British Lamb to Lie Down With Osama the Lion

The stupidest argument your ever likely to hear on why Great Britain should not modernize its ballistics submarine defense (the so called Trident debate). Not to say there aren't some good arguments on Britain rethinking its overall nuclear strategy... but the pacifist argument isn't one. And it's not from the Guardian it's from Alice Miles at the Times.

I would never, ever, ever want a British leader to fire a nuclear weapon. Ever. In any circumstances. Even if someone fired one at us. Even if a country fired more than one at us.

But of course if wasn't for the mean, nasty Americans there wouldn't be any need for anyone to have nuclear weapons. Or maybe any weapons.

I can think of trying to engage with the Muslim world instead of using the bully-boy tactics of bombing and threatening it. I can think of unlinking our foreign policy from that of the United States to enable us to take some — some — defence decisions alone. I can think of leading by example and reducing our nuclear firepower as a step towards complete disarmament, to encourage other states not to develop theirs. I can think of using our fabled influence with the US to press for disarmament, not rearmament.