When I was about 14 I went to Petticoat Lane market and bought a ‘ban the bomb’ necklace thing. Not a ‘necklace’ in any delicate, subtle, pretty kind of way, this was a fucking great cross, about 3 inches long, with the upper strut being a loop. Which changed it from ‘I love Jesus’ to ‘ban the bomb’. I wasn’t allowed to love Jesus because my Polish-born grandmother would have had a fit. And even at 14 years old I’d had personal ‘crisis’ moments involving thoughts of ‘virgin births’ and reincarnation. Grandma, who lived with us and was probably about 67 but seemed about 99, only had a minor fit about the necklace. Even though all the rock stars on telly had them and they looked really cool. It was just too cross-like for her to appreciate the deeply pacifist, non-religious meaning. I’m not sure which bomb I was banning but this was 1970 so mid Cold War, post-Cuban missile crisis, and all talk was nukes. Ok, let’s ban that bomb then. We were quasi-hippy wannabes so pacifism came with the long hair and loon pants, and if you didn’t like it I’ll fucking kick you in the bollocks!! Give peace a chance!!, we all cried.

At that time the world seemed like everyone had their finger on a red button marked ‘NUCLEAR BOMB!!!’ and it was just a matter of time before it all kicked off.

Fast forward to 2024 and the world is much calmer. Well, it was until Russia invaded Ukraine, Hamas attacked Israel and Bayern Munich beat Arsenal. We’d got used to the war in Yemen, become inured to atrocities in Sudan, accepted Syrian slaughter as just ‘part of life’.

And now I find myself looking back at the ban-the-bomber back then and thinking, “you tosser!!!” Because now I’m only concerned that ‘I’ have bigger bombs than the geezer next door. That I have defence systems he could only dream of, missiles capable of destruction so beautiful and accurate and complete that it almost becomes art. Mushroom clouds are the new Renaissance.

Possibly the difference in attitude could be attributed to zeitgeist. In 1970 we were still in post-war… something. Now we appear to be in pre-war… something else. Or it could be attributed to the fact that although I was probably a really arrogant little shit, I actually really ‘knew’, about two thirds of fuck all. And naivety can get you a long way, particularly when propelled by the fallout from the bomb you didn’t believe would ever happen. Or maybe, just maybe, its because I’ve finally realised that to deal with Iran you need to be strong.

So that’s why I’ve become a ‘hawk’. (Who knew?) And Israel attacking Iran this morning is great news.

Happy Friday

A xxxx