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I served in the submarine service from 1961 - 1981. During this time I commanded a diesel-powered submarine HMS Alliance, was Executive Officer & temporarily in command twice of the Polaris submarine HMS Repulse, Teacher (CO) of the submarine CO's Command Course (Perisher) and commanded a nuclear-powered attack submarine HMS Sceptre.

To know more about what we were engaged in underwater in the Cold War, view this Power Point Presentation

I left the Navy in 1981 to seek broader horizons and worked in industry for over 20 years. Unconstrained by naval discipline and conformity, this broadened my perspective

 

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 HMS Repulse - test firing Florida 1973

Click on all blue links for larger images and/or further information

Why Trident?

wholecoverWhy Trident?  is a compendium of my published articles together with some information from this website and other sources.

Published by Spokesman Books (the publishing arm of The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation) and available to purchase online or available to download f.o.c. in print format (8Mb pdf)

Click HERE to read my covering letter From the Author.

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Click HERE to read my three minute presentation on my proposed pathway to disarmament at this Nuclear Risk-Reduction event held on-line 20 September 2022 at which representatives from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Sylvia Osaba)and the Labour Party (Fabian Hamilton) attended.

 



No First Use (July 2021) 

My contribution to an international seminar on No First Use held in July 2021.

Time to rethink nuclear deterrence

Putin threw away the nuclear deterrence rule book when he invaded Ukraine. NATO were forced into a proxy war for fear that direct conventional military action would provoke his use of tactical nuclear weapons. As Dr Fiona Hill - a very knowledgeable specialist on European and Russian security affairs who has advised both No. 10 and the White House - said in an  interview in April 2022 on BBC Radio 4's “Today” programme....

  • So it is very clear we are not going after Putin because he has nuclear weapons
  • He [Putin] is telling everyone you need a nuclear weapon so the whole idea of non-proliferation is out of the window
  • We are in a whole new territory we have not been in even in the Cold War

"Nuclear annihilation is just one miscalculation away" so spake the UN Secretary General addressing the opening session of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference 1 August 2022. So it is indeed time to rethink.



March 2023 Submision to SONAC


NFUlogoClick on the log (l) to read my submission to the UK Secretary of State’s Office of Net Assessment and Challenge (SONAC). I argue that UK reliance on nuclear weapons and massive investment in the ‘nuclear deterrent’ has actually weakened UK deterrence against an aggressor like Russia because it has consumed resources required for conventional forces – and it is conventional forces that can realistically be employed to address aggression without escalation to a nuclear war.

 

Your questions answered

This section contains answers to a number of questions surrounding the UK's use of the Trident nuclear weapon system. 

Still more reading...

...is contained in this section The Archbishop of York's (Stephen Cottrell) address to the Church Synod in July 2018 (when he was still the Bishop Of Chelmsford) is particularly relevant. It made a major contribution to ending years of ambivalence by the Church of England on nuclear weapons.

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