Rethinking Security

At the Rethinking Security council meeting today. Always brilliant to meet other members and hear about the range of work. This is @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social's great recent report!

What impact have last year's SDR & National Security Strategy had on ordinary people and the UK's least secure? Joanna Frew outlines views from our latest roundtable series & what participants collectively see as ways forward for protecting human security. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/10/14/p...

Some deeply disturbing rhetoric coming out of British top brass this week about public sacrifices in an era of war. Ahead of the budget, and in the absence of any political lead, it seems they are mobilising to take control of the 'national conversation' on our security. That is not a good thing.

Roundtable discussions identify the UK's national security agenda is in the "service of the huge weapons companies and tech giants that operate in proximity to power and command privileged lobbying positions". New report @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/human-securi...

🚨New Report: Human Security in a ‘War-Ready’ UK Rethinking Security’s new report summarises three 2026 roundtable discussions on the impact of last year's SDR and National Security Strategy on human security across the UK. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/human-securi...

Global conflict is now at its highest level since the Second World War, bringing immense human suffering and widespread economic instability. Yet amidst these challenges, peacebuilding efforts quietly demonstrate every day that conflict is not inevitable.

Great new report out today from @neunion.bsky.social: The Security We Choose making the case for rethinking security and protecting spending on what actually makes people secure, in the UK and globally. neu.org.uk/latest/libra...

Kudos to our friends at TSP for their excellent new report and the media coverage it has generated for this crucial question of what UK 'defence' spending is actually for.

For all its talk of a 'national conversation' on security & defence, the gov't is clearly not going to have one that involves listening to people. So we've been kicking off our own conversations, and we hope you'll join this one. TONIGHT 6pm. Register: rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/webinar-seri...

Join us on Wednesday at 6pm for the first in our new webinar series, on how the 'war-ready' 'national security' discourse is constricting and distorting our political space.

Sign up for this @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social webinar on Wednesday on the UK government's move towards a highly militarised version of national security and how this won't actually make us safer rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/webinar-seri...

Myself and Jo from @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social have written a response to a recent article in The Friend magazine. You can read it here (by signing up you get three free articles!) thefriend.org/article/poin...

Operation Inherent Resolve, US-led Coalition against ISIS in Iraq, ends. All UK forces have left Iraq but UK says Operation Shader continues. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Peace works, but it’s under threat. Conflict is on the rise, with more countries involved in violent conflicts than at any time since 1945. The #PeaceWorksReport, developed by a coalition of organisations working to prevent conflict around the world, is a rallying cry for collaboration & action.

🔫🌎 @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social’s upcoming webinar series brings together people and organisations across the peace movement to explore how the UK’s approach to national security is changing and what the implications are for peace and the planet. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/webinar-seri...

This @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social webinar looks like an important contribution to the debate on what national security actually means and how we can push for policies that address the real issues we face, such as the climate crisis rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/webinar-seri...

Peacebuilding works, is far cheaper than war, and has the public’s support across the British political spectrum. So why is it so hard to fund compared to military options? From @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social & @crbuildpeace.bsky.social rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/09/21/p...

Useful PQ and answer on the 'national conversation campaign on defence and security' that we're supposedly having. But we repeat - a conversation is not a campaign; it involves listening at least as much as telling. HMG needs to hear from people and understand their (in)security.

New on the Blog: Larry Attree argues that Andy Burnham should query received wisdom on national security, and sets out five big shifts that the PM could make to reset UK security strategy in a sustainable direction. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/09/18/c...

Our next webinar: Increasingly, attempts to expose UK complicity in conflicts & to challenge security, foreign & climate policy have been suppressed by new laws & police powers. Why is this happening & who or what is being sidelined in result? Register: rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/webinar-seri...

Confused about whether conflict prevention is a worthwhile investment, or works at all? You should definitely read this brilliant new booklet from @crbuildpeace.bsky.social and partners. And share it with your friends, colleagues and MP! We are delighted to be among its endorsing signatories.

This from a government that is still yet to publish in full the report its own security experts produced on the risks associated with ecosystem collapse. Lots of people have been trying to have a conversation on resilience, but the government has been reluctant to engage with it.

Tomorrow is the six-month anniversary of the current military campaign against Iran. With the war stalemated, Trump humiliated, and US military forces degraded and demoralised, Paul Rogers explores this latest in a long series of US military debacles. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/08/27/o...

Inexplicably, US military spending reached a nadir of 3.1% of GDP in 1998-2000, half what it was in the 1980s. Somehow they achieved all this despite the 'defence dividend' of the Cold War. Go figure.

🚨NEW🚨: Ten unions call for Andy Burnham to oppose the war on Iran & stop British bases being used to launch US air strikes. The unions argue that the “devastating, illegal war” is a catastrophe for the Middle East & that it directly undermines Burnham’s cost of living agenda.

The new PM suggests that the ‘independent nuclear deterrent’ can guarantee not only the UK’s national security but also its reindustrialisation. Ian Davis finds this delusional on all counts, heightening risk of environmental as well as nuclear apocalypse. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/08/07/t...

In this urgent new piece for @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social, Diana Francis and Andrew Rigby, two of the network’s founders, argue that militarised security is trapping us in a cycle of violence, destruction and ecological crisis.

New resource from @rethinkingsecurity.bsky.social, Security: Challenging Assumptions in a Changing World ForcesWatch is pleased to have contributed to this project, which challenges dominant militarised approaches to security and explores people- and planet-centred alternatives. Take a look👇

Beginning an answer on the pending national conversation on defence and security, "In many ways, the conversation has already begun" and citing the former PM's words tends to suggest that, in many ways, the government still does not have any plan for a "Prime Minister-led national conversation".

New role with our friends at @dronewarsuk.bsky.social who are looking for a Communications and Research Officer (21 Hours per week) - remote. Info here >>> dronewars.net/jobs/

Some militaries have strategies to reduce their carbon emissions – but the latest data shows these are being dwarfed by the effects of spiralling arms spending. Stuart Parkinson of @responsiblesci.bsky.social investigates. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/07/17/m...

New from RS: 'Security: Challenging assumptions in a changing world' This booklet takes the claims of the UK's 2025 National Security Strategy and some broader claims about so-called national security and offers people- and planet-centred responses and alternatives. shorturl.at/S0DGi

Last week's NATO Summit was another display of performative loyalty to Donald Trump. Ian Davis argues that the UK’s new leadership must think beyond Trump’s transactionalism and foster an honest debate about how we spend to really make Britain safer. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2026/07/14/b...

TONIGHT at 6pm Register: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

100 countries have signed up to the UN Nuclear Weapons Ban (TPNW)! In the words of Tonga's Permanent Representative to the UN, "nuclear disarmament [is] inextricably linked to the well-being of humanity and to the sustainable future to which we collectively aspire.” www.icanw.org/tonga_brings...

TOMORROW evening at 6pm: Open Online Discussion on UK Security What do last week's Defence Investment Plan and today's NATO Summit mean for UK and European security? Join RS + NATO Watch Director Ian Davis for implications, alternatives & action. Register: rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/home/.

The summit is again going to be primarily about managing President Trump and keeping the United States committed to the alliance. Will the calculation that the security costs of abandoning NATO exceed the political costs of sustaining it still hold post-Ankara? theconversation.com/nato-summit-...

“Unless it reverses course, the Government has prioritised the budget of a Ministry of Defence that loses billions each year to waste, fraud, mismanagement and global power projection over the needs of the public.” Read our new briefing in full 👇 www.transitionsecurity.org/buying-the-dip

Pleased to say Health Poverty Action's one of the signatories to this!

NFPB has signed this open letter