'For one side of the argument about nuclear energy British Nuclear Fuels urge you to write to this address.' The exhortation, in 144-point type, fills most of each side of a double-sided full-page advertisement in the national press in Britain. On the first side 'this address' is that of Greenpeace: on the second that of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). The ad epitomises a key problem of the 'argument about nuclear energy': it assumes that the 'argument' has two sides, and exactly two. If you are not for us - whoever 'we' may be - you are against us. If you are not 'pro-nuclear' you are 'anti-nuclear'.

LRB 8 January 1987 | PDF Download