Britain from "nuclear blackmail" by other states - apparently North Korea (possibly four missiles at most) and Iran (none at all) give him palpitations and sleepless nights.
But now, in a deliciously ironic twist, Dr Fox is being asked to put his department's money where his mouth is. Traditionally the Treasury pays for the capital investment in nuclear weapons, but such is the pressure to cut-back on government spending across the board that the Chancellor is now keen that the MoD should foot the bill instead.
Posted by jossc — 23 June 2010 at 12:37pm
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While George Osborne was busy launching the most swingeing budget cuts in a generation yesterday, he went out of his way to stress that he was being "tough but fair" – and that the pain of his austerity measures would be shared by everyone.
But hey - apparently companies involved in nuclear arms building wont be sharing the pain. This was made clear by new Defence Secretary Liam Fox when he presented his plans for a Strategic Security and Defence Review (SDSR) to parliament.
Posted by Louise Edge — 5 May 2010 at 12:20pm
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Edinburgh Greenpeace members with local MP Mark Lazarowicz
Over the last six weeks Greenpeace campaigners and active supporters have been energetically campaigning to raise the level of debate about proposals to spend £97bn on new nuclear weapons.
Together we’ve been lobbying candidates, writing to newspapers, polling people on the streets and doing much, much more behind the scenes - helping to make nuclear weapons an election issue for the first time in decades.
Posted by jossc — 21 April 2010 at 3:08pm
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What interesting times we're living in. The unexpected Lib-Dem surge has made this election impossible to call, and at the same time forced both Labour and the Tories to debate questions which they'd far rather ignore. How do they intend to pay down our frighteningly large national debt, for example?
Nick Clegg put the spotlight squarely on Trident in last week's leaders' debate, arguing that £100bn to replace a Cold War relic that has no military value makes little sense at the best of times, let alone when we're facing financial meltdown.
Posted by jossc — 15 April 2010 at 4:29pm
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In the latest addition to our Cut Trident video wall, comedian and impressionist extraordinaire Alistair McGowan muses on alternative ways to spend the £97bn that the government is currently
planning to blow on new nuclear weapons.
Posted by Louise Edge — 8 April 2010 at 4:53pm
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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.
