‘ The United Nations, a visionary organisation—
the first line of the Charter, ‘To save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war’, — uplifting!
Every secondary school should have a copy of the
Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights.
Why not? It’s possible.’
BRUCE KENT
speaking to TalkWorks
in June 2014
‘What future is there for nuclear power?’
‘Do nuclear weapons have any value as a deterrent today?
‘ I think one of the great
dangers, looking to the future,
is that people become so used to
nuclear weapons as an unnoticed
background to all our lives,
that terrible mistakes will
be made because people forget
what they are dealing with. I
feel there is very much a danger
now that our politicians are
further and further away from
the experience of the real thing,
from any experience
of the real thing.’
LORNA ARNOLD
speaking to TalkWorks
in October 2011
TALKWORKS interviewed the British Labour peer and former Secretary of State for Defence THE RT HON THE LORD BROWNE OF LADYTON for the first time in December 2009, and again in July 2013.
From 2009 Des Browne and Margaret Beckett and other senior cross-party UK politicians were instrumental in setting up the Top Level Group of Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (TLG), and parallel leadership networks in different regions of the world.
DES BROWNE co-chaired the UK government’s Trident Commission of 2011—2013 to look into the future of Britain’s nuclear weapons whose report was published 7 days before TalkWorks’ second interview in July 2013. In this interview we asked him to reflect on progress, or lack of, in the multilateral nuclear disarmament agenda in which he has been a key driver—and for his predictions for the future.
with senior UK politicians and independent experts
FILMS MADE BY
‘Can nuclear weapons ever become a matter of history?’
TALKWORKS FILMS 2009—2016
‘Talking About Nuclear Disarmament’
SENIOR BRITISH CONSERVATIVE POLITICIAN; FORMER CHAIR OF THE UK PARLIAMENTARY DEFENCE SELECT COMMITTEE
Interviewed in November 2010
ON THE TIMING OF PRESIDENT OBAMA’S 2009 GLOBAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT INITIATIVE
Interviewed in May 2011
SENIOR BRITISH LIBERAL DEMOCRAT POLITICIAN; FORMER ADVISER TO THE UK PRIME MINISTER ON NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION.
Interviewed in March 2011
A selection of TalkWorks interviews
(PART 1 of 2) ON THE EXISTENTIAL GLOBAL THREATS CONFRONTING HUMANITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY—WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?
Interviewed in July 2012
SENIOR UK LABOUR POLITICIAN, FORMER UK DEFENCE SECRETARY & FORMER SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO
Interviewed in January 2010
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
‘What would I say to the
politicians? I’d say you at the
United Nations, you have got a
120-page draft treaty on the
elimination of nuclear weapons.
It’s been with you for fifteen years.
It’s similar to the one that abolishes
chemical weapons. This treaty has
been with you in draft. You have
never sat down to discuss its
terms. Sit down, call an
international meeting in London
and begin to negotiate the abolition
of nuclear weapons. But they
won’t discuss it because there is a
deep down religion which
they’ve had since 1945 that
nuclear weapons are the
answer to anybody’s
aggressive tendencies.’
BRUCE KENT
speaking to TalkWorks in June 2014
for full list of contributors A—Z go HERE
See all of TalkWorks’ interviews on YouTube
THE RT HON THE LORD BROWNE OF LADYTON
RT HON LORD ROBERTSON OF PORT ELLEN
‘ This summer we have learnt that we can land successfully on yet another piece
of dust and rock . . . and we really know now with all the money spent on space
exploration that there's no need for that, there are no neighbours within
reachable distance at all—it all depends on keeping this little blue and green
planet alive, because it is the ONLY living world.’
ANNE PIPER—speaking in November 2014
All 4 parts of this interview can be seen HERE
ON THE SYMBOLIC THEOLOGICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Interviewed in May 2011