WILPF Executive Committee member, Helen Martins, wrote the following letter which was published in the Morning Star on 19 December 2024.
Earlier this year I had the privilege to hear two survivors of the Hiroshima bombing talking about their nightmare experiences that day, and in the days, months and years that followed. One survivor started coughing as she described the toxic radioactive dust cloud that smothered the city. It was therefore heartening to hear that the Japanese atomic bomb survivor group has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its continuing “never again” campaigning.
In congratulating the win (Wednesday’s paper), the General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament summed it up perfectly, saying “They are truly incredible people who have turned one of the 20th-century’s greatest war crimes into a powerful global movement for nuclear disarmament.” With 2025 marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she added “It will be a year for redoubling our efforts to promote nuclear disarmament in Britain and across the world.”
In a piece of newspaper layout genius, the article directly underneath describes the Chancellor ordering 5 per cent spending cuts across government, in part to enable them to raise military spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product and therefore, in effect, applying austerity measures to public services to fund a new generation of weapons of mass destruction.
At the same time, the Chancellor has gifted me £10 for being an old person and I note that this would buy me around a dozen candles at my local supermarket, useful for keeping warm over the winter. I’m inclined to suggest to friends of a similar vintage that we club together and repurpose our gift in the form of a seasonal outing for the Chancellor – a ticket to Dr Strangelove, now playing in a theatre just a short walk away from Downing Street.
Helen Martins – Minster On Sea, Kent
