No to Armageddon!

NUCLEAR weapons are hitting the headlines once again, with the debate on whether to replace the UK's Trident nuclear submarines and the missiles and warheads they carry -- and there's a demonstration to protest Britain's nuclear deterrent on Saturday 27 February.

This year is the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations: the first session of its UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 at Central Hall, Westminster. It is not often recalled that the UN's very first resolution was one seeking to ban nuclear weapons woldwide.

1946: opening session of the UN General Assembly at Central Hall Westminster Image © UN/Marcel Bolomey

On 28 January 2016, an Open Ended Working Group was established at the United Nations in Geneva, to bring together, for the first time, 131 countries to work on the draft legislation for a nuclear ban (see here). The United Kingdom has so far not attended this group.

On Saturday 27 February the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) will be joined by non-governmental organisations from both the disarmament and the environmental movements, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Compass, War on Want, Pax Christi, The People's Assembly, Stop the War International, International Peace Bureau, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Medact, Scientists for Global Responsibility, Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

The march will start at noon from Trafalgar Square. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition will attend.

© Elizabeth Chapell