A message from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as they prepare to set the Doomsday Clock for 2024 :

The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making. It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet. 

Each year, the Clock is set by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, a group of internationally recognized experts on nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biosecurity. 

Right now, the Clock is the closest it has ever been at 90 seconds to midnight. 

What will they set the Clock at this year? Join the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on January 23rd at 3pm GMT to find out. 

Watch live on the Bulletin's website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.

Join CND on the first of October at the national demonstration at the Tory party conference this year in Manchester to share our Wages not Weapons message!

There is a coach hired to Manchester leaving Lewisham in the morning and returning that same evening. Click the link below to join the Anti-War block at the national demonstration.

An invitation to celebrate the launch of 'Peace! Books! Freedom! The Secret History of a Radical London Building' by Rosa Schling

The book explores the history of 5 Caledonian Road - home to Housmans Bookshop, Peace News, and dozens of activist and campaigning organisations across its more than sixty year history. It is the product of an oral history project by On The Record.

There will be drinks, nibbles and a FREE COPY of the book for every guest!

We really look forward to bringing together as many people as have had a relationship with the building so please do join us.

Please come along from 7.00pm onwards on Saturday 16th September... Taking place at Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX

Hope to see you there!

Love from the book production team

Hiroshima Remembered 2023

London CND will host a Hiroshima commemoration event in Tavistock Square, London at 12PM on Hiroshima Day.

Speakers include Councillor Nazma Rahman, Mayor of Camden, Roger McKenzie, Councillor Emma Dent-Coad and Jeremy Corbyn MP.

12:00 Choir - Raised Voices

12:05 Welcome 

• Hannah Kemp-Welch, Co-Chair London CND

• Councillor Nazma Rahman - Mayor of Camden

12:15 Memorial

• Laying of the wreath - Councillor Nazma Rahman

• Chanting - Rev Negase

12:20 Speeches

• Roger McKenzie, Vice President of Liberation and International Editor of the Morning Star, former Unison Deputy General Secretary

• Councillor Emma Dent-Coad

• Jeremy Corbyn MP

12:40 Cultural responses

• Michael Mears & Riko Nakazono perform an extract from ‘The Mistake’

• Hugh Goodachre plays guitar

12:50 Close

• Carol Turner, Co-Chair London CND - London CND announcements

• Shigeo Kobayashi, Japanese Against Nuclear - Nagasaki Day announcement

• Thanks - Hannah Kemp-Welch

12:55 Choir - Raised Voices

Please get in touch with Julie at info@londoncnd.org if you have any queries.

This film shows the way nuclear weapons began. We are right now shaping the way nuclear weapons will end. Whether you’re a biopic enthusiast wondering about its representation in a Hollywood blockbuster, a raging peace activist or a just interested in the chat, come and watch 'Oppenheimer' with the London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament!

We’ll open the screening with a few pointers from the head of the Films Studies department at Queen Mary University, Guy Westwell. He is a specialist of Hollywood war film and anti-war film, so we will be in good hands.

The screening will be followed by an informal Q&A with Guy and Kate Hudson, the general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. By profession a historian, Kate is a key figure in the anti-war movement nationally and internationally.

Please note - this film contains sequences of flickering or flashing lights that may affect viewers with photosensitive epilepsy

Musicians for peace and disarmament

Date/time: Thursday 25 May 2023 7:30pm
Venue: St James's Piccadilly, 197 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LL

Orchestral concert conducted by MPD Patron Jane Glover DBE celebrating the life and work of Bruce Kent. This concert is presented jointly by MPD, CND, MAW and Pax Christi.

Prokofiev Symphony No.1 Classical
Mozart Flute Concerto in D (soloist MPD Patron Wissam Boustany)
Haydn Symphony No.103 in E flat The Drumroll

Tickets: £20
Booking link: https://buytickets.at/mpd/878211

20 May 2023

CND condemns the return of US nuclear weapons to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk: join our demonstration to protest this extremely dangerous and destabilising development!

London CND is planning transport for London, you can book your tickets by following this link:

Join CND to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba – or Catastrophe – when over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from over 500 villages and cities in historic Palestine, never to return. The Nakba continues today. From Jerusalem to Gaza, via the Naqab, Israel continues its policy of human rights abuses, displacing and oppressing the indigenous Palestinian population. While Palestinians living in exile, uprooted by Israel, are denied their right of return, a right enshrined in international law.

The Palestinian people need our solidarity now more than ever.

The British government remains silent on Israel’s semi-clandestine nuclear status in the same way it remains silent about Palestinian human rights.

CND is calling on supporters to gather in London to mark the Nakba and to call for an end to Israel’s nuclear arsenal and human rights abuses.

Assemble 12 noon at BBC Portland Place, before setting off for a march and rally on Whitehall.

Click here to see transport options from across the country

Organised by: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al- Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Supported by Artists Union England, BFAWU, CWU, The MU, NEU, PCS, RMT, TSSA, UCU, UNISON, and Unite the Union.

For any queries please contact information@cnduk.org

Save the date!

CND will be supporting an XR action in London taking place from April 21st where we will be standing up for the planet and against nuclear weapons.

More information to follow, but with any queries in the meantime please contact information@cnduk.org

On 15 March members of the National Education Union (NEU) will begin two days of strike action in their campaign to win a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise for teachers. They are asking supporters to join us on a demonstration to support this action.

As part of CND’s Wages not Weapons campaign, we will be joining the protest to highlight the government’s wrong priorities.

Assemble 12 noon in Hyde Park, near Speakers Corner, before marching to Trafalgar Square. Look out for CND’s yellow banner to join our bloc!

For any queries please contact information@cnduk.org

CND is a member of the SOS NHS campaign, as part of our Nurses not Nukes campaign highlighting the government’s wrong priorities. Join this national demonstration calling for action on the unprecedented crisis in the NHS and in support of NHS staff forced to take strike action.

This is also a moment ahead of the Spring Budget to bring people together around an issue that unites us all.

The demonstration will assemble at 12pm Midday, on Saturday 11 March, at the north-most end of Tottenham Court Road (Euston end) opposite Warren Street Underground Station NW1 3AA.

Click here for more information

For any queries, please contact campaigns@keepournhspublic.com

A tree will be planted in memory of Bruce Kent on Saturday 4th March at 2pm in Finsbury Park in north London. This was Bruce’s local park. He was very active in his local community as well as having a world-wide impact.

The tree has been grown by Jeremy Corbyn. He will be with us to assist us all in planting the tree.

The best route into the park is the Endymion Road entrance – see image below. Come in to the park via the Endymion Road entrance and walk straight ahead until you see the track on your right and then opposite (green circle) is where we will aim to plant the tree. You can click on the map below to find your way.

At the end of February it will be one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. To mark the day, Stop the War has called a national demonstration in central London on Saturday 25 February at midday to say No To War.

From the very beginning, the Stop the War Coalition demanded ‘Russian Troops Out,’ we also opposed the NATO expansion, which was one of the causes of the war and the rapid military escalation in the conflict.

One year on, the situation is deadlocked and it is clear there can be no winners in this war, that is why we need to be on the streets to demand Peace Talks Now.

Location TBC and list of speakers announced soon!

More information

For any queries, please contact office@stopwar.org.uk

Join the London CND contingent protesting against the return of US nuclear weapons in Britain in September 2022

After having to postpone the September date owing to rail strikes, CND is organising a second protest at RAF Lakenheath against the return of US nuclear weapons. London CND is planning coach transport to the base again, and you can book your ticket here:

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£10 student / unwaged / low-waged

£22 standard

£30 solidarity - please help us cover the costs of this action!

Can't make it but want to participate? You can also donate the amount of your choice and enable someone else to join us!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's the plan?

• London CND has booked a coach leaving at 10am from opposite Embankment Underground station, London. It will drop us off very close to RAF Lakenheath around 12:30pm

• Protests from 1 to 3pm will involve speeches, music and creative actions. Feel free to prepare your own!

• We will then return to Embankment by the same means and arrive back in London at 6pm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More info on RAF Lakenheath

The US withdrew its nuclear weapons from Lakenheath in 2008 after more than 50 years of US nuclear weapons deployment in the UK. Lakenheath was used to store USAF nuclear gravity bombs. The facilities to do so are still intact.

In 2015 Lakenheath was selected to host the new generation of United States nuclear-capable fighter- bomber aircraft in Europe, the F-35A. The first of them arrived there in December last year.

The revelation of the return of US nuclear weapons in Lakenheath was announced in April by Hans Kristensen, Nuclear Information Project Director at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), from analysing a US Department of Defence document.

Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball believes it is ‘an early sign that the US and Nato are preparing to engage in a protracted and maybe heightened standoff with Putin’s Russia’.

The British government is working hand in glove with the US on Ukraine. Boris Johnson’s recent announcement of increased military assistance to President Zelensky, including supplying offensive weaponry, is stoking the fires of a nuclear war that could stretch across Europe and beyond.

We want Britain to back negotiations, not escalate the war.

Stop US nukes coming to Lakenheath!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For all questions, please contact Julie: info@londoncnd.org

A conference about the impact of new technologies on future warfare, and the new challenges we’ll face as a result.

Sat, 12 November 2022, 10:30 – 16:30 GMT

Organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Drone Wars.

Speakers include:

• Peter Burt, Drone Wars

• Jeremy Corbyn MP

• Anuradha Damale, BASIC

• Lindsey German, Stop the War

• Kate Hudson, CND

• Matt Kennard, Declassified UK

• Melusine Lebret, Youth Fusion

• Laura Nolan, Stop Killer Robots

• Stuart Parkinson, Scientists for Global Responsibility

• Paul Rogers, Bradford Peace Studies

• Tom Unterrainer, CND

• Dave Webb, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Sessions include:

• Likely causes of future wars

• Technology: empowering or enslaving?

• Artificial Intelligence and killer robots

• Information war

• Militarisation of space

• Turning learning into action

Registration opens at 10am.

We expect high demand for this event and spaces are limited so book your ticket ASAP to avoid disappointment!

CND’s annual Conference this year, Nuclear Disarmament not Nuclear War! will take place over two weekends in October.

PUBLIC CONFERENCE

Sunday 16 October

This takes the form of a Day of Action at Menwith Hill, Yorkshire – with workshops, a visit to the base, and transport back to Leeds railway station Julie and I will be there and we hope as many as possible London CND supporters will join us. Full details and registration here

The AGM and Policy Conference is a crucial part of CND’s democratic structure, and the discussions had and decisions made will shape the work of the campaign over the next year.

You find full details about CND’s national conference and AGM on the CND website here

10:45-11:45   Arrive at The Courthouse, Otley for welcome with refreshments
11:45-12:45   Workshops on Menwith Hill and military bases in the UK
12:45-13:30   Lunch
14:00-15:30   Travel to the base and walk around the perimeter
15:45-16:15   Discussion on action planning

Transport will be arranged from Leeds station at 10:50, returning for 16:15 or 17:15.

Please let us know if you require transport from rail stations and if you need accommodation (on the Saturday night). For this, and all general enquiries, please contact info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk or phone 01274 730795.

CND’s annual Conference this year will take place over two weekends in October. The online AGM & Policy Conference will take place on Saturday 8 October.

CND’s annual Conference this year, Nuclear Disarmament not Nuclear War! will take place over two weekends in October.

AGM & POLICY CONFERENCE

Saturday 8 October

This will be held by zoom, and determins the shape of our work for the year to come. London CND can send 5 representatives to speak and vote in accordance with London CND policies and priorities. Phil Sedler, John Morris, and David Leal will be three, two place for London reps are still open. .If you’d like to put your name forward, please volunteer by relying to this email. (In the event of competition directly elected members of our committee will be given priority.)

Local groups and individual members of CND can also register to attend conference. Register here  for the AGM & policy conference by 28 September at the latest. Individuals please note you must be a Company Member to vote at the AGM. Unsure whether or not you are? Contact membership@cnduk.org

f you have any queries please email Rob at conference@cnduk.org

CHANGE OF PLANS - due to the train strike on Sep 17th, the protest will be postponed to a later date to be confirmed. We’ll let you know as soon as we can and will be in touch with those who already booked their coach ticked with us.

———————————————————————

Join the London CND contingent protesting against the return of US nuclear weapons in Britain in September 2022

*Save the date – more information to follow*

CND is organising a second protest at RAF Lakenheath against the return of US nuclear weapons. London CND is therefore planning coach transport to the base again, and you can already book your ticket here:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

£10 student / unwaged / low-waged

£22 standard

£30 solidarity - please help us cover the costs of this action!

Can't make it but want to participate? You can also donate the amount of your choice and enable someone else to join us!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's the plan?

• London CND has booked a coach leaving at 10am from opposite Embankment Underground station, London. It will drop us off very close to RAF Lakenheath around 12:30pm

• Protests from 1 to 3pm will involve speeches, music and creative actions. Feel free to prepare your own!

• We will then return to Embankment by the same means and arrive back in London at 6pm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More info on RAF Lakenheath

The US withdrew its nuclear weapons from Lakenheath in 2008 after more than 50 years of US nuclear weapons deployment in the UK. Lakenheath was used to store USAF nuclear gravity bombs. The facilities to do so are still intact.

In 2015 Lakenheath was selected to host the new generation of United States nuclear-capable fighter- bomber aircraft in Europe, the F-35A. The first of them arrived there in December last year.

The revelation of the return of US nuclear weapons in Lakenheath was announced in April by Hans Kristensen, Nuclear Information Project Director at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), from analysing a US Department of Defence document.

Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball believes it is ‘an early sign that the US and Nato are preparing to engage in a protracted and maybe heightened standoff with Putin’s Russia’.

The British government is working hand in glove with the US on Ukraine. Boris Johnson’s recent announcement of increased military assistance to President Zelensky, including supplying offensive weaponry, is stoking the fires of a nuclear war that could stretch across Europe and beyond.

We want Britain to back negotiations, not escalate the war.

Stop US nukes coming to Lakenheath!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For all questions, please contact Julie: info@londoncnd.org

Hiroshima Remembered 2022

London CND will host a Hiroshima commemoration event in Tavistock Square, London

The event will be hosted by London CND co-chair Hannah Kemp-Welch, with:

• Nasim Ali, Mayor of Camden

• Benali Hamdache, Green Party spokesperson on migrants and refugee support

• Jess Barnard, Young Labour chair and Norwich CND member

• John Morris, London CND committee member

• more tbc...

And on the cultural programme:

• Rev Nagase

• the choir Raised Voices

Registering allows us to contact you directly in case of changes but you will still be able to attend the commemoration physically without registering.

Please get in touch with Julie at info@londoncnd.org if you have any queries.

Please get in touch with Julie at info@londoncnd.org if you have any queries.

CND will have a bloc on the Trades Union Congress national demonstration in London on Saturday, June 18th.

We will protest against the government's failure to deal with the rising cost of living while spending £205 billion on new nuclear weapons.

Join CND to protest against the return of US nuclear weapons to RAF Lakenheath!

More information to follow, including on travel options to the base.

For any queries, please contact information@cnduk.org

Join the London CND contingent protesting against the return of US nuclear weapons in Britain

It has been revealed that Britain is to become the sixth country in Europe to host US nuclear weapons. The expected location: RAF Lakenheath, a US Air Force base in Suffolk - 70 miles away from London.

Creating the conditions for siting American nuclear weapons in Britain puts us on the front line of a nuclear war. It is tantamount to painting a target on the back of everyone in this country.

Join the London CND contingent to Lakenheath on Saturday 21 May.

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We've spent time looking for the cheapest transport options and are offering three tiers for your transport booking. In order to enable anyone who wishes to attend, students / unwaged and low-waged people will benefit from a £10 return ticket.

The standard rate is £22 return. If you can help us meet the costs of this action, we would really appreciate if you could select the £30 solidarity ticket.

Can't make it but want to participate? You can also donate here and enable someone else to join us!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's the plan?

• London CND has booked a coach leaving at 10am from opposite Embankment Underground station, London. It will drop us off very close to RAF Lakenheath around 12:30pm

• Protests from 1 to 3pm will involve speeches, music and creative actions. Feel free to prepare your own!

• We will then return to Embankment by the same means and arrive back in London at 6pm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More info on RAF Lakenheath

The US withdrew its nuclear weapons from Lakenheath in 2008 after more than 50 years of US nuclear weapons deployment in the UK. Lakenheath was used to store USAF nuclear gravity bombs. The facilities to do so are still intact.

In 2015 Lakenheath was selected to host the new generation of United States nuclear-capable fighter- bomber aircraft in Europe, the F-35A. The first of them arrived there in December last year.

The revelation of the return of US nuclear weapons in Lakenheath was announced in April by Hans Kristensen, Nuclear Information Project Director at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), from analysing a US Department of Defence document.

Arms Control Association Director Daryl Kimball believes it is ‘an early sign that the US and Nato are preparing to engage in a protracted and maybe heightened standoff with Putin’s Russia’.

The British government is working hand in glove with the US on Ukraine. Boris Johnson’s recent announcement of increased military assistance to President Zelensky, including supplying offensive weaponry, is stoking the fires of a nuclear war that could stretch across Europe and beyond.

We want Britain to back negotiations, not escalate the war.

Stop US nukes coming to Lakenheath!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For all questions, please contact Julie: info@londoncnd.org

The next London CND committee meeting will take place on Monday 11th April.

This time, we will be joined from 6:30pm to 7:15 by CND General Secretary Kate Hudson who will give us an overview of the current moment and introduce some campaigning priorities of the peace movement.

All group members, London CND supporters and participants in Nuclear Ban Communities meetings are invited.

In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the increasing talk of nuclear war, join CND for this webinar to discuss the realities of nuclear war. In these current times, it is more important than ever to remind everyone of what a nuclear war would mean for the world and to make a clear statement that this outcome has to be avoided at all cost.

With guest speakers including Rebecca Johnson, CND Vice-President and leading campaigner on the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons; Stuart Parkinson, Scientists for Global Responsibility. Chaired by Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary.

Global Day of Action - London Demonstration

Stop the War in Ukraine.

Russian Troops Out. No to NATO Expansion.

Called by Stop the War & CND.

Across the world people are uniting for peace and calling for an end to war in Ukraine. Stop the War and CND join that call which is supported by the vast majority of people in Britain.

We oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We call for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Russian troops. We also recognise this is a conflict thirty years in the making, a conflict in which Britain is playing a provocative role - talking up war, decrying diplomacy and increased military deployments to neighbouring countries.

Join us in London as part of the No to War in Ukraine Global Day of Action to call for an end to the War in Ukraine, the withdrawal of Russian troops and opposing NATO escalation.

Scrap the Trident nuclear weapons system and invest in our NHS instead!

The UK government  is increasing the number of warheads in its Trident nuclear weapons arsenal for the first time since the Cold War. At the same time, it says it doesn’t have enough money to properly pay our nurses, who have looked after us throughout the pandemic.

Stand with CND as we campaign for Nurses not Nukes.

Action: SOS NHS campaign

CND is supporting the SOS NHS campaign to highlight how the cost of nuclear weapons could instead be invested in the NHS.

A national day of action has been called for February 26th: get involved. Local groups will be organising stalls and events across the country. London CND will join the protest in London.

Other things you can do to support the campaign:

• Sign and share the petition as widely through your own networks as possible

• Tweet this message to the government

• Share SOS NHS’ digital content on social media (using the hashtag #SOSNHS)

Get your Nurses not Nukes items

• Wear the Nurses not Nukes tshirt for an action, or just to go about your day!

• Display the Nurses not Nukes poster to show support

Wrong priorities

• The government has its priorities all wrong. Its pitiful offer to the nurses, the public sector pay freeze, lack of sick pay – all while announcing the first increase in nuclear weapons since the Cold War – makes it very clear that the government doesn’t care about the health and wellbeing of our communities.

• We should not be spending billions of pounds on weapons of mass destruction when investment is urgently needed in our NHS.

• Nuclear weapons do not keep us safe and if a nuclear attack – however ‘limited’ – did actually take place, it would cause a humanitarian catastrophe with millions dead and the emergency services unable to respond due to infrastructure collapsing.

Join CND as we campaign for Nurses not Nukes. The larger our movement, the louder our voice.

Join the protests in response to the extraordinary rise in energy bills! It has been announced that approximately 22 million people will see an annual increase of £693 on their bills, with even more for those on pre-payment meters. People are struggling with the cost of living, but the government has its priorities all wrong, and still wants to spend at least £205 billion on nuclear weapons!

The People’s Assembly have co-ordinated a number of local and regional demonstrations, with people planning to take to the streets in locations all over Britain.

The London protest will take place in Parliament Square. London CND's theme is # Welfare not Warfare

As states gather for the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, this Parliamentary CND side meeting will look at the prospects of nuclear disarmament for Britain.

The meeting will launch a new report – authored by Dr Rebecca Johnson – about the implications for Britain of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – and on the next steps for getting rid of Britain’s nuclear weapons. With guest speakers Dr Rebecca Johnson, CND Vice-Chair, Acronym, ICAN; Julian Borger, The Guardian world affairs editor; Kirsten Oswald MP; and others TBC. Chaired by Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary.

Context

The announcement of AUKUS, the military partnership between the UK, the US and Australia, is a dangerous escalation in the West’s ongoing confrontation with China.

Spreading nuclear technology is at the heart of the deal: the US and UK are collaborating with Australia to provide them with nuclear-powered submarines. This risks nuclear proliferation and is a breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.