17 February 1958: CND – the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – is launched

On this day in 1958, as the nuclear arms race hotted up, 5,000 people crammed in to Westminster’s Central Hall to witness the launch of CND, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

With the end of the Second World War, and the terrifying demonstration of the power of atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world's great powers fell over themselves to ensure they wouldn't be left bringing up the rear in the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union tested its first bomb in August of 1949. The UK came next in 1952. With the advent of the H-bomb later the same year, weapons were getting bigger and dirtier. The world was fast becoming a very dangerous place.

The Cold War was developing; the US and USSR were engaged in a game of macho posturing, each backed by a nuclear arsenal capable of destroying life on Earth many times over on the whim of a few overfed, pampered, Alpha-idiots. Understandably, people started to get nervous.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.