All the evidence shows voters want Labour to shift to the left — but initial signs from Andy Burnham are worrying on that front, cautions DIANE ABBOTT
BEFORE I was a member of a trade union, I was a member of Youth CND. My teenage years were heavily influenced by the peace and anti-nuclear movements in Britain and internationally.
We joined Ban the Bomb demos in London. We visited peace camps at Alconbury, Lakenheath and Greenham Common. We headed to Brockwell Park to hear the Style Council, The Damned and Madness at the CND Youth Festival for Peace in 1983.
The popular culture of resistance to cold war warriors gave my generation its music, politics and attitude. Growing up in 1970s and 1980s under the shadow of a tactical nuclear arms race and the doctrine of mutually assured destruction affected my generation in a way comparable to the effect of social media today on young people in coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It gave us a sense of urgency that called on us to become activists.
Expanding Britain’s nuclear capability increases the risk of nuclear confrontation. It does not keep us safe – it makes us a target, argues CAROL TURNER
The defence secretary’s resignation reveals not a split over principle but a dispute over pace of military spending, as Britain’s political Establishment unites behind deeper Nato commitments, argues NICK WRIGHT
While politicians fixate on defence budgets, the real answers lie in peace-building and economic justice, says ALAN SIMPSON
In an address to the Communist Party’s executive at the weekend international secretary KEVAN NELSON explained why the communists’ watchwords must be Jobs not Bombs and Welfare not Warfare


