Fenton, Janet

Fenton, Janet

Janet Fenton

5 April 2023Blog

On 15 February, Nicola Sturgeon announced that she was resigning as the leader of the Scottish National Party – and therefore as the leader of Scotland's government (in coalition with the Scottish Greens). Humza Yousaf was elected leader of the SNP on 27 March and then, on 28 March, he was elected to the position of first minister (FM) by members of the Scottish parliament (MSPs). The new FM has a track record of strong support for nuclear disarmament – and for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in particular.

When Nicola Sturgeon resigned from her position as first minister (FM) of Scotland, many people from in Scotland – and from outside – were aware of her unwavering support for Scotland's commitment and action for nuclear disarmament, her rock-solid commitment to  the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (which is supported by an overwhelming majority of UN member states), her actions in sending messages to the TPNW negotiating conference in 2017, and exchanging very public letters…

1 October 2022Feature

A democratic argument for Scotland to be independent and free of nuclear weapons

In late August, Costa Rica put forward a statement at the UN in New York calling for the total elimination of all nuclear weapons. 147 of the 193 UN member states supported this statement.

Scotland should be Nation 148.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are the key elements in gaining a world without nuclear weapons.

ICAN is a network started…

1 June 2022Feature

An anti-nuke campaigner responds to our last issue's editorial

An article in the last issue of PN was seeking legislation to ban threatening to use nuclear weapons.

The Ukraine war has certainly had the effect of changing some of the UK public’s reactions to things many of us hold dear, for example our CND badges with the iconic symbol there for all to see in black and white. No longer are people saying to me: ‘CND, Oh, I remember that, I got one of those years ago at Glastonbury….’

Threatening to use nuclear weapons is certainly…

11 December 2020News

Nuclear ban treaty will become law on 22 January

On 24 October, Honduras ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), becoming the 50th state to signal its binding agreement with the treaty.

Passing the 50-ratifications threshold means that the TPNW will now actually ‘enter into force’ – become law – on 22 January.

With the 50th ratification, the treaty is irreversible.

Unlike other nuclear treaties, the TPNW specifically mentions the disproportionate impact on women, the damage caused to the…

1 August 2017Feature

A day-by-day account by a Scottish civil society team of the second part of the United Nations negotiations to ban the Bomb

Over 120 countries negotiate a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in Conference Room A in the UN building, New York, 3 July 2017. PHOTO: RALF SHLESENER/ICAN

15 June 2017: Day 1

Flavia Tudoreanu & team:

The concluding session of the United Nations conference to negotiate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons has started today.

Queueing to get our badges proved to be a much more interesting experience than expected. We got to reunite with…

1 December 2016Feature

Global nuclear-weapons-free zone could hinder US military

Here’s the good news from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – from a Scottish internationalist campaigner.

The decision to hold the conference was taken at the annual meeting of the first committee of the UN general assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security.

The vote on 27 October supported the holding of a conference to ban nuclear weapons by 126 countries to 38. There were 16 abstentions, including China, India and Pakistan.…

1 December 2016Comment

Quiet, reserved minister who co-ordinated Scottish CND from 1991

Reverend John Ainslie, who died in October aged 62, was known to nearly everyone involved in nuclear disarmament campaigning in Scotland. He was co-ordinator of Scottish CND from 1991, a post he made uniquely his own.

John was the sixth child of reverend Duncan Ainslie and his wife Emily (née Peters). Born in Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire he attended school in Fife before enlisting in the Black Watch in 1971; training as an officer included a degree in international relations at Keele…

30 May 2012News

Interest in Scotland's new position on nuclear weapons at the May 2012 NPT PrepCom meeting in Vienna.

In May, I joined with 580 civil society delegates to take part in a ‘Mexican wave’ of briefings and side events at the preparatory committee for the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference (NPT PrepCom) in Vienna.

On the eve of the wave, 150 of us met at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) campaigners’ meeting to exchange our experiences and consider priorities.

The anti-nuclear physicians (IPPN) presented a new ‘nuclear famine’ report highlighting…

27 April 2012News

Royal Bank of Scotland finances 16 companies that are heavily involved in the manufacture, modernisation and maintenance of US, British and French nuclear forces.

These are the findings of a new report, Don’t Bank on the Bomb, the first to survey global investments in nuclear weapons producers. More than 300 financial institutions, including RBS, fund companies that build nuclear warheads or the missiles, bombers and submarines used to deliver them.

Co-author Tim Wright, from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which conducted the research, said: ‘RBS…

1 June 2011News

On 18 May, the UK government announced its plan to spend several billion pounds over the next five years on new nuclear-armed submarines.

PHOTO: Janet Fenton

The subs will be built with the more expensive PWR3 nuclear reactor rather than the less safe PWR2 one, but this will further increase the costs of the Trident replacement programme.

The aim is to base the new nuclear missile submarines at Faslane in Scotland until 2060. This is a decision that flies in the face of the will of the people of Scotland who have just elected a parliament with a clear majority of MSPs who are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons.

1 February 2011News

In December a delegation to the Scottish Parliament met Bruce Crawford, minister for Parliamentary Business in the Scottish Government, to hand in an open letter to the first minister. This was a follow-up to the Scottish Government’s response to the report from parliament’s Working Group on Scotland Without Nuclear Weapons.

The letter was compiled by Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre, Faslane Weekly Vigil, Greenpeace, Helensburgh CND, The Institute for Law and Peace,…