Nuclear hasn’t kept the peace
WHILE I am glad that Howard Gardner (Viewpoints, December 14) supports the need to end all armed conflict, he uses the often repeated blackmail argument that nuclear weapons have ruled out another world war and Armageddon.
A simple comparison of his ‘safety factor’ would be to consider 11 men standing in buckets of petrol with matches in their hands which, from time to time, they strike.
The nine current nuclear weapons states (two have given them up) have been gambling with our security for 70 years, globally from before the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 to locally, the 180 safety-critical incidents that the MOD has admitted to between 2000 and 2016 that have plagued nuclear convoys on Britain’s roads.
His claim ignores the ongoing world warfare being waged by proxy by arms manufacturers and researchers, businesses and financial investors that impoverish countries across the globe, including Britain, by sucking investment out of health, education, agriculture, environmental protection and peace-building, which are the only long-term guarantees of preventing conflict.
Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) promotes a policy of defence diversification to protect jobs and help these sectors.
The UK government is committed, through treaties and frequent statements, to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and has a legal obligation to negotiate on disarmament.
It should therefore sign up to the first real opportunity in decades to advance the global elimination of nukes, the International Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Steve Roman, Manchester CND