“NO justification” – defence chiefs are putting the public at increased risk by moving nuclear warheads across the border through the pandemic, a senior MSP claims. The deadly loads have been brought into Scotland several times despite a non-essential travel ban, campaigners Nukewatch UK say, with the last convoy going through Glasgow city centre to Coulport on the Clyde one month ago and returning to Burghfield in Berkshire five days later.

The National 25th Feb 2021 read more »

Royal Navy nuclear submarine HMS Talent returns to Plymouth before being decommissioned. HMS Talent has been guided through Plymouth Sound this afternoon before it enters Devonport Dockyard to a ‘fanfare’ welcome.

Plymouth Live 24th Feb 2021 read more »

For anyone who lived through the Cold War it would be their worst fear. An emergency alert flashing onto their television screens, announcing: “This is an emergency broadcast from the BBC. Information of a possible nuclear strike against this country has been received. The threat level is critical meaning an attack is imminent.” However, for the TikTok generation, it’s no more than a harmless prank, played on unsuspecting parents whose reactions are filmed and posted on the social media app. Tracey Stebbing was watching television with her husband and son when the fake message interrupted her evening. “I thought it was the end of the world,” said the 57-year-old. Unbeknownst to Ms Stebbing, her son, Shaun Perrett, had used his phone to connect to their smart TV and broadcast a fake warning from YouTube onto the screen. He was also secretly filming her reaction.

Telegraph 24th Feb 2021 read more »

LEGAL action is being taken against Clyde nuclear base owners over a ‘ban’ on political activity. Unite union leaders are angry over what they call an instruction by Babcock Marine made to its workforce that they should not be involved in any process which could be described as political ‘lobbying’.

Herald 18th Feb 2021 read more »

BUILDING 15,000 homes in Grazeley would not be safe and “could have an adverse impact on the nation’s security”. That is according to the Ministry of Defence, which has written an eight-page objection to plans for a garden town in Grazeley. It objected after the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) around nuclear weapons factory AWE Burghfield was extended to cover most of the site that had been earmarked for the new homes. According to the Office for Nuclear Regulation, anyone living in the zone can be affected by a “reasonably foreseeable” radiation emergency.

Reading Chronicle 13th Feb 2021 read more »

Berkshire Live 16th Feb 2021 read more »

Lancaster City Council will call on government to join nuclear weapons ban. City councillors have voted in favour of writing to the government to urge it to sign up to the United Nation’s Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which came into force last month.

Lancaster Guardian 15th Feb 2021 read more »

A Conservative Senedd member has called on the UK to ditch nuclear weapons. David Melding, an MS for South Wales Central, said that he has “never quite believed in Britain’s nuclear deterrent”. Mr Melding added that to remove them from Faslane in Scotland, where the UK’s nuclear submarines are based, could “neutralise” a “potential source of schism in the Union”. The SNP are fierce critics of nuclear weapons have pledged that an independent Scotland would get rid of them.

Nation Cymru 15th Feb 2021 read more »

SAILORS on a nuclear sub have come through the patrol from hell after a Covid outbreak at sea. Dozens on board HMS Vigilant reported sick but, with no access to a test lab, the precise number is not known.

The Sun 12th Feb 2021 read more »

Mike Pence had ‘nuclear football’ with him as he was rushed to safety during Capitol riot. Experts noted that though the insurrectionists could not have launched a nuclear attack because of security controls, they posed the threat of revealing classified information to the world.

Independent 12th Feb 2021 read more »

An independent Scotland should delay NATO membership until nuclear weapons are removed from Faslane, a campaign group has demanded. The call is a challenge to current SNP policy which is to seek continuing membership of the defence alliance if a majority of Scots vote Yes at a future referendum.

Daily Record 10th Feb 2021 read more »

The nuclear base on the Clyde could be hit by strikes over pay amid an escalating row between workers and owners Babcock Marine. Members of the union Unite at the Coulport and Faslane naval bases on the Clyde are to hold a ballot for industrial action after talks broke down.

Herald 9th Feb 2021 read more »