Missiles and Missed Opportunities

Nuclear weapons have been part of the UK's defence programme since 1952, with Trident in place since 1994. The arguments for and against the UK having a nuclear weapons system have rumbled on for a long time but now, with the deep cuts being inflicted by the Conservative Lib Dem Coalition, it is time to look more closely at the moral and economic justifications for maintaining Trident.

Trident consists of four nuclear submarines, from which there is one on active duty at all times. Each of the Trident submarines can carry forty-eight nuclear warheads with an explosive power of up to 100 kilotonnes.  The bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945, had an estimated power of 12 - 15 kilotonnes. The true number of people it killed will probably never be known, but estimates of the five-year death toll exceed 200,000 people.

In 1968 the British Government ratified the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, (NPT); currently 189 countries have done so and as part of this, they agree to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, to work towards complete nuclear disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear technology. Indeed, Article VI of the treaty states:

"Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."

So the UK has an obligation to actively pursue disarmament. With Trident requiring such enormous investment, what a perfect opportunity to do so, yet the Coalition insists it is committed to the renewal of Trident and Liam Fox has insisted that he will not include it in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) that is underway.

The cost of replacing the Trident submarines is estimated at £20billion and estimates for the lifetime cost of maintenance of the system exceed £80billion, so surely, with the level of cuts being imposed by this government across the board, Trident MUST be included in the SDSR.

In June, Dr Liam Fox promised that the nuclear element of our defence systems was safe from the Chancellor's axe and recently he was still stating that it would not be included in the general defence budget. Yet yesterday, George Osborne said:

"I have made it very clear that Trident renewal costs must be taken as part of the defence budget."

So which is it? With public spending being cut to the bone and the effect that will have on the lives of the public, is it right to prioritise a not-likely-to-be-used nuclear weapons programme? Do we actually need a nuclear submarine on active patrol at all times?

Osborne has opened up another dilemma for Fox here though. If Trident is to be included in the general defence budget, where will he find the money for the equipment and resources needed to supply our troops? As Dr Fox himself admitted, earlier this month:

"To take the capital cost would make it very difficult to maintain what we are currently doing in terms of capability."

Maybe that is the real reason for the hasty withdrawal of our forces from Afghanistan? Is it a choice, Afghanistan or Trident?

Nonetheless, it definitely is a choice of which has greater priority between Trident and Public Services. It is a question that Nick Clegg asked himself last year, and he arrived at this conclusion:

“Given that we need to ask ourselves big questions about what our priorities are, we have arrived at the view that a like-for-like Trident replacement is not the right thing to do.”

This was a flagship Lib Dem policy - and one that many in the Labour party agreed with. So what changed his mind? Was it again the lure of power? Is this another example of Clegg forfeiting principles for portfolio?

In the current economic climate, ordinary people are facing a bleak future of stripped-back public services, job losses and withdrawal of welfare. To push ahead with the replacement of Trident and the financial commitment it requires with no review is irresponsible, a poor use of available funds and, as with many things that the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg are doing, unprincipled.

No Honeymoon Polling for Clegg

With all new relationships there comes the initial honeymoon period. That time when you are still trying to impress and be the person you think the object of your affection wants/needs/deserves. Well, Cameron and Clegg have been partnered for 75 days now and that honeymoon doesn't seem to be going so well... In fact, if I was Clegg and it was my honeymoon, I'd be checking my travel insurance to see if it covered me for a hasty getaway!

The problem is, Clegg doesn't want to get away. I like the comparison of the Lib Dems being stuck in a political form of Stockholm Syndrome, it fits well. They are desperately trying to maintain the impression that they somehow achieved power, when in fact, they sold their souls to the devil to have it for a short time - or at least, Clegg did that for them. As today's Telegraph reports, 42% of Lib Dems would have changed their vote if they had known they would end up in a coalition with David Cameron's Conservative Party. In addition, 37% of Lib Dem voters felt that the party had been dishonest about the scale of cuts planned.

Also reported is Norman Tebbit admitting that the Tories only need the Lib Dems for short-term gain and warning Cameron about not making too many concessions to please his Coalition Partner, as he said on Newsnight: 

"We have to be careful that we do not slide into making constitutional reforms to please our Lib Dem colleagues, which are of infinitely greater long-term importance than some of the short-term economic decisions in which we need their help,"

The Lib Dems are sliding in the ratings, with the latest polling average from UK Polling showing them to be on just 14% to Labour's 35% and the Tories' 43%. This coalition could turn out to be the worst move a Lib Dem leader ever made. 

Cancer - Physical Recovery is a Small Part of the Journey

Recently, I was asked via Formspring, the "ask me anything" website, how it felt to be a cancer survivor. This got me thinking and I have subsequently been self-analysing ever since. Am I a cancer survivor? The truth is, at this stage I still do not know. I have some way to go before I am discharged by the hospital and am still undergoing preventative treatment. This doesn't mean that my outlook is negative or that I am not optimistic for the future, I most definitely am, the issue lies in confidence. I have to stress, that I am not generalising, cancer is a very personal journey and this is just how I feel. Others are affected to varying degrees, all of which are completely normal.

Physically, cancer is devastating. When I look at my body and the changes inflicted upon it by cancer, I am still incredibly upset. It is something I can never escape. Every time I look in the mirror, I see the scars from my initial surgeries and the subsequent reconstruction operations. At my lowest moments I see ugly mutilation, at my best, I see that they have faded a lot and that I had a great surgeon. Nonetheless, they are scars that will never fade completely. I am so thankful that I am happily married and that my husband loves me, scars and all. Some of the damaging effects of seven-months of chemotherapy are still with me, my hair grew back, but the weight I put on has not all gone yet and I still can't play the sports that I used to enjoy as a result, but importantly, I know I will get there.  

It is psychologically, where cancer is much more destructive. That is where cancer wins as far as I am concerned. I don't think I will ever get my confidence back to the level it was. I was a feisty woman, a tough career girl, who climbed the ladder and thought nothing of presenting to conferences and meetings, taking on the Directors at Board Meetings and fighting my corner. Now, I sometimes turn down invitations and hide behind others because I have lost the courage that I once took for granted.

I can pinpoint and track back every insecurity to my cancer. There are two periods in my life, BC and AC, Before Cancer and After Cancer, almost everything goes via that filter. 

Not all changes have been negative, I think that in some ways I am nicer now, I take less for granted and have my priorities firmly set. In the BC days I would have been more ruthless and would have played the political game more. AC I value principles and honesty much more and I look for these in the people I am lucky enough to call friends. 

My family and friends are the people who have got me through this. My family, especially my husband have been amazing, putting up with the emotional roller-coaster that accompanies a cancer patient. There are periods when I will be fine and even days when I don't think about cancer; then there are periods when the effects of the cancer are apparent and I have to fight the desire to just curl up and hide away.

Thankfully, I also have the most amazing friends. They rallied round when I was desperately ill, came to the hospital, cheered me up, stayed with me for days, looked after the children, held my hand and let me cry about my fears and worries, one even drove to see me on the day he was released from hospital after a road accident. Just being there for me, then and still. Even now, it is the little things, that they do that mean the world. For example, I realised recently that I have no female friends who would even think about flaunting their cleavage around me - not that I have ever asked them not to, but as one of them said, "It is something that friends would think about, without being asked and without asking if you are bothered or not." It is little things like that, that remind me of how lucky I am. (In all honesty, until pretty recently it would have upset me enormously, but until that conversation with my friend, I didn't realise it.)

It is impossible to cover all the little ways that my life is different, but if you ever ask me to go somewhere and I give a flimsy excuse, this could be why. I'm sorry, it's not you, it's me, I'm not the girl I once was and I miss her. The future holds all manner of possibilities, I am hopeful and optimistic that I will, one day, be ready to take on the world again, and win.

Society ConDemned

I must be honest, being in opposition sucks. Having to stand by and watch as Nick and Dave's ConDem Coalition sets about systematically destroying everything they can lay their hands on, is dispiriting, gut-wrenching and terrifying.

I think Sally Bercow put it best, when on BBC Question Time, she compared their actions with those of a 6-year-old, who gets a new toy and the first thing they do is to take it apart. This wanton destruction of systems and institutions that have taken generations to establish is beyond someone trying to put their stamp of authority on things. I hate to say it, but I think even Thatcher wouldn't go this far.

Two, privileged men of considerable means, overseeing the biggest dismantling of society that the Tories could ever dream of getting away with. Of course, I blame Clegg, without him, Cameron would have had no chance of getting much of this legislation through parliament. Without the Lib Dems voting with their Leader to preserve and extend their temporary residence in the corridors of power, the Tories would be begging and negotiating with MPs of all parties to try and achieve their flawed plans.

I know, I sound angry, but do you know what? I AM ANGRY! I am standing like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2, clinging on to the fence as I watch a ConDem Nuclear Holocaust wipe out our public services. Over dramatic? No. Believe me, I am being very restrained. There are all sorts of words that I would use to describe the Tory leader and his megolamaniac Partner-in-crime, but I am not going to bring this post into the gutter, where they belong.

It wouldn't be so bad, if it were not the impression that they are loving every single second of what they are doing - like a couple of boys who have snuck into a building site and found the keys had been left in the wrecking ball - what fun!

Except it is not fun for those who feel the effect of what they do. As with any crime (and I class this political vandalism of society as one of the worst) there are victims and unfortunately as a result of this one, their number stretches into the millions. It is as though the poor, the sick, the young, the disadvantaged and those in most need are being deliberately punished. Of course, Osborne likes to tell us that we are all in this together but I don't see that at all.

I see the NHS being dismantled and opened up like a dressed crab, ready for private companies to start taking over and taking their share, I see Education being turned into a marketplace, where Cameron welcomes the various organisations, businesses and foundations that want to run our schools to suit their own agendas and I see Welfare being stripped back to the point where poverty will soon become the norm for thousands of families who do not fit into the ConDem Coalition's ideal. Unlike Cameron, Clegg and their Ministers, I see real people.

I see people like the father of a colleague, who has been told he cannot have his benefits any more, because he is no longer disabled. He can get out and get a job - I'm not sure how his amputated leg has grown back, but they clearly think it must have as even on appeal, this judgement was upheld and he is having to try to get recourse through his MP.

I see people like a single-parent friend, who is terrified that she will lose her benefits if she cannot take a job because it means that she will be unable to care for her children and continue being a carer to her elderly, disabled mother. She cannot get on her bike and take a job elsewhere just to suit Iain Duncan Smith and his lunacy.

I also see children who do not matter to the likes of Michael Gove, because he thinks that his responsibility ends at ensuring someone, anyone is offering an education of sorts; gone are the days of Every Child Matters - get used to it, they don't.

Public Sector jobs are essential to communities across the country, lose them and the shockwaves spread into every local business, corner shop, pub and working men's club. This isn't creation of a Big Society, it is annihilation of the one we had restored and nurtured after the last time the Tories declared civil war on blue-collar industries and communities that relied on them. (Yes, I am harping on about mining again!)

With the Coalition's Office for Budget Responsibility admitting that it made "last minute changes" to its estimates of job losses prior to Osborne's axe-swinging, which made the figures lower by 175,000, they clearly cannot be trusted to either keep the well-being of the populace at the centre of their policies or to be honest over the true impact they will have.

Dishonest, Destructive, Detatched from reality, Dispicable. I rarely hate, I'm a naturally compassionate person who tends to see the good in people, even the really bad ones. But this time, I'm at a loss. I can see nothing of any value, no good or positive qualities and absolutely no care or consideration in Cameron or Clegg. I only hope that they do not get to complete their mission before enough of the Lib Dem's wake up, see the pit of hell they are being dragged into and start to try to restore the heart and soul of their party before they reach the event horizon.

At some point in the future, Labour will return to power. Then the work of restoration will begin and it will be the biggest job we have ever had to do. Rebuilding communities for the second time, remaking the infrastructure of our education system, mending the NHS or maybe even having to begin a National Health Service all over again. The biggest task will be restoring faith in government and politicians after the ultimate betrayal of voter's trust. We are a party of fighters and now, more than ever, we need to harness that spirit and dig in. Help us to maintain hope. Join us.