Do we still need a nuclear deterrent?

If others have nuclear weapons we need them too. Alas that thinking has led to a chain reaction of proliferation (9 owner nations now), arms racing that knows no limits or sense (60,000 warheads at the height of the Cold War), and weapons kept permanently ready for firing (before they can be destroyed on the ground by an enemy's surprise pre-emptive attack). Miracles have saved us from mistakes and madmen so far but we will not be able to avoid them being used for ever with growing numbers of weapons and owners. Deterrence - threatening overwhelming and indiscriminate nuclear slaughter and devastation - is not the answer to the existence of nuclear weapons: its a trap. Outlawing them globally is the only safe answer, as we have with biological weapons and chemical weapons. Obama and Medvedev have just promised it. Global Zero have just produced an action plan to achieve it by 2030. Replacing Trident will cost £76 billion. I would prefer to see Trident renewal put on hold for a year and for that year the UK government to put £1 billion and all its effort into getting negotiations for an international agreemeent to abolish nuclear weapons going really strongly. Prompt action now could save us £75 billion and global nuclear catastrophe.

The Deterent is imperitive, I have never claimed on my household insurance but i would never be without.

In an age when rogue states like North Korea and Pakistahn have nuclear weapons and others, like Iran, want to develop them, Britain has a clear role as a democratic leader to lead by example and get rid of its nuclear deterrent. We can't afford it. We are a small island, part of a large group of other nations both with and without such weapons, and we no longer need this outdated and world-destroying technology. This is our opportunity to get rid of nuclear weapons once and for all.

The biggest threat to human life is Global Warming, and in order to reach the targets set for CO2 emissions we must adopt a Near-Zero CO2 Plan now. These are not cheap, with the exeption of mine which is self financing, and scarce money has to be gotten from somewhere. We can no longer afford to waste money on wars of any kind when we have important matters to attend to.

It is imperative to keep the nucleur deterrent.
Our basic armed forces are getting smaller by the year.
A portion of our taxes should be allocated to Defence,
and SPENT on defence not wasted on other useless allocations.