Watch: A leading physicist calls for nuclear disarmament

CND was honoured to host global bestselling author, philosopher and theoretical physicist, Carlo Rovelli, at our office on Tuesday. He Joined CND supporters for a Q&A session about his new book, ‘85 Seconds to Midnight: A Physicist’s Argument Against Rearmament.’

Carlo’s book is an vital intervention to stop the threat of nuclear war. It follows in the tradition of two critical manifestos urging peace. The first is ‘The Manifesto to the Europeans’ signed by Albert Einstein 1914 urging for peace at the start of World War One. The second is the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955, published as the start of nuclear arms race, calling for the world to put humanity first and abolish nuclear weapons. 

Today, Carlo’s own manifesto couldn’t be more relevant given the world we are living in now.  

Thank you to Carlo and to everyone who braved the heat to join us and for asking such thoughtful questions. We were also delighted to be working alongside The People’s Letters bookshop who provided Carlo’s books!

You can now watch the Q&A on CND’s YouTube channel here and read an interview with Carlo about his motivation for writing the book in the Guardian.

Upcoming Independence from America Day protests

CND has long-argued for Britain to have an independent foreign policy free from the shackles of the so-called ‘special relationship’ with the US – a relationship that is underpinned by nuclear weapons and the use of British bases from Yeovilton to Lossiemouth. As the last few months have shown, British bases like RAF Lakenheath and RAF Fairford been a vital staging ground for US military aggression abroad.

With this year’s 4 July celebrations marking 250 years of US independence – CND, our local groups, and other organisations like Fairford Action and Lakenheath Alliance for Peace, are calling for ‘Independence from America’ with a number of actions taking place at British bases where the US military operates from.

27 June (not taking place on 4 July): Kick out Trump’s nukes! This monthly vigil outside the gates of RAF Lakenheath, where US nuclear bombs are based, will call on the British government to kick Trump’s deadly nuclear bombs out of Britain. Starts from 11am. More details.

4 July: Send the US bombers home! Protest outside RAF Fairford, where US heavy bombers that have illegally attacked Iran are currently based. Starts 1pm. More details.

Independence from USA now! Annual protest outside the US spy base at RAF Menwith Hill. 3-7pm. More details.

If you are organising an action in your community, email the details to [email protected] and we’ll put the details on our Independence from America day page.

‘NATO in crisis: time to overcome the war machine’ Join the online counter-summits on 3 and 11 July

CND as a member of the No to NATO Network invites you to join two important online events, taking place either side of the NATO summit due to take place in Turkey from 7-8 July.

Friday, 3 July
This event takes place pre NATO 2026 summit will focus on the impact of the dramatically changing global situation, and the opportunities this presents for change. More details on agenda. Register here.

Saturday, 11 July
The event takes place post NATO 2026 summit and will focus on asking what does the NATO summit mean for our vision and our movement? How do we build alternatives to NATO and war in the new context? More details on agenda. Register here.