The gifts that destroy
27 September 2008 | Doomsday Men, RS Thomas, WMD | Post a comment
The Times has reviewed the paperback edition of Doomsday Men, which has just been published this week. Ross Leckie begins with a quote from the poet R.S. Thomas who wrote of “statesmen and scientists, their hands full of the gifts that destroy”. I don’t know the poem — perhaps someone could enlighten me…
Leckie concludes: “Smith does a fine job of diligent research and summary and then stern admonition: ‘… the doomsday men are still at work developing new ones. And as the memories of Ypres and Hiroshima fade, the temptation to use those weapons may grow.’ ” The report in today’s Times that Russia intends to modernise its nuclear defences within eight years and create a “system of air and space defence”, shows that the threat from nuclear weapons has not gone away.
Read the review here.
