Nuclear war not a game

Paul Mason is right, to remind us both of "what a nuclear weapon does", and that nuclear warheads are now in the hands of "men for whom the idea of using them is becoming thinkable" (Nuclear war has become thinkable again,18/04/17). With leaders like Trump, Putin and Kim Jong-un, who revel in playing war games like children playing chicken, it is indeed "criminal" that the UK prefers "silence" to using our "diplomatic clout". May clearly thinks any offence given to Trump will not only hinder a post-Brexit trade agreement, but also her chances of retaining the Tory leadership. She`s keen to remind us that "politics is not a game", but still plays along, whilst Corbyn`s Labour is muzzled by fear of the right-wing press seeing caution as weakness, and preferring May`s more gung-ho approach.

     The nuclear explosion at Chernobyl back in 1986 caused such devastation it focused minds, even Russian and American ones; the SALT agreements, which limited warheads, morphed into START negotiations which effectively ended the nuclear arms race. It looks as though our stubborn and intransigent politicians need to be reminded of a little recent history! None of them appear to realise that there`s more to politics than unilateralism and "crowd-pleasing".