Trident
A GROUP of campaigning Vikings will represent York as part of a year-long blockade of a nuclear base in Scotland.
York Press 19th Feb 2007
Letter from Pugwash: It was heartening to read your front-page article (“Not in our name’, 15 February) showing the breadth of support that exists in this country for a postponement of the looming Parliamentary vote on replacing Trident submarines. Recent evidence by Richard Garwin, a scientific adviser to the United States government on nuclear technology, demonstrated that there is no technical reason for making this decision now, prior to full consultation.
Independent 19th Feb 2007
Letter: Your report (February 17) of Admiral Sir Jonathon Band ‘s threat to quit if the Royal Navy is reduced much further notes that all three service chiefs have warned the Government of their misgivings over the continued cuts in conventional forces. The fat, greedy cuckoo in the nest is the nuclear deterrent.
Telegraph 19th Feb 2007
Christian peace-campaigners have held a protest in Bristol against government plans to spend £20bn upgrading the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent.
BBC 18th Feb 2007
North Korea
Letter: You award the North Korean nuclear agreement a cautious welcome (reports and editorial, February 14 and 15), rightly noting the major obstacles that remain. A frank assessment can only conclude that these obstacles are very likely to prove insurmountable. It is easy to criticise an agreement that was never going to be more than a tentative first step, but the fiction that this is a “breakthrough” raises expectations which this deal will not fulfil.
FT 19th Feb 2007
Iran
Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday dismissed talk of immediate suspension of uranium enrichment ahead of this week’s UN Security Council deadline despite a recent flurry of Iranian diplomacy that had raised hopes of a compromise.
FT 19th Feb 2007
Middle East
Greenpeace calls for a nuclear free Middle East.
Greenpeace Press Release 18th Feb 2007
Utilities
THE European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of ScottishPower by Iberdrola, the Spanish energy company, after concluding that the takeover presented no competition problems, either in Europe or in the UK. The EU also said it had found no evidence that the agreed £11.6 billion deal, to create Europe’s third-biggest utility, was advantaged by any Spanish tax breaks.
Scotsman 16th Feb 2007
Europe
An industry lobbyist advising Andris Piebalgs, the energy commissioner, had his contract terminated after failing to clarify there was no conflict of interest between the roles. Rolf Linkohr, a German former MEP who runs a Brussels-based consultancy and is on the board of two power companies, had been working for Mr Piebalgs for two years. While in parliament he chaired the European Energy Forum, a club for MEPs funded by the industry, and he recently hosted a conference in Berlin lauding nuclear energy.
FT 19th Feb 2007
