This year is the 60th anniversary of CND. The organisation was founded in London on 17th February 1958 and Scottish CND came into existence following a meeting in the Simpson Institute Edinburgh on March 22nd 1958.
During this very important anniversary year, Scottish CND is organising an international march and rally from Faslane peace camp to the main gate at Faslane naval base in September.
We also have a road show that will visit towns and cities across Scotland during the course of this year carrying a message that it is time to rid our country and our world of the scourge of nuclear weapons.
I am very proud to be the current chair of Scottish CND during this anniversary year. I have been a member of Scottish CND for over 20 years and I have been active in my local Ayrshire CND branch for since the early 1990s.
One of my main reasons for remaining active in Scottish CND and the wider peace movement is because of the destruction and devastation which would be caused if nuclear weapons were ever used by any of the countries which have them in their possession.
Modern day nuclear weapons are many times more powerful than the bombs dropped by the US Air Force on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.
According to medical and scientific research provided to Scottish CND, the impact of any use of nuclear weapons in our world today would kill millions of people. The radioactive fallout would render parts of the planet uninhabitable and would cause cancer and birth deformities. If anyone needs convincing of the destructive power of modern nuclear weapons, they should visit https://outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/interactive/bomb-blast/ .
I am a former trade union convener in local government, which is why I am also opposed to nuclear weapons on economic and social grounds. The annual running costs for Britain's current Trident nuclear weapons system is around £2 billion, which could be better spent on decent things such as health, education and housing.
As I reflect after twenty years of membership, some positive and negative points come to mind.
On the negative side, US President Donald Trump seems intent on modernising his country's stockpile of nuclear weapons, and the UK Government is pressing ahead to renew Britain's Trident system at the cost of billions of pounds.
On the positive side, 122 countries voted for a global ban on nuclear weapons in July 2017, and the majority of Scotland's politicians are opposed to Trident replacement, taking a position against nuclear weapons.
Scottish CND is the largest peace movement organisation in Scotland and our membership had increased significantly since the 2014 referendum. Even so, I would ask all people who are sympathetic to our aims to consider joining Scottish CND.
Given the worrying situation in our world at the present time, it seems that CND is needed now more than ever.