With experts agreeing that renewing Trident makes little sense,Labour’s decision to bottle out of a vote is a missed opportunityIt might be perfectly comprehensible why Labour party delegates decided to bottle out of a conference debate on Trident, Britain’s most powerful, or most expensive,most irrelevant and most useless weapon. Yet the attempt to suppress debate on the utility of Britain’s nuclear arsenal is undemocratic. And a discussion is needed, desperately.“The question of Trident renewal becomes a symbol for Britain in the world, or for patriotism,or for enlightened foreign policy,” says Michael Clarke, and director general of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) thinktank. He adds: “The one thing that politicians don’t address when they talk about Britain’s nuclear weapons is how they effect,or don’t, actually figure in practical defence policy for the next 10 or 20 years. It is really very depressing.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com