On 26 January, the hands of the Doomsday Clock moved 30 seconds closer to catastrophe.
‘It is two and a half minutes to midnight’, announced the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board, warning that ‘world leaders were failing to act with the speed and on the scale required to protect citizens from the extreme danger posed by climate change and nuclear war’.
In 2016, according to the board, ‘the international community did not take the steps needed to begin the path toward a net zero-carbon-emissions world.’
‘Progress in reducing the overall threat of nuclear war has stalled – and in many ways, gone into reverse.’ The group mentioned Russian missile- and sub-building, and US plans to upgrade bombers, land-based missiles, and missile-carrying subs, adding new capabilities.