Disarmament
Trident comes back up for air
It came as little surprise last Monday when parliament, with a stubborn Theresa May at the helm, voted to renew the UK’s infamous Trident nuclear weapons programme. Party-politics played a large part in the shallow motives of the vote, but are there wider issues at play? With only a decade left on their use-by labels, […]
Trident: A monument to Cold War hysteria?
This year Parliament will vote on whether or not to renew Trident, the UK’s independent nuclear defence system. Acquired under the Thatcher government, it was to act as a deterrent from any Soviet nuclear strike. Fast forward 30 years; the Soviet Union has been dismantled and the question now repeatedly being asked- does the UK […]
A brief and personal history of the Cold War
Introduction – How the Cold War Started I was asked to write this piece to describe what the Cold War was like, from a participant’s perspective. Anyone alive living through the 50’s – 80s participated, whether they wanted to or not. First, some context: By the end of the Second World War, nuclear weapons had […]
War, nuclear weapons and the UK’s place in the world
So here on Nuclear Hitchhiker we are not afraid to discuss controversial topics. But I must admit when our senior editor Mark asked me to write on nuclear disarmament I was somewhat apprehensive. This is a topic on which it is all too easy, yet all too dangerous, to sit on the fence. On the […]
Trident – no longer relevant
This month I ask, why do we need a nuclear deterrent? The debate about the need for Trident, the UK’s system of nuclear submarines and warheads, has grown particularly heated in recent months given the rise of both the SNP, who as a party have made their anti-Trident stance clear, and of Jeremy Corbyn, the new […]
The nuclear apocalypse or eternal peacetime?
When I ask people how humanity might destroy itself – as you do – it’s usually via an all-out nuclear war. Understandable, the world has seen what damage can be done by two primitive (by today’s standards) singular nuclear warheads to large cities. Why then, do some countries possess so many nuclear warheads? And why […]
Trident – a necessary deterrent
This month I ask, why do we need a nuclear deterrent? Whether or not the UK really needs a nuclear deterrent is a tricky question – one person’s necessity is another person’s extravagance. Personally, the issue has never directly caught my interest, despite its links to the main topic of my research. I’ve always felt rather […]