"Threads" was a BBC drama originally shown in 1984. It chronicled the effects and aftermath of an all-out nuclear war, following the lives of a small group of people in Sheffield. It was shown a couple of days ago and, even though I've seen it before, I still found it absolutely horrific. I remember when it was originally screened, at which time I think a lot of us believed that it would probably happen sooner or later.
I suppose that as the Cold War has now moved from the newspapers to the history books, we're rather less likely to witness the atomic armageddon portrayed in the programme, however the danger of nuclear weapons being used has not gone away.
In 1945, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saw the only use of nuclear weapons. Eventually, I think that we'll see them used in anger again. In my opinion this is likely to follow one of two possible scenarios:
1. Terrorist Use :
The engineering of a primitive atomic bomb is, apparently, not that complicated. it's also far from impossible that a well-funded group might be able to "acquire" a military weapon, perhaps from one of the former Soviet Union.
2. Regional Conflict :
We've probably been closer to this than most of us realise. In 2002 India and Pakistan were very close to going to war over their Kashmir dispute. Both nations are nuclear powers...
Despite the somewhat gloomy tone of this article, I'm not actually a "ban-the-bomber". Much as it might be good if we could, I don't think you can uninvent something and the bomb's here to stay. This may sound horrible, but I even think that it's a "good" thing that the bomb's been used. Had the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs not been dropped, I'm convinced that there would have been a USA v. USSR nuclear exchange at some point during the Cold War, which would probably have resulted in many more deaths than those following the two atomic attacks on Japan.