Last February, I attended a day school on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) here in Oxford, organized by the Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; it was helpful and made me start working with fellow activists.

Today, Dr John Sloboda of the Oxford Research Group gave a short report to the United Nations Association's Oxford Branch to update us on the 2005 Review Conference of the NPT, taking place this month in New York. The group produced very good briefings on the topic.

He said, "Many commentators see the NPT Conferences as being primarily a vehicle for the USA to grandstand its views on Iran, and to block substantive progress on any other issue. It is far too late now for civil society to affect the outcomes in New York. Our next opportunity to influence the UK government comes with the debates on replacement of Trident and our nuclear power stations, which have already begun.

This is what the Labour Manifesto 2005 said before the recent election: "We are also committed to retaining the independent nuclear deterrent and we will continue to work, both bilaterally and through the UN, to urge states not yet party to non-proliferation treaties, notably the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to join."