PRESS RELEASE
21ST June 2016
The attached photo shows veteran peace activist David Polden (76), of
Archway Road, Highgate, dressed as Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter between
the banner carried by the Red Queen and a very tall Alice (with a very
mad March Hare behind) walking together outside the Atomic Weapons
Establishment at Burghfield, near Reading on June 20th on their way to
re-enact the famous scene from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to highlight the
madness of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons programme. The factory is
where the nuclear warheads for the UK’s Trident Nuclear Submarines are
assembled.
The march was made up of activists from London who went to Burghfield to
display banners outside the factory saying such things as, “If you think
we’re mad, what about what they’re doing inside?” and “Make Tea, Not
War!” After the tea-party the protesters attempted to hand leaflets to
the workers leaving the factory asking them to consider seeking
alternative employment to building weapons of mass destruction, but all
refused to take one.
The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party is part of a month of action throughout June
[1] involving groups from around the UK and beyond protesting against
the present government’s plans to build a new generation of UK
nuclear-armed missile submarines to replace the present Trident system
when have become obsolete, at the estimated cost of over £200 billion.
The decision to go ahead with these plans is imminent. [2]
David argues, “Spending billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on
Trident is pure madness. That money would be better spent on hospitals,
homes, schools and green jobs. Scrapping Trident would make the world a
safer, more peaceful place. Having nuclear weapons provide no answer to
any of the threats we face.”
ENDS
*Notes for Editors*
//
[1] The month of protests is coordinated by Trident Ploughshares, a
non-violent, peaceful campaign to disarm Trident. *For more details
about the protests at Burghfield see *www.tridentploughshares.org
<http://actionawe.org/?email_id=58&user_id=301&urlpassed=aHR0cDovL3d3dy50cmlkZW50cGxvdWdoc2hhcmVzLm9yZy8%3D&controller=stats&action=analyse&wysija-page=1&wysijap=subscriptions>
[2] The government has said the decision whether to renew the Trident
submarine-launched nuclear weapons system will be made in 2016. No exact
date has been given. Yet work is already under way at Burghfield to
refurbish and upgrade the warheads. Each submarine is armed with four
nuclear warheads; each warhead is eight times the power of the one used
at Hiroshima.
[3] The photo should be credited to Sarah Finch.
*Contact*
* *
*David Polden*, 07990-806 112; david.lrcnd@cnduk.org
<mailto:david.lrcnd@cnduk.org> **