I AM normally a fan of Thelma Edwards and thoroughly enjoy her astute contributions. It is all the more disappointing that she writes (Letters, September 12): “It used to be the thing to march to 'ban the bomb'" as if opposing nuclear weapons were a nostalgia trip to a lost world of flares, kipper ties, flower-power, pot, cool music and casual sex.
The Doomsday Clock, set by top international scientists, is closer to midnight today than it has at any time in the past, including the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis which has been described as the most dangerous moment in history. There is therefore, in clear undeniable truth, more reason now than ever before to march to ban the bomb.
And it has been banned. On June 7 last year 122 states at the UN voted to support a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons (TPNW). This “filled the gap” whereby nuclear weapons were the only class of weapons of mass destruction not specifically categorised as illegal. The nine rogue nuclear states ignored this – naturally.
Scotland is unique as being the only country in the world that has nuclear weapons imposed on it by another government, against the wishes of its parliament, trade unions and churches. An independent nuclear-free Scotland means the end of Trident in the UK. We are the weakest link in the nuclear chain that enslaves us.
For this reason there is huge international support for the rally to demand that the UK support the Treaty of June 7 that will take place at Faslane on September 22, where there will be several speakers of global stature.
I hope I may meet Mrs Edwards there. I am sure she is with us – in spite of her unfortunate analogy.
Brian Quail,
2 Hyndland Avenue, Glasgow.
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