The Theat of Nuclear Annihilation in 1980s Britain

[The Spanish]

How will a war be reconciled with the Chinese need for a stable world economy. Why would China want to kill its customers, you do know that the whole Chinese economy relies almost completely on the west buying it's products and services?.....just asking like.

its customers/and debtors might want to kill them.
i said china will drag us into world war 3, thats not the same as saying they will fire the first shots. as for a stable world economy, thats not the same thing as a chinese dominated world economy.

 

[The Spanish]

Germany was destitute between the wars, its economy was shot, inflation on a par with modern day Zimbabwe, the nationalisation by the Nazis of the whole German industrial structure was purely to support the military and the plan to expand and grab resources from other countries.

germany emerged as an economic powerhouse prior to world war ONE. thats what i am saying. THEN they kicked off again afterwards. you are too quick to jump in somerset you dont read things properly. this is a waste of time.

the boring potted history serves no purpose and its very sixth form text book. anyway german expanisonism and the consequent deaths of countless millions is far more linear than our franco-prussian - world war 1 - world war 2 narrative. and of course there are others involved. the worlds a complex place.

 

[pastafarian]

germany emerged as an economic powerhouse prior to world war ONE. thats what i am saying. THEN they kicked off again afterwards. you are too quick to jump in somerset you dont read things properly. this is a waste of time.

the boring potted history serves no purpose and its very sixth form text book.

is that an economic powerhouse because they refused to pay their war debts or some other sort of economic powerhouse.

 

[The Spanish]

is that an economic powerhouse because they refused to pay their war debts or some other sort of economic powerhouse.

not another one. gods sake.

i am talking about world war 1 you know the one that killed far more British people than any other. bloody hell.

no wonder none of you can grasp the blatantly obvious forthcoming US/China/Everyone else clash, that you seem to think wont happen because China needs to sell us fridges.

 

[pastafarian]

not another one. gods sake.

i am talking about world war 1 you know the one that killed far more British people than any other. bloody hell.

no wonder none of you can grasp the blatantly obvious forthcoming US/China/Everyone else clash, that you seem to think wont happen because China needs to sell us fridges.

why are you blaming my fridge?

 

[The Spanish]

why are you blaming my fridge?

i blame mine its one of them turkish ones that catches fire. keep meaning to get rid of it, but even i am ignoring lessons from history until its too late. see the turks are always involved somehow too.

 

[pastafarian]

i blame mine its one of them turkish ones that catches fire.

i think you will find that is commonly known as a "fireplace" and not a fridge

 

[The Spanish]

i think you will find that is commonly known as a "fireplace" and not a fridge

hahaha thats why nothing seems to last very long

anyway back on track we are not out the woods yet on the threat of nuclear annihilation. they didnt dismantle them all in 1989. but ****ing hell as an 80s teenager i can recall it looming large. witnessed two IRA bombs but i was never scared of the nick nacks. living in a cave freezing and watching words and pictures on an old video like in Threads though, filled me with ****ing terror.

 

[Flex Your Head]

It wasn't, in the 80's at least....refer to the 60's where it was real.

Yes, yes, you keep banging on about this like it's a willy-waving contest or something, but the fact is that in the early 80's the threat was real and sustained. The Cuban Missile Crisis probably was the closest we've come to a nuclear war, but that was a brief spark. In the early 80's, the threat and risk was real and prolonged, especially with Reagan's finger poised over the button and Russian paranoia heightened.

Of course, I'm no expert and feel free to argue away, but take a look at this first which puts things in to perspective.

http://thebulletin.org/timeline

IT IS 3 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

3 minutes to midnight
1984: U.S.-Soviet relations reach their iciest point in decades. Dialogue between the two superpowers virtually stops. "Every channel of communications has been constricted or shut down; every form of contact has been attenuated or cut off. And arms control negotiations have been reduced to a species of propaganda," a concerned Bulletin informs readers. The United States seems to flout the few arms control agreements in place by seeking an expansive, space-based anti-ballistic missile capability, raising worries that a new arms race will begin.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have been responsible for the Doomsday Clock since 1947. The closer we are to midnight, the closer we are to global disaster. The early 80's were the closest to midnight since the 50's when the nuclear race was in full swing.

But feel free to carry on with your spurious claims that there was no threat in the 80's; what do The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists know about anything anyway?

 

[pastafarian]

Yes, yes, you keep banging on about this like it's a willy-waving contest or something, but the fact is that in the early 80's the threat was real and sustained. The Cuban Missile Crisis probably was the closest we've come to a nuclear war, but that was a brief spark. In the early 80's, the threat and risk was real and prolonged, especially with Reagan's finger poised over the button and Russian paranoia heightened.

Of course, I'm no expert and feel free to argue away, but take a look at this first which puts things in to perspective.

http://thebulletin.org/timeline



The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have been responsible for the Doomsday Clock since 1947. The closer we are to midnight, the closer we are to global disaster. The early 80's were the closest to midnight since the 50's when the nuclear race was in full swing.

But feel free to carry on with your spurious claims that there was no threat in the 80's; what do The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists know about anything anyway?

well said
think someone posted a link earlier on how close we actually came to disaster.as you said its not a willy waving contest but the threat (and belief) we were close to meltdown was very real

 

[somerset]

But feel free to carry on with your spurious claims that there was no threat in the 80's; what do The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists know about anything anyway?

Without waving my genitalia about, I actually answered the question originally posted at the head of this thread.....

Does anyone else remember the genuine fear and paranoia in the first half of the 1980's that nuclear war was imminent?

That is different to how likely was nuclear war.....

 

[pastafarian]

Without waving my genitalia about, I actually answered the question originally posted at the head of this thread.....

Does anyone else remember the genuine fear and paranoia in the first half of the 1980's that nuclear war was imminent?

That is different to how likely was nuclear war.....

likely or not you did say there was no threat in the 80`s.......maybe just badly worded this early in the morning.......two or three bacon/egg mcmuffins should sort you out

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Don't think so!

But Threads was set in 1984 and didn't Portsmouth beat Brighton 5-1, with Willie Young having a nightmare?

 

[pastafarian]

But Threads was set in 1984 and didn't Portsmouth beat Brighton 5-1, with Willie Young having a nightmare?

was that the game everyone was singing along to the the Thompson Twins or was that another drubbing

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I can remember the government banning The War Game. Their official advice in case of nuclear attack was to take a door off it's hinges, prop it against the wall and hide underneath it.
Failing that I think it was the kitchen table.

You had to keep all doors shut as well as taking them off their hinges and leaning them against a wall...

 

[Flex Your Head]

Without waving my genitalia about, I actually answered the question originally posted at the head of this thread.....

Does anyone else remember the genuine fear and paranoia in the first half of the 1980's that nuclear war was imminent?

That is different to how likely was nuclear war.....

Without wishing to be pedan... actually, with every intention of being pedantic, your post above is disingenuous.

You were not answering this question - Does anyone else remember the genuine fear and paranoia in the first half of the 1980's that nuclear war was imminent?, you were responding directly to the comment from @Nibble - As I say, I'm not sure how real the threat was...
Your resonse was - It wasn't, in the 80's at least....refer to the 60's where it was real.

So, you are saying there was no threat in the 80's, yet The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists say the exact opposite. Who should I believe, some bloke from Somerset on a football forum, or these people?

The original founder and editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was biophysicist Eugene Rabinowitch (1901–1973). He founded the magazine alongside physicist Hyman Goldsmith. Rabinowitch was a professor of botany and biophysics at the University of Illinois and was also a founding member of the Continuing Committee for the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.[5] In addition to Rabinowitch and Goldsmith, contributors have included: Morton Grodzins, Hans Bethe, Anatoli Blagonravov, Max Born, Harrison Brown, Stuart Chase, Brock Chisholm, E.U. Condon, Albert Einstein, E.K. Fedorov, Bernard T. Feld, James Franck, Ralph E. Lapp, Richard S. Leghorn, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Lord Boyd Orr, Michael Polanyi, Louis Ridenour, Bertrand Russell, Nikolay Semyonov, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, A.V. Topchiev, Harold C. Urey, Paul Weiss, James L. Tuck, among many others.

I know who my money's on.

 

[somerset]

Without wishing to be pedan... actually, with every intention of being pedantic, your post above is disingenuous.

You were not answering this question - Does anyone else remember the genuine fear and paranoia in the first half of the 1980's that nuclear war was imminent?, you were responding directly to the comment from @Nibble - As I say, I'm not sure how real the threat was...
Your resonse was - It wasn't, in the 80's at least....refer to the 60's where it was real.

So, you are saying there was no threat in the 80's, yet The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists say the exact opposite. Who should I believe, some bloke from Somerset on a football forum, or these people?

How real the threat was to us in the public domain......I wasn't the one who turned the thread off track by making the question of how likely the threat of nuclear war in the 80's......his original question was how threatened we felt.....a number of posters thought the facts as we knew them (not perceived or latterly revealed facts)...made the 60's as the period that us as the general public felt most alarmed by the prospect if nuclear war, Cuba was as close as it could be, all played out in the news, on TV for everyone to follow minute by minute.....

That's all thanks.

 

[LU7 RED]

Got 'Threads' on DVD - Easily the most chilling/ghoulish film I have ever seen - its the bleak documentary style that makes it. Such a disturbing ending too.

And Check Berry - 'Jonny be good' keeps coming on too, bit bizarre.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

Remember this period very well as I was on a Polaris Submarine and part of my job was putting in the targets and wind off sets into the nuclear missiles we were carrying inboard during our 3 month patrol periods !!

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Got 'Threads' on DVD - Easily the most chilling/ghoulish film I have ever seen - its the bleak documentary style that makes it. Such a disturbing ending too.

And Check Berry - 'Jonny be good' keeps coming on too, bit bizarre.

Quite agreed. Just when things can't get any worse, they do. It's relentless.