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1. To mark the 70th anniversary of NATO, campaigners will gather at the military alliance’s London HQ in Northwood in North West London and in other places including: Glasgow (4th April, 12 noon, Buchanan Steps) and Edinburgh (see events above).

Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said: “Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has expanded territorially, changed its mission statement from a defensive to an aggressive posture and embarked on a series of wars, of which their intervention in Afghanistan is getting on for two decades long.

STOP PRESS: https://cnduk.org/how-we-marked-70-years-too-many-at-natos-london-hq/

2. It looks like EDF (Électricité de France) is on a charm offensive of trying to normalise the unexpectedly large number of cracks in the graphite around the nuclear reactor by use of slick video. They have still not produced their safety case for restarting but perhaps it is about to happen soon. In this video released by EDF  Their efforts include normalising cracks getting wider. As Ian Fairlie pointed out to me, they are apparently proud to show a crack which widened by 1.8mm in just SIX MONTHS: 1.1mm on 23/9/2017 – 2.9mm 17/3/2018?  Crack footage begins @ 02:20 minutes in:’ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hlaUky_v55I HunterstonB  got a lot of publicity around the 7^th – 9^th of March. The BBC put out a report on the cracking that included some inaccuracies concerning jobs and demand for electricity should Hunterston B be permanently closed. Ian Fairlie and David Toke corrected this in the item below.  Ianfairlie 8th March 2019 https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/incorrect-statements-in-bbc-news-hunterston-b-pictures-show-cracks-in-ayrshire-nuclear-reactor/ https://scote3.wordpress.com

3. As part of Scottish CND ‘s campaign to Scrap Trident – Local Groups and individual members and supporters are being asked to consider taking some action under the theme of Climate not Trident. Climate change is one of the main threats the world faces today . The Earth’s increasing temperature will have devastating consequences for our world . Urgent action is needed by Scotland and the international communities to reduce carbon emissions . The Scottish share of the capital cost of Trident will be at least 5 billion pounds over the next ten years . Some of this money could be much better spent in responding to climate change by investing in things such as renewable technologies see for example https://scote3.wordpress.com   As well as the Edinburgh event on the 13th (see above) The following activities have been arranged: Friday April 5 – Ayrshire CND street Stall in Bridgegate Irvine from 1230pm- 2 pm  Friday April 5 – Scottish CND street Stall at Donald Dewar Statue in Buchanan Street Glasgow from 4 pm – 6 pm

1. Sunday 7 April. 1 – 4pm. Fly Kites Not Armed Drones Meadows Pavilion Cafe. Make & Fly Kites. Fun, Family Friendly. All Welcome. Volunteers Needed. There is music too, lets hope the rain keeps away.

Come along for a fun family friendly day to Make – Decorate – and Fly Kites on the Meadows. We supply kite kits and help making them or bring your own kite. Donations support Peace & Justice Centre programmes.
For the third year running Kites Not Drones is in conjunction with Refugee Community Kitchen’s Spring fundraiser: soup,crafts, music & more kids’ activities in support of RCK, still serving 1000’s of destitute refugees in northern France. Volunteers appreciated: contact the peace and justice centre. http://peaceandjustice.org.uk       1 (a) Letters for Peace – a work of music with string trio, inspired by the stories and letters of conscientious objectors who refused to fight during the First World War. St James, John’s Place, Leith – Friday 12 April, 8pm. Red Door at St Peter’s Linlithgow, Friday 26 April, 8pm. Tickets £15/£10(16 and under). 1(b) Crane-making in the Land J Sat 13th 2-4pm

2. The Basel-Stadt Canton (Switzerland) and the Basel Peace Office  have the honour to invite you to Move the Nuclear Weapons Money: Investing in a sustainable future, an international conference on divestment and other actions by cities, universities, parliaments and religious institutions to reverse the nuclear arms raceand protect the climate. A deteriorating security environment in Europe has arisen over the past few years from a number of factors including unresolved conflicts between Russia and the West, increased refugees from regions of armed conflict, impacts of climate change, challenges to the European political institutions and democracy, modernization of nuclear weapons and related military systems; and provocative war games and nuclear threat postures. This conference will bring legislators at federal, state/cantonal and city levels (parliamentarians, mayors and city councilors) to Basel to engage with security experts, financial managers and civil society representatives on key issues which are driving the regional and global nuclear arms race, and how to reverse these.  A principle focus of the conference will be on ending public investments in nuclear weapons and fossil fuel industries and encouraging sustainable investment policies and practices. Manufacturers of nuclear weapons and producers of fossil fuels are powerful lobbies moving governments to escalate the nuclear arms race and to keep pumping carbon into the atmosphere. We can change this by ending investments in the nuclear weapons and fossil fuel industries. The conference is part of the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign, a global initiative to cut nuclear weapons budgets and investments, and to reinvest these to support climate protection, peace, economic development and sustainable development. PNND adds: CllrAudrey Doig, Member of the Renfrewshire City Council and Vice Chair of Nuclear Free Local Authorities Scotland, is speaking at the event.  Full programme, languages and speaker list now available. Click here to see accomodation possibilities and to register. For inquiries please contact info@baselpeaceoffice.org                                                                                                                2.(a) Basel Peace Office : invitation to the Abolition 2000 global webinar on nuclear disarmament events and campaigns, and encourages you to participate in it.
The webinar, which will take place on April 10, will provide an overview of nuclear disarmament processes and events happening in 2019, and the main nuclear disarmament campaigns and actions by parliamentarians, mayors and civil society.

3. A Friends of Faslane Peace Network a meeting has been arranged on Saturday April 13 at 2 pm in Helensburgh Parish Church Colquhoun Street Helensburgh G84 8 UP . The church is in the centre of the town and easy to get to. N.B> Scottish Christians Against Nuclear Arms are holding their annual Peace Witness on Saturday 13th April at Faslane Nuclear Base North Gate from 12:00pm until 1:00pmbefore the Friends of FPC meeting. All welcome to attend. 

4. The next ICAN in UK meeting will be held for 3 hours in the afternoon of Thursday 11 May in 1pm to 4pm at the Friends Meeting House Friargate  York YO1 9RL. AGENDA NOW AVAILABLE   N.B. One of their sister networks, INEW (International Network on Explosives Weapons) would like help and support over the coming days following their launch tomorrow of a new Parliamentary Appeal for #StopBombingCivilians

CND adds: Britain’s nuclear power industry is in crisis, while the government is wasting billions on a strategically useless nuclear weapons system. Both industries create dangerous radioactive waste, which is processed at the Springfields plant in Lancashire. Stop New Nuclear write for this month’s magazine about a protest that has been called at the plant on April 27th. 
In this edition, you can also read about an upcoming visit to the UK by a prominent South Korean peace activist.
Read Campaign: April edition
Download Campaign: April edition

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4. NFLA media release, for immediate release, 1st April 2019 The Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) has submitted its comments of the Radioactive Waste Management’s (RWM) ‘Site Evaluation’ criteria. These criteria are supposed to assist RWM in the process to deliver a suitable site for a deep underground radioactive waste repository should prospective volunteer communities / Councils interested come forward. NFLA Website: http://www.nuclearpolicy.info – includes links to NFLA Facebook and Twitter pages Mayors for Peace Website: http://www.mayorsforpeace.org NFLA Radioactive Waste Briefing 77 will be on the homepage of the NFLA website – http://www.nuclearpolicy.info STOP PRESSES (also on website): (a)NFLA media release, for immediate release, 2nd April 2019NFLA frustrated at delays in dealing with the Ministry of Defence’s radioactive waste legacy in Rosyth, Devonport and Dalgety Bay (b) 5th April NFLA media release commenting on the NAO report on the submarine dismantling programme.

5. Thursday March 21st.  Court date for Faslane Peace Campers (see below or events) and the campers will be holding a party at the camp afterwards, to which all are warmly invited.

1. Tuesday 5th March: regular organising meeting 6pm at Peace and Justice Centre.

2. Thursday 7th March: An Evening with Prof Paul Rogers.                                               3. Saturday 9th March: 12 30, Leafleting at the East End of Princes Street: Housing not Trident theme.

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1. Scottish CND are (a) organising days of action in 2019 to highlight the ways money saved by scrapping the Trident nuclear weapons programme could be better spent on essential public services in Scotland. This campaign launches with Housing Not Trident in March, you can check in with the Facebook event to find out about events around this message happening near you. We are hoping our members and supporters might want to hold street stalls, gatherings and other activities surrounding the following messages: March: Housing Not Trident, April: Climate Not Trident, May: Jobs Not Trident, June: Transport Not Trident, July: NHS Not Trident and in August: Education Not Trident.                       (b) also holding a spring sale and coffee morning on Friday 8th March 2019 to make room for our new stock and campaign materials for 2019. We have a number of existing items in stock which we wish to give our members and supporters a chance to purchase at low prices. There will also be the chance to grab a coffee and have a chat over our latest edition of Nuclear Free Scotland.

2. Beyond Nuclear International https://beyondnuclearinternational.org: (a).Scotland plans to return radioactive waste it reprocessed at Dounreay to Australia. Regina McKenzie is fighting on behalf of her Aboriginal people to stop it. Welsh politician, Paul Flynn, used both wit and wisdom to rail against proponents of nuclear power and nuclear weapons, often within his own UK Labour Party. We remember him and his work. (b) The threat of nuclear war, and the very real and devastating consequences when nuclear weapons are used, was a constant in the headlines this past week. March 1 marked 65 years since the US exploded the massive Castle Bravo atomic bomb over the Marshall Islands, a crime from which the region has never recovered. Meanwhile, heightened conflict between India and Pakistan, and the failure of the Trump-Kim meeting to produce denuclearization, reminded the world that the possession of nuclear weapons anywhere is a threat to our survival everywhere. (c) Uranium and its decay products get into our bodies and when they do, embark on a damaging and sometimes deadly journey. We map out where uranium, thorium, radium and other isotopes go, and what they can do to our health. Danger also comes from the sea when man-made radioactive effluents are discharged there, then blow back to land via sea spray, to be inhaled and ingested by humans. Tim Deere-Jones explains. (d) Added 11th March: To truly understand the meaning and consequences of the March 11, 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster, we need to hear from the people it affected. This week, we publish a letter from a teenage girl, ‘Yumi’, who evacuated Fukushima with her mother and who has emerged as a new young voice in Japan’s anti-nuclear struggle. In London, UK, a group of Japanese residents, Japanese Against Nuclear, will hold their annual protest events, while every Friday they still stand vigil outside the Japanese embassy.

3. Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre is moving!  On 22 March they’re moving to City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, 25 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh EH8 9BX where they’ll still be able to provide meeting space for community groups in the centre of Edinburgh and carry on organising Peacebuilders for Schools, the Opposing War Memorial, the Cranes project and programme of events including:

a.. Peace & Justice Book Sale Friday 8 March. 10am – 1pm. Saturday 9 March 2 – 4pm. Wednesday 13 March. 10am – 2pm. Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre. 5 Upper Bow, EH1 2JN We’re holding a Book Sale before we move to streamline our library. You can pick up books for a donation.

b. Scottish Climate Action Network Skillshare Saturday 2nd of March. 9:30 registration for 10am – 5pm Rm 3.24, St Leonard’s Land Holyrood Rd
c. Tweeddale Peace Group Second Hand Book Sale March 9, 2019 10:00 am – 10, 2019 4:00 pm. Burgh Hall, High St, Peebles EH45 8AG
d. 140,000 Origami Peace Cranes Workshop Sat 9 March. 2 – 4pm. Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre 5 Upper Bow, EH1 2JN
e. Kites Not Killer Drones 12noon – 4pm. Sunday 7 April
Meadows Pavilion Cafe. Melville Dr. EH9 1JZ Organised by Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre with Meadows Pavilion Cafe.  Make, decorate and fly kites. Facepainting. Live Music. Family friendly. Soup and more activities to be announced soon.
Volunteers Needed We really need a couple of Volunteers to help for about 8 – 10 hours in the weeks prior to the event to help with publicity and prepare materials and organise this event. Volunteers are also needed on the day. To find out more or to volunteer for this or other P&J roles contact Brian Larkin: coordinator[at]peaceandjustice.org.uk.

4. CNDUK: (a). We live in increasingly dangerous times, where nuclear dangers are growing alarmingly. The Doomsday Clock is currently set at two minutes to midnight. The hands have never been closer, even at the height of the Cold War. But there is an alternative. Instead of wasting billions on new nuclear weapons, a better and safer world can be created. Read in the magazine about how CND is highlighting these global dangers and how we overcome them in a national tour this year. We also cover the recent summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

The CND office twitter account will be sharing a few tweets featuring the profiles of women that have been involved in the movement, using the hashtag #IWD2019 and #WomenOfCND.

(c) Anti-nuclear campaigners have commented on the stalled Trump Kim summit in Hanoi. Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said: “It is regrettable that (the) talks have stalled, but it is good news that relations between the US and North Korea don’t appear to be returning to the dangerous tensions of 2017.“There is clearly the potential for further talks. Though it remains to be seen how the US President who has spent the last year weakening and tearing up crucial arms control treaties can make diplomacy work on the Korean peninsula. “The US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the expected ending of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is not a strong foundation for a new era of diplomacy.”

(d) Anti-nuclear campaigners also commented on the threat of nuclear war in the India Pakistan conflict. Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said: “In the context of increased tensions between two nuclear states, there is a danger that a misunderstanding could lead to a nuclear exchange. “We’ve been here before. India and Pakistan came close to nuclear war in the 2001-2002 standoff, where one side refused to rule out a first strike.

“That Pakistan’s Prime Minister has met today with his country’s nuclear weapons body, is a strong indication of how real the threat of nuclear war is. “Nuclear weapons, far from deterring war, make conflicts more dangerous than they would otherwise be. There is an urgent need for diplomacy in this precarious situation.”

(e) Other News: (i) On Sunday April 27th we’ll show the strength of opposition to the government’s push for new nuclear plants at the Surround Springfields demonstration in Lancashire. The plant near Preston is pivotal to the government’s nuclear plans, as it manufactures nuclear fuel and processes the waste material, so it’s vital that we take a stand here. We have Surround Springfields leaflets, so please get in touch and we can post them out to you. You can also contact the organisers at springaction2019@stopnewnuclear.org.uk. The organisers add This is another update in the run up to our Surround Springfields event on Saturday 27th April 2019 (the day after Chernobyl day).  We have now created a Facebook event for this big day:  Surround Springfields (ii) We’re also gearing up for our Global Dangers national speaking tour see Home page – Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (iii) The United States has announced its withdrawal from the INF treaty. This is a very dangerous moment for the whole world.To keep up our campaign to save it we have launched a new actionurging people to ask their MP to sign EDM 2073, which demands the INF treaty be brought “back into full legal force.” Click here to see the action page and please share it widely. (iv) Lastly, and just in time for this unseasonably warm weather, we are delighted to unveil our new eco-friendly CND logo water bottles.

6. International News:

7. Two Events on Thursday 21st March: 1. Scottish ICAN Partners’ Round Table will be on 21^st March, from 3 p.m. to 4.30 pm. in United Nations House Scotland 44/3 Frederick St, Edinburgh EH2 1EX. 2. The Faslane campers are up in court on Thursday March 21st. This is likely to be the final court date, and the campers will be holding a party at the camp afterwards, to which all are warmly invited.

8. Fondly remembering Labour’s Paul Flynn https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/western-mail-letters-thursday-february-15863275

 9. Australia: Walkatjurra Walkabout click here

2.  2.1 The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the Doomsday Clock is still very close to midnight. Sara Medi Jones, CND spokesperson, said: “With President Trump’s announcement that the US will withdraw from the INF treaty, it sadly comes as no surprise that the Doomsday clock is still very close to midnight. “The landmark INF treaty saw the elimination of nearly 3000 nuclear weapons and if it is scrapped there is a danger we will see the return of US nuclear missile here in Britain. Tearing up the treaty threatens to ramp up the arms race between the US and Russia, with Britain caught in the crossfire. The British government should immediately make clear that it will refuse to host US missiles if the treaty is scrapped. The response we’ve received so far from the government has not been particularly encouraging. We must make clear it would not be tolerated.

 2.2 Responding to Donald Trump’s decision to begin US withdrawal from the INF treaty. Sara Medi Jones, CND spokesperson, said: “This is a very dangerous decision. The US beginning the process of withdrawal threatens to ramp up a nuclear arms race between the US and Russia. Let’s remember this decision comes after the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, so Trump appears to be attempting to break with all forms of international arms control. From a UK perspective, we could now see a return to US nuclear missiles on British soil like we did in the 1980s. The British government must step up over the next six months to do all it can to save the treaty. It should also guarantee that it will not offer to host US nuclear missiles if the treaty is scrapped – to do so would massively increase the threat of nuclear war here in Europe. NATO’s decision to place the blame solely with Russia is highly irresponsible. Both Russia and the US have concerns that the other side isn’t fulfilling their obligations. These concerns must be discussed and resolved, but it will be much harder to do that now the US is withdrawing.”

Watch our video to find out about Donald Trump’s latest decision.

In these busy and dangerous times, read about CND’s campaigns and how we can campaign together for a better world. We also write about Hitachi’s decision to halt work at two nuclear power stations and its wider implications for UK energy policy.
Read Campaign: February edition
Download Campaign: February edition

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3. Mayors and parliamentarians call on the U.S. and Russiato preserve the INF Treaty. Mayors, parliamentarians, policy experts and civil society representatives from forty countries – mostly Europe and North America –  sent an open letter on 30th January, the Basel Appeal for Disarmament and Sustainable Security, to Presidents Putin and Trump and to the leaders of the Russian and US legislatures, calling on them to preserve the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, prevent a new nuclear arms race in Europe and undertake measures to reduce the risk of a nuclear conflict and support global nuclear disarmament. (Appeal also available in French, German, Russian and Spanish). EdinburghCND supported this.

Will it change their minds? Not likely. But the appeal was also sent to the leaders of US congressional and Russian parliamentary committees in charge of armed forces (defense) and foreign relations. It calls on them to refuse to authorize or allocate funding for nuclear weapons systems which the INF Treaty bans, for example ground-based intermediate range nuclear missiles, or weapons systems which could provide similar capability and be similarly destabilizing, such as air or sea launched nuclear-armed cruise missiles. This could be the key to preserving the arms control measures of the INF Treaty even if it collapses. If the relevant committees refuse to authorize funds for these nuclear weapons systems, it makes it next to impossible for them to be developed. The appeal also outlines a commitment by the endorsing mayors and parliamentarians to build support from cities and parliaments in nuclear-armed and allied States (which includes NATO countries) for nuclear risk reduction measures such as “no first use” policies.                                                                                                                                                     A joint statement is being issued on 13th February by European and North American Vice Presidents and Lead Cities of Mayors for Peace, in support of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on our concerns with the suspension of the INF Treaty on nuclear weapons. It is going on the Mayors for Peace website, NFLA website and you are encouraged to promote it through your own civil society networks.http://www.nuclearpolicy.info – includes links to NFLA Facebook and Twitter pages Mayors for Peace Website: http://www.mayorsforpeace.org

Extra from PNND: We mourn the death on February 6, 2019 of PNND Co-President Paul Dewar (Canada), an amazing humanitarian, educator and parliamentarian. Dewar joined PNND just after being elected to parliament in 2006, and became PNND Co-President in 2015. He played important roles in advancing nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament in the Canadian House of Commons and also at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

 

5. Hunterston B update see: https://scote3.wordpress.com/2019/02/06/more-on-hunterston/ NEW: 14/2/2019  EDF who own and operate Hunterston B have still not provided the Office of Nuclear Regulation with an updated safety report following their discovery of an unexpectedly high number of fractures in the graphite barrels that enclose the fuel rods in the nuclear reactors.  The two blogs below report on Ian Fairlie’s most recent meetings.  https://www.ianfairlie.org/news/why-hunterston-b-nuclear-power-station-should-not-be-restarted/  https://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.com/2019/02/scottish-minister-pressed-to-back.html  In some countries, authorities routinely issue iodine to residents and schools near nuclear power stations https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/01/07/nuclear-safety-group-to-look-at-stockpiling-anti-radiation-pills-in-more-toronto-schools.html https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/pgd-potassium-iodide-65mg.pdf

6. Future Event: An Evening with Prof Paul Rogers. Title: Risks of Conflict and Options for Peace in the 2020s. Chair: Simon Barrow, Director, Ekklesia. Venue: Sanctuary, Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EL Date: Thursday 7 March 2019. Time: Registration: 6.30pm-7pm. Event: 7pm-8.45pm. Event Description: What will be the most likely causes of international conflict in the 2020s, what are the best ways of responding to them and improving the prospects for a less violent world, and what roles can Scotland play?

EVENTS:     

1. Monday 4th February http://peaceandjustice.org.uk/8329-2/   for details of demo on  the INF TREATY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   2. (a)Tuesday 5th February: New meeting about the serious nuclear safety issues at Hunterston B in the University of Edinburgh at 4pm The Venue: LG 11 David Hume Tower Learning Hub – LG stands for lower ground – the basement. Get there via steps from the entrance on the east side of George Square or via lifts or stairs at the back of the main foyer of the David Hume Tower 4pm to 5.30pm. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/update-on-nuclear-risk-at-hunterston-b-nuclear-power-station-scotland-tickets-55175764196                       N.B. Ian’s technical report (discussed at the January meeting is available on request edinburghCND@yahoo.com                                                                                                                .  2 (b)Tuesday 5th February: regular organising meeting 6pm to 7pm at Peace and Justice Centre.  5 Upper Bow                                                                                                                              3. Thursday 7th February Edinburgh Stop the War have called a demo against US (and British, EU backed) intervention in Venezuela at 5.30pm,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       4. Saturday 9th February: 12 30, Leafleting at the East End of Princes Street                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                5. Saturday 23rd February: The third Radical Fair, a  festival for groups campaigning for a fairer Scotland is in the Augustine Church on 12 noon – 3.30pm. ECND will have a stall and it is not too late for other groups to book.

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2. On the 2nd February, President Donald Trump will decide whether the US remains in a flagship arms treaty with Russia that has reduced the chances of nuclear war taking place in Europe.                                                                                STOP PRESS: MPs and celebrities will launch a campaign to save the flagship arms control agreement in Parliament Square on Wednesday 23rd. The launch will mark 10 days before Donald Trump announces whether or not the US will withdraw from the INF treaty. The INF treaty was signed by the US and Russia in 1987 and led to the elimination of almost 3000 nuclear weapons. Tearing up the treaty could lead to the return of US nuclear missiles in Britain and make nuclear war in Europe more likely.
The campaign will call on the British government to take diplomatic steps to save the treaty and guarantee that it will not offer to host US nuclear missiles if it is scrapped 

CND’s new video tells the story of how the treaty was won by an international movement that rose up to stop moves towards nuclear war. They are encouraging our supporters to share the video so that as many people as possible tell the British government to do all it can to save the treaty. US nuclear missiles must not be allowed to return Britain. Share the video on Youtube, Twitter or Facebook by clicking these link   Read about what they’re doing in Campaign magazine. In this edition, they also explain how your local community could officially support the global nuclear ban. Read Campaign: January edition Download Campaign: January edition

——————-                                                                                                                                           6. Beyond Nuclear International: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org                   1. Newly seated House Democrat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with at least 45 other members of Congress and the Sunrise Movement, want a Green New Deal for the US to tackle climate change. Establishment Democrats moved to block it. Why can’t the US just go green already? In Ethiopia, one man’s determination led to villages lit with solar energy. A profile of Samson Tsegaye Lemma.                                                      2.The British “tested” their atomic bombs on Australians, then used them as guinea pigs. A new art exhibition evokes the suffering, legacy and injustice of Maralinga. And two anti-war campaigners make the case for US demilitarization and the need for a green and peaceful planet.                                                                                                   3. The Jones family refused to sell their 300-year old family farm to Hitachi’s Horizon for a proposed new nuclear plant in North Wales. Now Hitachi has put the two-reactor project on hold, vindicating the farmers and reprieving an area of natural beauty and rare wildlife. But a planned 6-reactor site in India is being given a fast-track green light by the French and Indian governments, with too many financial and safety questions still unanswered, write Suvrat Raju and M.V. Ramana.                                                                                            NEW: Canadians living within the emergency planning zone of an American reactor are provided potassium iodide tablets, which, if taken in time, protect the thyroid from fast-traveling radioactive iodine-131, released during a severe nuclear accident. But Americans are denied equal protection. Beyond Nuclear and groups in Michigan are moving to change that. Jonathon Porritt writes that dreams of a nuclear “renaissance” are now definitively dead, even though, like Monty Python’s pet shop salesman, the industry insists the nuclear parrot is just resting.

7. Peace and Justice Centre News: 7.1. Resistance to the First World War Exhibition Event Friday 25 January. 1:30 – 3:30pm. St Mungo Museum. 2 Castle St, Glasgow G4 0RH. This event will showcase the work of WEA Scotland adult learners in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow who investigated the experiences of First World War Conscientious Objectors from their communities.  Booking Required. Email a.campbell@wea.org.uk with “Legacies of Resistance to the First world War:  The Stories of Conscientious Objectors – Event and Exhibition” in Subject line.                    7. 2.Peace in Action: get the skills to change our world  with Dr. Scilla Ellworthy Sat 15 June for 3 days in Findhorn.This course will demonstrate what it would cost to systematically prevent war at local, national and international levels, and the kind of self-knowledge and inner work that are essential to the effectiveness of whatever you decide to undertake. For more information and to book go to: https://www.findhorn.org/programmes/peace-in-action-skills/ 7. 3. Pathways to Peace 8-10 March 2019 Hinsley Hall, Leeds LS6 2BX For further programme information or to book a place http://www.for.org.uk/events/pathwaystopeace/

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8. If you read some of the recent local letters to their more active New Mexico members you will get a more detailed idea of some of the concerns, some regarding issues that are the subject of legislation now pending in the USA.

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9. https://edinburghcaat.org.uk  For CAAT news

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10.FCO Secretary on his misleading claim to Parliament that the government had in 2014 tightened up arms export controls, when CAEC, the committee responsible for scrutinising export control policy, had found they had in fact been loosened  (tweet here).                                                                                                                               ————–                                                                                                                                                            NEW: 11. Drone Network News Jan 2019: https://dronecampaignnetwork.wordpress.com

and 12 Feb 8th joint meeting organised by the NFLA / Mayors for Peace and ICAN UK being held in Meeting Room 2, Level 2, Manchester Central Library. The meeting will be chaired by the Lord Mayor of Manchester.

22 MSPs Support the Opposing War Memorial
£37,500 raised for the Memorial: Still time to Donate & Help us reach our goal
Upcoming Events:
Burns Supper

Join us for on 26th Jan for an evening, hosted by Peter Macdonald, with Stan Reeves reciting To a Haggis, comedian A.L. Kennedy presenting the Immortal Memory. Local writer and actor Gerda Stevenson will be Addressing the Lassies, with feminist activist Lesley Orr delivering the Reply from the Lassies.
Resistance to First World War Exhibition & Event

Friday 25 January. 1:30 – 3:30pm. St Mungo Museum.
2 Castle St, Glasgow G4 0RH.                                                                                                            —————

Two ICAN meetings are planned for the 8^th January both to be held at the SCND office in Glasgow, 77 South Park Avenue G12 8LE this week First, Scottish ICAN Roundtable is at 3.00pm.  It will be followed by a meeting facilitated by Dr Rebecca Johnson at 4.30pm focussed on ICAN in the UK, and all ICAN partner organisations are welcome to both events  (SCND will facilitate the Scottish Round table meeting).   +++++++ apres-meeting note: deadline for submissions to the NPT inquiry is Friday 18th, and it was great to hear that a lot of us will be putting something in. Email EdinburghCND@yahoo.com for suggestions

1. http://www.stopnewnuclear.org.uk

2.https://leedspeacelecture2019.eventbrite.co.uk

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1. Beyond Nuclear International: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org 1. The Navajo nation suffered the injustices of uranium mining and the contamination it left behind for decades. Anna Benally calls for restitution and a health study to give her people answers. In Brazil, a giant thermoelectric project was defeated when the people united against the destruction of mother Earth and turned to renewables instead. 2. Please take action this week by signing the petition to halt the “storing” of unsafe nuclear waste casks on the beach in California. And please consider including Beyond Nuclear in your year-end giving with a generous donation today.

2. Los Alamos Bulletin    252 Fundraising reminder; why LANL cannot be any kind of plutonium factory, in a nutshell  http://www.lasg.org/

3. Australia:Plenty of activities planned for 2019:  Walkatjurra Walkabout 

4. (a)UNFOLD ZERO and their co-sponsoring organisations had a very active year in 2018 advancing a number of UN initiatives and processes for nuclear disarmament including:

• Affirmation by the UN Human Rights Committee that nuclear weapons violate the Right to Life;
• UN role in the Korean peace and denuclearisation process;
• UN High-Level Nuclear Disarmament Meeting (and other events) on the UN International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons;
• Supporting the UN Secretary-General’s new disarmament agenda, including through a global appeal of women legislators;
• UN General Assembly disarmament resolutions;
• UN Security Council session on confidence-building measures and weapons of mass destruction;
• Launching the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money platform at the United Nations.

they  look forward to our continuing and advancing such action in 2019.

(b) The Basel Peace Office (BPO) extends our very best wishes to you for the new year. We thank you for your actions and support in 2018 and we look forward to a coming year of even more progress for peace and nuclear disarmament. BPO brings together a number of international networks and initiatives for nuclear disarmament including the Abolition 2000 Youth Network, Nuclear-Risk-Reduction working group, Climate-Nuclear Nexus, Middle Powers Initiative, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) and the World Future Council Peace & Disarmament Program. Please see below, or visit www.baselpeaceoffice.org, to learn more about the programs and activities. Click here to invest in a peaceful and sustainable future by supporting the Basel Peace Office.

(c) PNND also express very best wishes for the new year, our appreciation for the actions you undertook for peace and disarmament in 2018, and our anticipation of another year of progress for nuclear risk-reduction and disarmament.  We will kick off the new year with a European regional conference of parliamentarians and mayors (Jan 14-15 in Basel, Switzerland) on the issue of Nuclear disarmament, climate protection and divestment. And we will contnue to work globally throughout 2019 on issues and actions which are contained in the Parliamentary Action Plan for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World. Further information and reports are available at PNND News, PNND events and PNND updates.

+++++++++BPO invite you to join a Webinar on Preserving the INF Treaty today (January 17) at 7pm Central European Time (Click here to register), and to endorse the the Basel Appeal on Disarmament and Sustainable Security.

Beyond Nuclear: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org :In the holiday season it seems timely to run a story on the plight of reindeer, made radioactive by fallout from Chernobyl and earlier atomic bomb tests, a problem that is not going away. Nor is radioactive waste, deadly for at least tens of thousands of years and longer, which is why a plan to store it on a beach near San Diego, California, is insanity.

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CND: https://cnduk.org: Anti-nuclear campaigners have responded to Gavin Williamson’s final instalment of the Modernising Defence Programme, released today. Sara Medi Jones, CND acting general secretary, said: “Gavin Williamson has called for an additional £340 million for the MoD in next year’s comprehensive spending review. The MoD has already been given an extra £1 billion this year, so this announcement confirms again that spending at the MoD is spiralling out of control.

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PNND on the US withdrawal from the INF treaty: The US alleges that Moscow has developed and deployed a prohibited missile, a ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) having a range prohibited under the INF Treaty. The U.S. administration has also expressed concern that China, which is not a party to the INF Treaty, is gaining a military advantage in East Asia by deploying large numbers of treaty-noncompliant missiles. Russia has denied violating the INF, and has responded with allegations that the US is in violation of the INF Treaty by deploying launching systems capable of firing cruise missiles. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the U.S. plan to withdraw from the treaty could lead to a new arms race and that any nation that hosts U.S. intermediate-range missiles will “put their own territory under the threat of a possible counterstrike.” For further background see Trump to Withdraw U.S. From INF Treaty, Arms Control Association, November 2018).          There are also criticisms from a number of European Parliamentarians.                      The Basle Peace Office has similar concerns and adds the following more upbeat news:  The Australian Labor Party (currently the main opposition party) adopted a motion at its national conference yesterday giving qualified support to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons(TPNW – or Ban Treaty), an international agreement negotiated in 2017 by non-nuclear States, but opposed by the Australian government and all the nuclear armed and allied States.                                                     —————                                                                                                                                     ICAN: 1) the next meeting of ICAN’s UK Partner organizations will be held in GLASGOW, together with the scheduled meeting of the Scottish ICAN Round Table on 8 January 2019 in Glasgow, from 3.00 – 6.00 pm at the office of  Scottish CND, 77 Southpark Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8LE.  The first half of the meeting will be a Scottish meeting.   2) We strongly encourage ALL members to consider passing resolutions to support the Treaty and encourage the UK Government to engage with this Treaty, and the Irish Government to ratify it through the Dail. Full information is in the report, but can also be found on the ICAN webpage – http://www.icanw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ICAN-Cities-Appeal.pdf                                                                                                                    —————-                                                                                                                                    CAAT London:   Please read and share our 2018 highlights page to spread the word about the impacts you have enabled over this year.                                                                                                                    —————                                                                                                             No2NuclearPower: Today’s News at: http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/category/news/