Keir Starmer tells SNP to reverse nuclear weapons opposition
NOW is the time to reaffirm the UK Government’s commitment to nuclear
weaponry, the Prime Minister has said – on the day that international
efforts to promote a global ban on the technology step up.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Keir Starmer took issue with the SNP’s opposition to
nuclear weapons – apparently in response to comments from First Minister
John Swinney last week. The SNP leader suggested that a focus on nuclear
weapons was an “inhibitor” to combating current military challenges due
to the “resources they command” – and called for the funding
allocated for renewing Trident should instead be invested in
“conventional weaponry”.
The National 3rd March 2025 https://www.thenational.scot/news/24978206.keir-starmer-tells-snp-reverse-nuclear-weapons-opposition/
EDF considers plans to revive ‘fish disco’ at Hinkley Point plant.
Move marks latest step in long-running debate over project’s wildlife
protection measures. EDF is considering reviving plans to install a
so-called fish disco in the Bristol Channel to ward off marine life
approaching its nuclear plant Hinkley Point C.
The French state-owned
company has written to communities around the project, being built in
Somerset, saying new technology could make its planned “acoustic
deterrent” system “safe and effective”. The move marks the latest
step in a long-running saga over the plant’s fish protection measures,
which has become emblematic of a wider national debate between development
and environmental protection measures.
EDF proposed an “acoustic
deterrent” as part of its original plans for the 3.2-gigawatt power
station. The system was devised to protect fish at risk of being sucked
into the plant’s machinery as it draws in water for cooling. But the
company has for several years been trying to ditch the proposal, arguing it
would endanger divers having to install and maintain the system, and may
not be effective.
It proposed to instead develop salt marshes to shelter
shoals. In their letter to local communities, sent last week and seen by
the FT, Andrew Cockcroft, head of stakeholder relations at Hinkley Point C,
said it had “recently become aware” of innovation that meant a new type
of deterrent could be installed. “The technology, pioneered in the
south-west, is proven and deployed internationally [ . . . ] We are
now working with experts to provide the scientific data to underpin the
case for using it at Hinkley Point C,” he said. EDF will “pause all
design and development work on salt marsh creation” in the meantime, he
added.
FT 4th March 2025. https://www.ft.com/content/b282d3f9-22f3-4075-9fce-6458a6c053af
Potentially ‘catastrophic’ use of AI in nuclear weapons systems raised by former Royal Navy boss
Concerns about the potentially “catastrophic” introduction of
artificial intelligence (AI) into the nuclear weapons’ command, control
and communication (N3) systems have been raised by the former First Sea
Lord and former Security Minister Lord West of Spithead.
An AI expert told the Canary that the potential worst-case scenario for introducing AI into
nuclear weapons command and control systems is a situation like the one
which caused the apocalypse in the Terminator franchise. The Terminator
films revolve around an event where the AI in control of the USA’s
nuclear weapons system gains self-awareness, views its human controllers as
a threat, and chooses to attempt to wipe out humanity.
The Canary 3rd March 2025, https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/03/03/ai-nuclear-weapons/
Russia agrees to help US in negotiations with Iran over nuclear program, Bloomberg reports
by Kateryna Hodunova andThe Kyiv Independent news desk, March 4, 2025
Moscow has pledged to help Washington in dealing with Iran over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and its support for regional anti-American proxies, Bloomberg reported on March 4, citing its undisclosed sources.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has been trying to restore relations with Russia, which were severed under the previous administration when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Trump voiced his interest in negotiations with Iran to Putin during a phone call in February. A few days later, the U.S. and Russian delegations discussed this issue during talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported……………………………… https://kyivindependent.com/russia-agrees-to-help-us-in-negotiations-with-iran-over-nuclear-program-bloomberg-reports/
Trump Pauses All Military Aid to Ukraine
The pause applies to weapons that are already in transit
by Dave DeCamp March 3, 2025, https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/03/trump-pauses-all-military-aid-to-ukraine/
President Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a senior Pentagon official.
The pause applies to all US military equipment bound for Ukraine that’s not currently in the country, including weapons that are in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in Poland to be delivered.
The Pentagon official said the US was pausing all military to Ukraine until the country’s leadership demonstrates a good faith commitment to peace. A senior Trump administration official told Fox News, “This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause.”
The move comes a few days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office, an argument that started after Zelensky questioned the administration’s push for diplomacy with Russia.
News of the pause comes after reports said the Trump administration was holding a meeting on Monday afternoon on the possibility of pausing military aid to Ukraine. Before the meeting, the US had already frozen weapons sales to Ukraine under the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program, which only accounted for a small portion of the US weapons supply to Ukraine.
While the Trump administration hasn’t approved any new military aid for Ukraine, President Biden signed off on a massive number of arms packages during his final months in office that would take years to deliver.
The aid approved by Biden came in two forms: the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which ships weapons straight from US military stockpiles, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the Pentagon to purchase arms for Ukraine.
US poised to house nuclear weapons in Britain for first time in two decades
Mothballed bunkers in Suffolk undergo extensive upgrade as America eyes ‘special weapons’ sites
US nuclear weapons could be set to return to British soil almost two decades after Washington removed its last warheads, satellite images have revealed.
The images, published in a report from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), indicate that 22 previously mothballed nuclear bunkers at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk have
undergone extensive upgrade work. A decision to reactivate Lakenheath’s
nuclear capability for US aircraft was made as long ago as 2021, the report
suggests, with the proposals gathering force following Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine three years ago.
Telegraph 4th March 2025, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/04/us-readies-british-air-base-house-nuclear-weapons/
Keir Starmer faces backbench rebellion over ‘shortsighted’ cuts to aid budget
Keir Starmer is facing a backbench revolt by Labour MPs this week as anger
mounts over the government’s decision to cut the international
development budget by almost half in order to pay for an increase in
defence spending.
The Labour chair of the all-party select committee on
international development, Sarah Champion, who has already called on the
government to rethink the decision, has secured a debate in the Commons on
Wednesday at which dozens of Labour backbenchers are considering
intervening to express their dismay. One of those who may speak out,
according to colleagues, is Anneliese Dodds, who resigned as international
development minister on Friday.
Guardian 2nd March 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/02/keir-starmer-faces-backbench-rebellion-over-shortsighted-cuts-to-aid-budget
Conservatives’ push to identify ‘suitable sites’ for nuclear reactors in Telford and Wrekin is defeated.
A Conservative move to get Telford and
Wrekin’s local plan to ‘identify suitable sites’ for small nuclear
reactors was defeated as the borough’s all important development
blueprint moved to the next stage.
Shropshire Star 3rd March 2025 https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2025/03/03/conservatives-push-to-identify-suitable-sites-for-nuclear-reactors-in-telford-and-wrekin-is-defeated/
Zelensky needs to go …been risking nuclear war far too long
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL, 2 Mar 25
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is a spectacularly failed leader. He’s failed on every indicator of good governance.
He failed the largely Russian cultured Ukrainians in the Donbas who overwhelmingly voted him for president in 2019. He promised he’d end the war on them by their own government after the 2014 coup toppled elected pro Russian President Victor Yanukovych. Once in office Zelensky caved to the ultra-nationalists who wielded the real power in Kyiv. The war on the Donbas separatist movement escalated under Zelensky. He massed 60,000 elite troops on the Donbas border to complete destruction of the separatist movement. Guess what that provoked February 24, 2022?
He failed by continuing his predecessors’ desire to join NATO, knowing full well Ukraine in NATO crossed a red line Russia viewed as an existential security threat. That made the February 22, 2022 Russian invasion even more inevitable.
Two months into the war he failed to conclude a peace treaty with Russia in April, 2022 that was about to be signed. He allowed US and UK war hawks bully him into rejecting the settlement which would have cost Ukraine nary a square mile of territory. He swallowed whole their delusion he could win the war with US weapons but not US cannon fodder Now he’s lost about 45,000 square miles for caving to his US/UK masters of war..
Worst of all, Zelensky failed the most important responsibility of any leader: do nothing that could risk nuclear annihilation. He’s spent the entire 3 years of war asking, begging, demanding the US give him the weaponry to attack deep inside Russia. He appears oblivious how easily such attacks could trigger nuclear war between the US and Russ
Astoundingly, when an errant Ukrainian missile killed a couple of Poles in Poland, Zelensky claimed that represented a Russian attack on NATO requiring an immediate NATO military response. Hello WWIII. That alone made Zelensky unfit to serve another day as Ukraine leader.
With the US proxy war on Russia lost and Ukraine in ruins, Zelensky’s failed days in power are dwindling. His exit cannot come soon enough.
The National goes to the UN: The fight for nuclear disarmament
1st March, By Xander Elliards
Next week will see the third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (3MSP TPNW, for short). In practice,
that means that delegates from across the globe will attend a meeting at
the UN in New York to discuss how to push for wider acceptance of a
worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. The TPNW is backed by 73 states parties,
including Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Africa, and 21
others are signatories, including Colombia, Brazil, and Barbados.
The SNP has committed an independent Scotland to signing the TPNW – but the UK,
as a nuclear power, has declined to sign it. Thanks to a partnership with
the philanthropic fund Lex International, The National will be on the
ground in New York and at the UN building as thousands of delegates from
across the globe meet to discuss how to push nuclear states like the UK
into action.
The National 1st March 2025,
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24969230.national-goes-un-fight-nuclear-disarmament/
The Guardian view on PM’s gamble: exploiting crisis to remake Labour was a step too far for an ally
Guardian 28th Feb 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/the-guardian-view-on-pms-gamble-exploiting-crisis-to-remake-labour-was-a-step-too-far-for-an-ally
The exit of a soft-left intellectual politician from government highlights a growing unease about the reordering of the party’s priorities.
The resignation of Anneliese Dodds, the international development minister, from Labour’s cabinet may not have been entirely unexpected. Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to cut the aid budget to “pay” for increased defence spending was wrong. Making the world’s poorest foot the bill for Britain’s security is reckless and self-defeating. Slashing aid fuels instability – it won’t buy safety. From her perch in government Ms Dodds, who was Sir Keir’s first shadow chancellor, knew this better than most.
The former cabinet minister’s letter is right to warn that the cuts will mean the UK withdrawing from many developing countries and having a diminished role in global institutions like the World Bank, the G7 and climate negotiations. She pointedly argued Britain will find it “impossible” to deliver on its commitment to maintain development spending in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine with the shrunken budget. Sir Keir rebuffed this charge, but Ms Dodds is right to say his move is being seen as following the Trumpian lead in cutting USAid – a framing that implies the UK is losing its independent foreign policy direction.
Like many others, including this column, she understood that in an increasingly volatile world, defence spending must rise. But rather than a collective discussion on whether the government’s fiscal rules and tax policies remain fit for purpose, the prime minister chose to gut aid budgets to fund defence spending with little debate, as if stability abroad weren’t essential to security at home. Such high-handed treatment left Ms Dodds, a soft-left intellectual politician, with no choice but to resign.
Her departure had been in the air since Sir Keir made his announcement – but she held off until he returned from Washington. Sir Keir now owns the decision, and its consequences will define his leadership. That he was shaped by events rather than shaping them will not be lost on his MPs.
Clive Lewis, a leftwing Labour MP and former soldier, has called for a wealth tax to fund defence. This is a sensible idea that merits wider discussion, as does relaxing borrowing rules – a debate already under way in Europe. The party’s right wing wants to frame Sir Keir’s move as more than fiscal, briefing that Sir Keir has made a deliberate break from the party’s pro-aid stance. It is reported that the Treasury didn’t push this – it was the prime minister’s personal call. Ms Dodds’ rise and fall mirrors his hardening leadership style.
Sir Keir is seizing this crisis to remake his party. His government has embraced militarisation, welfare cuts, climate backtracking and nationalist asylum policies. The political rationale is to ward off attacks from the extreme right and particularly Reform, which has seen its support rise. Why amplify rightwing narratives instead of challenging them? If this is just tactical positioning, fine. If not, he risks losing Labour’s soul – a perilous path as concerns over the lack of good jobs, equality, child poverty and pensioner support are likely to keep growing. Labour voters may turn away if “hard-headed” geopolitics trumps fairness. The reaction from MPs and the electorate will determine whether this gamble pays off – or exposes rifts within Labour’s coalition.
‘The climate crisis is the biggest security threat of them all’: Anneliese Dodds quits government over aid budget cuts
Michael Holder, 28 February 2025
Anneliese Dodds has today quit the Cabinet over plans to raid the
international aid budget to boost defence spending, warning in her
resignation letter the decision risks damaging the UK’s interests and
undermining efforts to tackle a climate crisis that “is the biggest
security threat of them all”.
Dodds, who resigned as Minister of State for
both International Development and Women and Equalities, said while she
fully supported the government’s decision to increase defence spending, she
disagreed that the UK overseas development budget should “absorb the entire
burden”.
Business Green 28th Feb 2025,
https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4410216/climate-crisis-biggest-security-threat-anneliese-dodds-quits-government-aid-budget-cuts
Donald Trump was rude to Zelensky, but he did tell him the hard truths.
Much of what President Trump told Ukraine President Zelensky in their contentious public meeting Friday was valid…and needed to be said to achieve peace. A sampling of the truths Trump told Zelensky:
1. Ukraine must seek immediate ceasefire not more war
2. Why? The war is lost with Zelensky having “no more cards to play” to achieve his unrealistic, indeed delusional war objectives.
3. Only the US can achieve war’s end thru a negotiated peace with Russia. What Trump omitted is that this has always been America’s war simply using Ukraine proxies to fight it.
4. Ukraine is running out of soldiers, relying on old men and conscripts snatched off the street to fight a lost cause.
5. Zelensky could start WWIII with his efforts to keep war going by attacking deep into Russia.
Trump’s comments signaled a near complete break with predecessor Biden’s embrace of the weak, compliant Zelensky to fight the war to weaken Russia and keep it out of the European political economy.
Trump knows the war has nothing to do with Europe or America’s national security interests and must be ended.
If the Oval Office dustup offends people who want this war to continue indefinitely, possibly going nuclear, then by all means be outraged. But if you want to end this lost war utterly destroying Ukraine so US can weaken Russia, then join the peace community in supporting Trump’s peace initiative.
This war has put peoplekind at risk of nuclear annihilation for all 1,100 days since it began. That must end.
Small modular reactor plans edge closer, amid claims that the technology makes no economic sense
By Simon Hacker, Punchline Gloucester 28th Feb 2025
…………………………………….Dale Vince, the owner of Stroud-based green energy group Ecotricity, has
roundly condemned the technology for “defying the economic laws of
gravity”.
Speaking on his weekly Zerocarbonista podcast, Mr Vince said:
“When you come to small nukes, the government and the nuclear industry have
consistently said that we will get lower bills, but they don’t put a number
on it. They are ecomonists without numbers!
Energy minister Ed Miliband: keen to move ahead on SMR plans. Big nuclear is the most expensive electricity we have ever made, it’s off the charts compared to renewable
energy and one of the fundamental laws of physics is that the economies of
scale come by making something bigger, not by making something smaller –
it always costs money to miniaturise.
So here they are, saying we can
miniatarise nuclear reactors that famously went decades late and billions
over budget… and they’ll be cheap. I don’t believe that for a second and
what we are of course doing is proliferating the risk.”
He added: “It’s always worth imagining what it would be like if the Romans had nuclear
power. If they did, Bath would be a toxic no-go zone. It’s only 2,000 years
ago and sounds like a long time, but not in the context of toxic nuclear
waste.” Whether Berkeley and neighbouring site Oldbury-on-Severn progress
with Rolls Royce’s SMR bid, the technology’s pathway to viable commercial
models for energy production remains challenging: as of today, only China
and Russia have operational SMRs, with China’s HTR-PM pebble-bed reactor
connected to the grid and Russia’s floating Akademik Lomonosov plant
utilizing two 35MW SMRs. https://www.punchline-gloucester.com/articles/aanews/smr-plans-edge-closer-amid-claims-the-technology-makes-no-economic-sense
Rachel Reeves eyes cuts to nuclear in spending review
Energy industry insiders fear the Chancellor could target Britain’s mini-nuke programme
Matt Oliver, Industry Editor, Telegraph 28th Feb 2025
Rachel Reeves is eyeing cuts to Britain’s £20bn mini-nuclear reactor programme amid a scramble to slash government expenditure, insiders fear.
Sources believe the Chancellor is considering approving a smaller number of reactors than previously expected in an attempt to reduce the costs of the programme, which is part of wider efforts to transform Britain’s power grid.
The competition to design and build the first small modular reactors (SMRs) entered its last phase on Friday, with four finalists – Rolls-Royce, GE-Hitachi, Westinghouse and Holtec – told to submit final bids by mid-April.
It was previously suggested that up to three winners would be chosen by Great British Nuclear (GBN), the quango in charge of running the contest.
But sources said there was concern this has quietly been scaled back to a “maximum” of two – raising the possibility that only one winner will be chosen. Fewer reactors would be built overall as a result………………………………………
The Chancellor is struggling to balance the books as weak economic growth makes it harder to meet her self-imposed “fiscal rules” for borrowing.
Everything is on the table’
Industry sources said there had as yet been no suggestion that ministers had decided to scale back the SMR programme.
But the final outcome has been linked to the spending review and there remains uncertainty about how many vendors will be chosen.
One person briefed on the discussions warned: “It all comes down to the spending review. Everything is on the table.”……………………..
the nascent technology remains commercially unproven, with a string of European countries and the US all currently pursuing their own individual competitions to fund the first examples of the technology.
Scaling back Britain’s SMR programme would represent a significant retreat for Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, who this month announced plans to speed up the development of the mini reactors and vowed to “build, baby, build”.
………there are fears that Mr Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is under pressure to choose which energy schemes he will prioritise as he scrambles to deliver Labour’s promise…
………….The competition has suffered repeated delays, with ministers in the previous Conservative government originally suggesting it would be concluded last spring.
This week it emerged there had been yet another delay, with the deadline for final bid submissions moved back from the end of March to mid-April.
……………………….The Treasury was contacted for comment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/28/reeves-eyes-cuts-to-nuclear-in-spending-review/
1 This Month
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
-
Archives
- November 2026 (32)
- October 2026 (302)
- September 2026 (339)
- August 2026 (330)
- July 2026 (355)
- June 2026 (287)
- May 2026 (306)
- April 2026 (356)
- March 2026 (251)
- February 2026 (267)
- January 2026 (308)
- December 2025 (358)
-
Categories
- 1
- 1 NUCLEAR ISSUES
- business and costs
- climate change
- culture and arts
- ENERGY
- environment
- health
- history
- indigenous issues
- Legal
- marketing of nuclear
- media
- opposition to nuclear
- PERSONAL STORIES
- politics
- politics international
- Religion and ethics
- safety
- secrets,lies and civil liberties
- spinbuster
- technology
- Uranium
- wastes
- weapons and war
- Women
- 2 WORLD
- ACTION
- AFRICA
- Atrocities
- AUSTRALIA
- Christina's notes
- Christina's themes
- culture and arts
- Events
- Fuk 2022
- Fuk 2023
- Fukushima 2017
- Fukushima 2018
- fukushima 2019
- Fukushima 2020
- Fukushima 2021
- general
- global warming
- Humour (God we need it)
- Nuclear
- RARE EARTHS
- Reference
- resources – print
- Resources -audiovicual
- Weekly Newsletter
- World
- World Nuclear
- YouTube
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
