He
clenched his pamphlet in his fist,
He quoted and he hinted,
Till, in a declamation-mist,
His argument he tint it:
Robert
Burns
CHAPTER 79
FROM HANSARD
Q1. [A46F78N] Henry Ward Beacher (Avebury North): If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 9 August.
The Prime Minister (John Clayton): This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today with those involved with the successful launching of the Aurora.
The engineers and scientists were lead by Britain, but it has taken the brains, expertise and resources of companies and research establishments in every continent to make it possible.
Mister Speaker. I believe this new space ship gives us a chance to change the fortunes, not just of this country, but of all Europe, and perhaps the whole world. This planet is now a much smaller place. It is unthinkable that we should ever go to war on Earth again. So, in the spirit of peace I propose that we should gradually, and unilaterally, phase out our stocks of nuclear weapons. I say unilaterally because we are not doing this in agreement with anyone, not even with our space partners in Europe. But I hope that by our example, this nation can persuade all the worlds nuclear powers to disarm, in their own time, as well.
Furthermore, we can see no strategic reason to keep the aircraft carriers, or the large strategic air lifters in service beyond their present planned life. From now on Britain will only be involved in limited Special Forces Police actions against criminals identified by the United Nations or the World Court.
It will take time to bring about these changes in our policy, but this does not mean Britain will not have a substantial role in the new world.
I propose that we use our new found strengths and our unique position to explore the Solar System.
We are uniquely placed to do this because we have virtually unlimited electricity to launch as many Auroras as we wish, perhaps even hundreds a year. These vessels can then be joined together in rings that revolve to provide artificial gravity. In their turn , these rings can be used to provide living accommodation on large space ships with which we can open up regular time tabled voyages, not just to the moon, but also to Mars and beyond.
Of course when we dismantle our nuclear weapons, then our atomic weapons scientists would be out of work. But for many years, they have been working at AWE Aldermarston on the Orion family of lasers. I can now tell you that these lasers will provide the motive power source for engines to drive these very large space ships. Engines so powerful that we could travel to Jupiter and Saturn in a matter of months, not the years it would have taken previously.
Mister Speaker, we are living in momentous times, but I am sure, this whole house is sure, that Britain can rise to this new task, with pride and enthusiasm.
Thank you.
-oOo-
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