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Woolwich attack and the far right: three points to consider when the dust settles | Matthew Goodwin

By Sharon Black

In the wake of the spike in far-right activity, the risk of ‘cumulative extremism’ is one of the issues that should occupy minds The horrific murder in Woolwich has already triggered a disturbing chain of events. In less than 24 hours, the number of supporters of the far-right English Defence League’s (EDL) Facebook page has rocketed more than threefold, from around 25,000 to over 75,000. Then, in response to the group’s online call for “feet on streets” and its claim that “we are at war”, about 100 EDL activists descended on Woolwich to “tell the religion of peace that we don’t need them here”, and threw missiles at police

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Drones on the doorstep | David Shariatmadari

By Sharon Black

I grew up alongside RAF Waddington; its drones might at last be altering the attitudes of village green Lincolnshire Armed drones have been with us since only 2001 , yet it has already become a cliche that these weapons divorce the killer from the act of killing so completely that a “pilot” can execute a strike before nipping out for a sandwich in the Nevada sunshine. Nevada is one thing, but the wheat fields of Lincolnshire? The place I grew up?

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Margaret Thatcher made the north of Ireland a more bitterly divided place | Gerry Adams

By Sharon Black

Her government’s policies handed draconian military powers over to the securocrats, and subverted basic human rights Margaret Thatcher was a hugely divisive figure in British politics. And for the people of Ireland, and especially the north, the Thatcher years were among some of the worst of the conflict. Her policy decisions entrenched sectarian divisions, handed draconian military powers over to the securocrats, and subverted basic human rights

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Trident: the nuclear jobcentre | Richard Norton-Taylor

By Sharon Black

Treating Trident as an employment scheme will leave Britain ill equipped for the real threat: terrorism Fifty years ago this week Britain signed an agreement whereby its ability to fire nuclear weapons became entirely dependent on the US. Under the Polaris Sales Agreement , heralded as a pillar of the “special relationship”, the US agreed to supply Britain with nuclear ballistic missiles, their launch tubes, and their fire control system. Britain would build the submarines at Barrow and, with US help, the nuclear warheads at Aldermaston.

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Labour is right to support Trident | Angela Smith and John Woodcock

By Sharon Black

A nuclear disarmament policy might look fine on a Lib Dem leaflet but it would cost our party and the country dear As the next election gets closer, a steady stream of commentators have speculated that Labour could go back to the days of advocating unilateral nuclear disarmament by abandoning the programme to build the new submarines that will carry Britain’s deterrent . Some hope Ed Miliband will be different to the succession of Labour leaders who believed unilateralism would leave the UK more vulnerable to a future nuclear threat while doing precious little to advance the vitally important cause of global non-proliferation and disarmament.