PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

Just a quick note to say I'm off to First Committee at the United Nations in New York, at 3.45pm tomorrow.

First Committee deals with disarmament and international security. Nuclear weapons have always been a very prominent part of its deliberations.

I'll be holding a panel on operational readiness of nuclear weapon systems with Steve Starr as has been our wont since 2006, and this time we have

--Conference Room 4, the best venue in the UN.

--Colonel Valery Yarynich, who in the 1980s helped to design Russia's 'doomsday machine' (Perimiter, or the 'dead hand'), and who since his retirement has been devoting his life to getting rid of nuclear weapons.

--The New Zealand and the Swiss governments, who are once more putting up the resolution on operational readiness of nuclear weapon systems.

--Hans Kristensen, the 'king' of nuclear weapons data, from Federation of American scientists (FAS).

And obviously Steve and myself.

First Committee promises to be interesting this year.

Watch this space for more developments.

John Hallam