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The National
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Why SNP national council must pass this motion on nuclear weapons
The four Vanguard submarines carry the Trident nuclear missiles Britain rents at the pleasure of President Trump. It's been an axiom of Scottish politics that although the SNP's anti-nuclear policy is not in the SNP constitution, it's in the party's DNA. In recent weeks, though, there's been a rash of reports that some people who were once important in the SNP want to back a British bomb. The timing of this has an air of panic. Those who wish to hold fast to the crumbling totem of a British bomb are normally motivated not by real security threats or concerns but by a delusional iteration of British greatness. Bear in mind this off-stage pining for retention of the British bomb (they dare not reveal themselves) is taking place at precisely the same time as a central tenet of UK nuclear strategy is disintegrating before our eyes. READ MORE: The real reason politicians back nuclear power instead of renewables That tenet is Continuous At Sea Deterrence. CASD requires one Trident-carrying nuclear submarine to be at sea at any time, with the other three in various stages of readiness and refit. The problem is that the four Vanguards are falling apart and their replacements, the new Dreadnought class, are years and billions of pounds away from entering service. It is a good bet that, even if Broken Britain throws gargantuan sums of money at the problems of the knackered Vanguards, soon there will be times when no boat will be on station somewhere in the Atlantic. It is not an overstatement to say CASD is literally sinking. Even now, rumours are rumbling among proud Britons who support the bomb that there have been times recently when there has been no Vanguard on patrol. Funk – the condition, not the music – is increasingly evident in the ranks of Britain's mushy political centre's mainstream media acolytes. Even they are increasingly clutching their political pearls in horror as Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, cranks up his tone-deaf automatons, such as Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, to wreak more havoc on Labour's popularity. Quite why 'some who were once something' in the SNP want to run a tartan version of McSweeney's four-dimensional chess is puzzling. Hegemonic political power achieved by a party at the ballot box does grant the leader political leeway beyond what is technically democratic, that just a fact of life. However, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon are now, and I say this with no political animus, historical figures. Even they ensured there would be no messing with the anti-nuclear DNA strand of the SNP. The UK has moved from gradual to steep decline. The politics of the steep decline of Broken Britain is rather different, rather rawer, as the spectacular electoral performance of Reform UK illustrates. READ MORE: UK wants to build new nuclear plants in Scotland, Ed Miliband says To be fair, the Scottish Government has used some, though by no means all, its powers to mitigate that downward slip as evidenced again and again in Professor Danny Dorling's Shattered Nation. However, democracy is a cruel taskmaster and trust in politicians of all parties is at a historic low. Recently, I attended an Electoral Reform Society event in Edinburgh where the results of recent Scottish polling on political trust were presented. Supermarkets were rated as two to three times more trustworthy than Scotland's politicians. My party, indeed, all parties that profess probity, operating in a political and economic landscape of Broken Britain with trust in politicians at a very low ebb, need to conduct themselves in a way where the voices of the ordinary party members are respected. That is why the following motion was tabled by the SNP Trade Union Group and Maryhill Branch of the SNP for debate at the SNP National Council on June 21. It is designed to remind doubters, and the wider public, that ditching the party's anti-nuclear policy on removal of the British bomb from Scotland is a distraction and a further generator of public distrust. SCOTLAND'S SECURITY In view of destabilising events in Europe and beyond, this Council reaffirms that SNP policy is: - To ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons when Scotland is able to do so as an independent nation. - To support action to remove nuclear weapons from Scotland. These weapons of indiscriminate mass destruction do not protect us, but rather make us a target. - To expose the truth about the supposed 'British' Trident nuclear weapons system. It is completely dependent on the US, which can control the system and cancel the lease of the missiles when the US president chooses. - To develop security policies for Scotland which are relevant to our needs.
Telegraph
05-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
In an increasingly volatile world, Britain must be prepared for war
SIR – Your Leading Article (May 5) warns that Britain should be better prepared for war now than it was in 1939. Then, our defences included the world's largest navy, a rapidly expanding air force, and a standing army of more than a million troops. Today, we have relatively weak and under-resourced primary defences, supported by a highly effective nuclear deterrent of Vanguard submarines, equipped with Trident missiles, on permanent patrol. The Vanguards are being replaced by new Dreadnought-class submarines, in a programme likely to cost more than £40 billion. In 1939, defeat would have lead to possible occupation by a German army, until, as Churchill famously said, 'the New World, with all its power and might', came to the rescue. Our current situation is rather different and more dangerous, given our low primary defence expenditure and no certainty of overwhelming support from America. It is to be hoped that the Strategic Defence Review, due to be published imminently, addresses this danger, and recommends substantially increased primary defence expenditure forthwith. Robert Hickman Andover, Hampshire SIR – As we celebrate VE Day, I am minded to remember a young trooper, James Audsley of Sussex, who served in 44th Royal Tank Regiment. He was the last member of his regiment to be killed in action on April 26 1945, as the tanks fired their final rounds capturing the German port of Bremen. His battle casualty card simply records his death as 'killed in action'.Poignantly, it also notes that his young wife, Audrey, and his parents, William and Nellie, were only informed of his death on May 7, three days after Field Marshal Montgomery had signed the first surrender document on Lüneburg Heath, and one day before Churchill's famous VE Day announcement. I can't begin to imagine the intense heights and depths of emotion that this family must have experienced in those days of tragedy for them, but relief and joy for the nation. Trooper Audsley's name is recorded alongside 11,500 others displayed in the Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Room in The Tank Museum at Bovington, Dorset. These men were all husbands or brothers, fathers or sons. At this distance, it is difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of sacrifice made by so many in the service of their country. Perhaps, at this moment of celebration, in a world again riven with geopolitical uncertainty, we should reflect on the words of Pericles, written in about 430 BC: 'Take these men as your example. Like them, remember that prosperity can be only for the free, that freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.' John Colton Chairman, Royal Armoured Corps Memorial Trust Bovington, Dorset
Deccan Herald
22-04-2025
- Sport
- Deccan Herald
Blossoming into an integral part of the State basketball team
Bengaluru: The Indiranagar Basketball Club's court has a fair few inebriated delinquents operating within its decrepit confines. Typically, it's a manageable congregation of school students, college hopefuls and a few basketball players before the sunsets and miscreants pop out from between the bleachers. .But, on Sundays, they're out in the afternoon: bloodshot eyes, cheap liquor on their breath and piddly bets on tennis-ball cricket. They don't much care that it's a basketball court, and they especially don't appreciate those few basketball players who come anytime before their time with their matches is Subramanian wasn't spared either. Karnataka's Under-16 girls' basketball captain was the unfortunate recipient of this hostility. .Fresh from her award-winning performance at the Under-16 Nationals in Puducherry a few days ago, she and her family accepted the invitation for a shoot-around at as her parents sat atop still-wet stone benches and watched, Aditi, who represents Vanguards on the State circuit, went through a shoot-around while being interviewed. A few minutes in, a tennis ball came Aditi's way. She latched onto it mid-way through dribbling the basketball, and flung it back to the 'cricketers'. .The batter, annoyed that she stopped the ball from fetching him two runs, let out a stream of expletives. Confused as she was, she returned to the interaction without skipping a beat, and the basketball rarely saw anything but the bottom of the net. .Swish! .This sound was the background score to not just this interaction, but has been so through her impressive climb to become one of Karnataka's best hoopsters. .The 16-year-old, at first glance, is about as innocently framed as you'd imagine a basketball player that age: thick glasses, braces, a nice pair of sneakers and a size-6 ball at the hip. .She doesn't let on how good she is at basketball initially because until she is under the rim, she is introverted, but keep feeding her the ball, and her personality comes through. Immediately, it becomes evident why she is as successful as she is and all the places she could go. .'I started off playing tennis,' she says while slowly extending range and holding form. I took to basketball during Covid because we had a court in our apartment and there was nothing to do. I remember I used to get made fun of by the guys because I was small and I couldn't really play, but that pushed me to get better.'.As is the progression, Aditi was signed onto a club in the vicinity. She then became a common feature in school basketball. Then she was signed up for an academy after becoming a Khelo India athlete. A new club - the Vanguards - was found for her exposure at the State circuit. .While all this happens in the background, Aditi has become such an integral part of Karnataka's State side that she hardly has the time for much else..'… I also have my tenth boards coming up in a few days and I need to focus on that too,' she says while crinkling her nose to set her glasses right. 'I can then getting in to my training program and focus on the tournaments to come.'.When asked about her dream, Aditi, still shooting and making it, says: 'I want to play D1 basketball (Division I basketball as part of NCAA in the US), and all of my efforts are to get to there. We have already started looking at colleges to help me get there.'.At this point, it's just her, a bouncing ball, the swish of the net, a dream and a few words to manifest it into existence. All those boisterous 'cricketers', her parents on the bench, this interaction and everything else are but peripheral, and she lets you know it. .For feedback, email to dhsports@
