Nightmare scenario

It is 2030. The nightmare has happened. Nuclear missiles have lifted off from a nation in the middle east. They are heading for Britain, and will strike within the hour.

Regrettably, 20 years earlier Britain decided that it would not keep a nuclear arsenal. The last British Trident submarine was phased out in 2025. The prime minister has no button to press. The missiles fall, gutting the sceptred isle. The PM turns to the remaining western nuclear powers for help: America and France. But the aggressor nation still has missiles left, and it is clear that in the event of any retaliatory strike, Washington or Paris will share the fate of London. France declines to act. In America the debate is longer and harder fought, but in the end the result is the same. The US missile defence system still doesn't work reliably, and the US is unwilling to lose cities purely to avenge the British. The attackers knew this would happen: this is why unarmed Britain was the target.

Lewis Page, 'Hands off our subs' in Prospect. Read the rest - it should still be freely available for the next few days. Also in the 'December' issue: Oliver Kamm on hedge funds; Tim King on the French riots. This confirms the hypocrisy over public housing that I wrote about previously.