Hiroshima

The anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima gives everyone, I think, pause for thought. Today is the 65th. For myself, born after the war when we had heard of Japanese atrocities during the conflict, I have never hesitated in believing it was the right decision to make.


For me, the important thing is the new era the bomb heralded. All my life, until the fall of the Soviet Union, there was the threat of a bomb landing on us. I remember air raid warnings kept on from wartime, instructions what to do in the event of a nuclear disaster, the uneasy confidence inspired by Mutually Assured Destruction.

That threat has gone away, replaced by others, other weaponry, other enemies. Now however on 6th August I think less of us but of the unsafe countries which possess the bomb: Pakistan, Israel, N.Korea, perhaps Iran.

God help us all.

PS Of course China has the bomb too. Good luck everyone in Macao, Hong Kong, Tibet, Taiwan.