Despite the US-led invasion of Afghanistan starting back in October 2001, around 9,000 British soldiers still remain stationed in the country to this day, with a remit of training up local military forces to take over security by the end of 2014.

North Korea is not as irrationally troublesome as some sections of the media would lead you to believe. It's often entirely pragmatic and if anything is consistently attention-seeking rather than reckless and erratic.

It's quiz time. Who said this? "We need our nuclear deterrent as much today as we did when a previous British government embarked on it over six decades ago ... The nuclear threat has not gone away."

David Cameron's claim that the UK needs nuclear weapons to defend itself from North Korea has been dismissed as "absurd" by a former Conservative defe...

What are nuclear weapons? Cold War relics? Necessary evils? Indiscriminate bombs? The ultimate insurance policy? The answer of course depends on your personal outlook. But here's another way of putting it: for the UK, nuclear weapons are over £100billion of taxpayers' money.

George Osborne continues to make the same error he made in previous budgets. He is assuming the British economy will return to robust growth from 2014 onwards and that this will deliver the higher tax revenues needed to achieve his deficit reduction plan.

Labour are "open" to cheaper alternatives for the Trident nuclear deterrent but have stopped short of committing to ditch their long-standing commitme...

Those of us who support disarmament long for a day when politicians end the perpetual arms race and focus on issues closer to home. Trident itself is part of a political mindset that says Britain should be playing an aggressive and interventionist role abroad.

Many people from across the political spectrum are opening their minds to a reconsideration of Britain's strategic and security needs.

To keep on producing weapons-grade uranium Aldermaston is clearly going to need some major investment. At a time of austerity, when families are relying on foodbanks and benefits are being cut, can we really justify adding to the already astronomical nuclear weapons bill?

Alex Salmond's dream of an independent Scotland suffered a massive blow as it was revealed the new, break-away country would have to re-apply for EU m...

Defence firms are hiding plans to quit Scotland if it votes for independence because of a "climate of fear", a former defence chief has said. Lord ...

Nuclear weapons may be filthy, but they are a comparatively clean way of deterring people from using biological and chemical weapons which are worse.

Coalition tensions over the future of Trident flared up today as Nick Clegg warned Defence Secretary Philip Hammond over "jumping the gun" on the futu...

If the government says there is no money for health, for education, for jobs, that we must cut back spending and embrace austerity, then why is it wasting money on nuclear weapons?

There can be little doubt that Britain's nuclear weapons will be a hot topic in the next general election campaign. With a decision on whether or not to replace Trident previously expected in this parliament, one of the coalition government's early decisions was to push this controversial choice back to 2016.

Washington would apply "immense pressure" on an independent Scotland to stop it from offloading Britain's nuclear submarines on to England, MPs were t...

This is a big deal - we are not only putting a truly vast sum of money at stake - the defence contractors estimate £25 billion, so we can assume at least three times that, 10 years late - we are also binding ourselves into a strategic commitment to maintaining not just a nuclear arsenal, but to a uniquely cold-war era one, based around submarine launched ballistic missiles.

The replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent is expected to come a step closer on Tuesday when ministers announce the signing of multi-million con...

Two-thirds of the cabinet in Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government opposed her decision to buy the Trident nuclear deterrent, according to offic...