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Sixty-four years ago, in 1942, Bob Hockley resigned as Treasurer of the local branch of the Peace Pledge Union in Southampton.

Not because he had changed his views, for he was as resolute as ever that “Wars will cease when men refuse to fight”. No. He had refused four times to attend a medical examination before being called up to the armed forces and had received a summons to attend the Court of Summary Jurisdiction.

He knew a prison sentence was likely and was paving the way…

At the end of August, 19-year-old Private Jason Chelsea killed himself. It was widely reported that he took his own life because he could not cope with the possibility of killing children during his, then imminent, deployment to Iraq.

Motivations for suicide are usually quite complex. However, realising you don't want to shoot children - but may be expected to - could certainly become a powerful dynamic in an already vulnerable mind.

Despite much being…

The enemy, this time, is the Beeb. Known worldwide for its fairness, its accuracy, its high standards of journalism; known at home for its current willingness to follow the government's lead on any significant story, its post-Hutton flaccidity, and for its paternalistic tone of voice.

Its intellectual conservatism can be ascribed to its status as one of Britain's leading institutions, after the city banks and the FCO. To a large extent it is staffed by people who will never see any…

During the last six years under General Pervaiz Musharaf, it has been a very rare occasion that, when we wanted to organise some public event, there has been no intimidation, threats or arrests

It happens all the time. A police inspector, a deputy or a senior superintendent will call our office or my mobile. Sometimes, it is one of the intelligence services that call. The message is almost always the same: “Cancel your event, postpone it, there is a section 144 imposed.”

…

Did the perpetrators who kidnapped Israeli Defence Force soldier Cpl Gilad Shalit anticipate the collective punishment that would be meted out to Palestinians? Perhaps they hoped it would provoke a greater uprising, or that their (changing) demands would actually be met. Or perhaps the consequences were in fact unseen.

It has been argued that the kidnapping was in reprisal for the assassination of Hamas government official Jamal Abu Samhadana; whatever, the fact is that the Israeli…

The Defence Committee's first report on Trident replacement was much better than I had dared hope for.

Of course it didn't oppose a replacement, but the fact that it listed abolition as one of the options on the table was positive in itself. Most importantly , at this moment in the political process, it added its voice --with considerable force--to the demand for a full debate,with proper government participation. But ever larger numbers of people are actually now explicitly…

According to press reports, the MoD is refusing to comply with the Information Commissioner's ruling that they should release details of the 500 civil servants employed to promote British arms exports because “they could be harassed by pacifists”.

Well, it's no wonder really. Everyone must have noticed those marauding hordes of militant pacifists, flaunting their white poppies, giving out leaflets about Gandhi, even trying to sell copies of Peace News - they're so…

Ever get that feeling that only you in the whole world cares for the things that you care about; that the rapaciousness of global capitalism knows no bounds; that every High Street looks like every other High Street; that all governments are the same government; that Tesco has more pull than the UN?You do? W ell, at the risk of sounding like Samuel Smiles, let me tell you that mutuality, self-help and a 25-quid investment in Common Ground will work wonders.

Now,…

The government's response to the recent Home Office debacles has become all too predictable over the last nine years - promise new legislation, promise the repeal of the poor old Human Rights Act, and promise an ID card. This is a reactive government, not a proactive one.

The first two of these promises are easily dealt with; new legislation is likely to have little or no effect, and repeal of the Human Rights Act will still leave us subject to the European Convention on Human Rights…

Governmental attempts to soften up public opinion for an announcement of more nuclear power stations have their parallel in the nuclear industry itself.

The British Nuclear Group - they're the people who oversee the radioactive waste mountains at Windscale/Sellafield - are advertising for “environmental specialists” at salaries of up to #43,000 pa. Amongst the work needing doing is coming up with strategies for contaminated land. Dealing with contamination sounds worthy; but you…

A pensioner like myself, an elderly man accosted me outside the railway station: “Hey, Mr Gypsy - you. You're a lot of land-grabbers! We don't want you in Crays Hill.” “If you mean Dale Farm,” I said, hiding my anger, “Travellers bought that land.” “Come off it,” he said, coming up closer. “Fucking thieves the lot of you. You should be put off there.”

In the exchange that followed, he said he was voting for the British National Party and wanted Gypsies deported or dead. It was two…

The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (www.un.org/right) was read daily at a “War & Peace” exhibition in the Friends' Meeting House in Nailsworth, Glos, during the last week of April.

The Declaration was drafted in 1947 by John Powers Humphrey (a Canadian who later helped establish Amnesty International Canada) and was adopted by the UN in 1948. Since then, some of the world's most unpleasant and dangerous regimes have paid lip…

On the night of 25-26 April 1986, unknown to most of the world, scientists were busy testing Chernobyl's reactor No 4 to determine whether its coolant pumps would keep running in the event of a loss of power. Within minutes of beginning the test, a power surge caused a chain reaction which lead to a massive explosion and meltdown of the reactor's core. Two days later Tass, the then-Soviet state news agency, acknowledged there had been an “incident”.

Given the political climate at…

Well we've all heard that slogan by now haven't we? Something about blue green algae? Pond slime?

Yes, David Cameron and his merry band of Tories have suddenly discovered that bicycles are The Way Forward and have turned their well-tailored be-suited backs on the luxury Rolls, the Mercs and the SUVs. Jolly good isn't it? Cameron has Two Great Men working to make sure he stays green: John Gummer (he of “eat the mad cow burger” fame) and Zac Goldsmith (an eco pin-up if ever there was…

In last month's issue of Peace News (PN2472) Eddy Canfor-Dumas made the case for a Ministry for Peace as part of the government. However, it seems he is so deeply rooted in government thinking that he didn't even feel the need to explain why a ministry should be a good idea.

We have ministries for everything that we (we? Or the government?) think is important, and obviously, peace is important, so we need a ministry as “part of government dedicated to pursuing and…

The Mole is fascinated by some of the strange cults found above ground. You might have noticed one which has been particularly prominent in recent weeks, which seems to be very into S&M imagery (that's S&M as in sado-masochism, not as in the abbreviation for what's left of Yugoslavia).

For what else is the innocent observer to make of models and pictures of a grisly 2000-year-old method of execution being flaunted everywhere? [“Jesus died for his own sins - not mine!” -Ed.]…

We all like to be entertained don't we? And isn't it great that the hero gets the girl, the poor get rich and the good guys (us) always win?

Yes. The enemy this time is the sweetest of all - Hollywood. After all, how could anyone criticise that which gives pleasure to millions? Well. Hollywood might have been making us laugh and cry for generations but beyond the glitz and glamour there's the reality. A reality of oppression, exploitation and propaganda. So go on - add your pennies…

In the UK we think education is important -- so we have a ministry for education. We think health and the environment are important -- so we have ministries for them. If we think peace is important, shouldn't we have a Ministry for Peace? A part of government dedicated to pursuing and promoting peace?

But what exactly would a Ministry for Peace do? Because isn't “peace” a woolly concept that can mean almost anything?

For many peace workers,though, its meaning is clear. To work…

A few months ago, The Mole was musing about the idea of a peace movement “Bacon Number, where we see how many links - of some defined sort! - it takes to build a connection between different peaceniks.

Well, a related thought was inspired by the recent death of John Profumo. (Recap for younger readers who haven't been following the news: he was the War Minister - yes, the government used more honest terminology in those days - who resigned, in 1963, after a famous scandal involving…

A week or so ago the Local Heroes affinity group conducted a gentle forensic raid on the Labour Office in Airdrie, in order to out a dubious hombre by the name of John Reid who has been linked to Al McKayda. This unsalubrious shop is the hole-in-the-wall for the same Reid, when not providing the muscle and the sweet-talking on behalf of the business operations of one Tony Blair.

The complaints against this Saruman lookalike are many and various, but also peculiar due to his…