Pugwash UK

PUBLICATIONS:

"Report of the Working Group on the Management of Separated Plutonium in the UK," British Pugwash Group, by General Sir Hugh Beach, Dr Ian Crossland, Prof Roger Cowley, Dr Jack Harris, Dr Christopher Watson

A PDF file of the full report is available here.

The report was released at a joint British Pugwash-VERTIC event on 26 November, "Securing Fissile Materials." Click here for more information about the launch. Click here for Dr Christopher Watson's PowerPoint presentation, summarizing the report.

Click here for the press release. The report received national media coverage, including during BBC Radio 4 Today Programme News Bulletins, coverage on the BBC World Service Radio, The World Today programme and on BBC Radio Scotland. A short story from the BBC news website is available here. Please click here for coverage in The Guardian. A piece in Professional Engineering magazine is available here.

BBC journalist Rob Broomby states, “…this is some of the brightest minds in the country looking at this and they decided they couldn’t reach a conclusion because such was the secrecy around this…”

Response from Government: A DECC spokesman said, "Government expects to consult on a strategy for managing plutonium in the near future. We will take into account the points raised in the Pugwash Group's Report and would welcome their formal response once the consultation is launched." (25 November 2009)

Response from GMB (the main trade union at Sellafield): “The Pugwash report provides a helpful introduction to the debate about the future of the country’s plutonium stockpiles.” (26 November 2009)

The Role of Independent Scientists in WMD Threat Assessment, by Prof. John Finney and Prof. Ivo Slaus (eds). NATO Science for Peace Series (forthcoming).

This book includes contributions from some of the world's leading experts on independent scientific advising on WMD issues. It is the outcome of a joint British Pugwash-Croatian Pugwash workshop in Zagreb, November 2008.

Now available:

Annual Report of the Executive Committee 2008 - 2009, British Pugwash.

This report highlights the recent achievements of British Pugwash. Please click here.

Ending War: A Recipe by Robert Hinde.

'Not this year, not in my lifetime, perhaps in yours, and with a strong probability in my grandchildren's lifetimes, war will be seen as an unacceptable way of settling disputes between states. The aim of this book is to hasten the day.' Robert Hinde.

Click here for the full text.

Note: In addition to being available here as an HTML version, a printed copy of this book is available from the British Pugwash Office for £5.00 (including postage). Please send cheque to British Pugwash, Bell Pugwash 13, 63A Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3BJ.

"Trident: White Elephant or Black Hole?" by Gen. Sir Hugh Beach

"Britain has possessed its own nuclear weapons for just over fifty years and is laying plans to keep them going for the next half-century. Hugh Beach argues that there are better things to spend government money on and the Trident replacement programme should be cancelled." RUSI Journal, February 2009, Vol. 154 No. 1 pp. 36–43. Click here for a PDF of this article. Please click here for more information about RUSI.

"UK does not need a nuclear deterrent: Nuclear weapons must not be seen to be vital to the secure defence of self-respecting nations", by Field Marshal Lord Bramall, General Lord Ramsbotham, General Sir Hugh Beach (member BPG Executive Committee)

UK senior retired military leaders say "Nuclear weapons have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of violence we currently, or are likely to, face.." Letter, The Times (London) 16 January 2009, (click here)

Related articles:

"Trident nuclear deterrent: Former generals call for scrapping of British weapons," 16 January, Daily Telegraph (click here)

"Generals in 'scrap Trident' call," BBC, 16 January 2009 (click here)

"Trident nuclear missiles are £20bn waste of money, say generals," Guardian, 16 January 2009 (click here)

Letter to the Times, British Pugwash Chair John Finney & Deputy Chair Robert Hinde, 20 January 2009 (click here). Finney & Hinde write:

"...Were we to postpone a decision on renewal, we would not only save money, but also create a space in which to assess fundamentally how the UK can best respond to the threats of today’s world rather than of yesterday’s."

"Trident is ‘no bloody use’ says General", by Rob Edwards, Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 26 April 2009. BPG Council Member Sir Hugh Beach calls for nuclear decommissioning: "It's no bloody use. Let's not waste money on it." (click here).

"The validity of the rationale for UK’s possession of nuclear weapons," by Robert Hinde

In this analysis, Robert Hinde argues that 'the basic reasons that have been given for retaining or improving our nuclear weaponry have remained surprisingly similar across the years. By collecting Cabinet minutes and other documents from 1945 to 1976, and adding his own comments, Professor Peter Hennessy has provided an opportunity to show how the arguments used now are still largely similar to those used then, and to reflect on their continuing utility." Hinde then takes the main categories of arguments typically provided over the years (secrecy, deterrence, cost, prestige, intra-European issues, interdependence, AWE, inertia, and morality/legality) and asks "Are they any more relevant now?". January 2009 (click here)

Professor Pugwash: The Man Who Fought Nukes by Kit Hill.

Written to be read by people of all ages and with the science accessibly explained, this biographical sketch is a delightful introduction to one of the major figures of our times. Available from British Pugwash Office for £10.00 (including postage). Please send cheque to British Pugwash, Bell Pugwash 13, 63A Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3BJ. Click here for brochure.
Reviewed by the Midweek Herald, 25 November 2008

Bending the Rules: Morality in the Modern World - From Relationships to Politics and War by Robert A. Hinde

In this book, which he originally began as a joint project with Joseph Rotblat, Robert Hinde explores a deeper understanding of morality based on the behavioural sciences, and uses this perspective to explore ways to move toward the abolition of war. Oxford University Press, 2007. Click here to purchase from OUP.

Joseph Rotblat: Visionary for Peace, by Reiner Braun, Robert Hinde, David Krieger, Harold Kroto and Sally Milne (editors)

This book contains biographical articles on Jo Rotblat's work for science and peace, and a number of commentaries by Pugwashites and other scientists, Nobel laureates, friends and colleagues. It includes many hitherto unpublished photographs. Wiley VCH, 2007. Click here to purchase from Wiley.

Joseph Rotblat's Would-Be Advice to the New President, by Sandra Ionno Butcher

On the centenary of Joseph Rotblat's birth, director of the Pugwash History Project, Sandra Ionno Butcher, uses quotes from Rotblat to demonstrate the need for leadership on nuclear weapons issues from the next US president. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (web edition, 4 November 2008). Click here.

Letter, by Robert Hinde

"The five retired military commanders suggest that a Nato policy involving readiness to make pre-emptive strikes is necessary to counter political fanatics and international terrorism….But a nuclear strike is unlikely to deter a political fanatic and would be ineffective against terrorists….We must choose between a world ruled by threat, or one ruled by law and mutual understanding. Most of us would prefer the latter. The first step towards it must be to take all nuclear weapons off alert and a commitment to no first use." Robert Hinde, Chair British Pugwash Group, The Guardian, 23 January 2008.

Archive

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