June 2008
Issue No. 412
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The bomb stops here
With nuclear weapons multiplying again, now is the time to seize the moment and ban them, argues Jess Worth.

Nuclear weapons - the facts
There are over 27,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Thousands are deployed on land, at sea and in the air, posing the constant threat of nuclear war and radioactive contamination.

The charm fades
Pakistani physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy explores his country’s rocky relationship with nukes.

Whoops!
Wayward warheads, mid-air collisions and dangerous detonations.

Trident tested
Activist Angie Zelter celebrates a year-long blockade of Britain’s weapons of mass destruction.

Talking warheads
What are the West’s weapons actually for? asks Paul Rogers.

Everything has changed
A brief history of nuclear weapons

Resist!
Anti-nuke action across the world

News, views, and & voices

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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

The lorry carrying the warheads stopped in a lay-by so the driver could go to McDonald’s. So Russell, who’d been following the convoy, ran in after him and shouted: “Hey everybody, want to see what Britain’s weapons of mass destruction look like? They’re parked just outside!”

I’m in a café round the corner from the NI Oxford office, chuckling away at Nigel and Margaret’s story. They are die-hard anti-nuke activists, part of a network called Nukewatch¹ which doggedly follows the bombs as they are transported up and down the country. They have documented brake failures, crashes and one hair-raising incident where a lorry carrying two warheads skidded on ice and rolled on to its side in Wiltshire. They show me photos of just how close a nuclear convoy comes to my house on a regular basis.

I had no idea. Before editing this issue of the magazine, I’d mainly thought about nuclear weapons in the abstract. The revelation that the Government is making new bombs all the time and driving them round the Oxford ring-road came as quite a shock.

If the powers-that-be had their way, we’d never know about any of this. The fact that we do is down to people like Nigel and Margaret, who sacrifice their time – and in some cases their liberty – to watch, track, bear witness and resist.

Jess Worth for the
New Internationalist Co-operative
jess@newint.org

1 A new film about Nukewatch is well worth seeing: Deadly Cargo – Tracking the nuclear warhead convoy is made by Camcorder Guerillas. You can get hold of a copy at http://www.nukewatch.org.uk