There is currently a debate going on in the UK with politicians and free thinkers alike. Whether or not the UK should keep a nuclear deterrent or at current pay for an upgrade when the life of the UK’s current nuclear weapons cease; which is estimated at 2020 when the weapons become non-safe to operate. We live in times where we have unstable countries, who have the slightest hint and in some cases a huge boot up the ass telling us they are developing nuclear weapons. The problem I see with getting rid of these nuclear deterrents is the fact that some of these countries with mad dictators in power, will have some power over us to do whatever they want. Now the thought of this is ridiculous, seeing as we are in NATO and any harm done to us is harm done to the 20-odd so other countries out there who are in NATO.

However, loyalty takes a big step when it involves nukes, which is possibly why the UK should have its own deterrent to fight back or in most cases just to be on a level playing field. I guess this is the idea behind the word “deterrent” and the idea behind the ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ (MAD) doctrine. Sources from ministers of the UK government recently gave information out on whether or not there should be a delay on the development of these upgrades. And sources from the BBC state that the delay could reach up to 2015 which is when the next UK general election will take place. Thus when the election takes place there might be new talks of the trident upgrade and by then things may have changed for the better in the world; though however unlikely.

The cost of this upgrade is said to cost £20 billion and this was at a time where Tony Blair was in power who had set this amount aside to pay for the upgrade, whether this continues is another question. With the coalition government split on trident, with the Lib Dems not supporting trident at-all and the Tories supporting the upgrade 100% it will show how resilient the Tory-led government is to pressure from their ‘arch-allies’. What I personally believe is that the delay should happen, as it does save money in the short term to reduce the structural and budget deficit, as we can live without a nuclear upgrade programme for a few more years until it becomes necessary.

I would love to live in a nuclear weapons free world however  I don’t believe we live in that world yet; there is simply too many things that separate us as human beings. So what is your take on this? Should the nuclear upgrade program continue at a cost of £20 billion where the Tories are saying that we need to make deep cuts, and personally defence won’t affect much of the population unless a war takes place. (Unlikely)

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