Noel-Baker was made a life peer in 1977 and spent his retirement working for the cause of world disarmament.
The cause of nuclear disarmament is important, but, to the extent that the article feeds fear of nuclear terrorism, it risks generating more support for war, as in Iraq, and for mass surveillance, which has a chilling effect on dissent.
But those men have now been joined by Barack Obama and a cohort of hard-nosed politicians and diplomats in embracing the cause of multilateral disarmament with the aim of getting to zero nuclear weapons.They argue that the proliferation of nuclear weapons is fast reaching a "tipping point" beyond which it will be impossible to check their spread.
Those with long memories will recall Norman Tebbit's attempt during the 1980s to get Theatre Centre's productions of David Holman's Peace Plays (which he hadn't actually seen) banned from schools because he claimed that they were propaganda for the cause of nuclear disarmament and the women's peace camps at Greenham Common.
A founding member of the Great Neck Chapter of Womens Strike for Peace, she devoted much time, energy, and effort to the causes of international disarmament, peace, and civil rights.
"Senior military figures have described our existing nuclear weapons as 'militarily useless' and our possession of them encourages other countries to seek a similar arsenal while undermining the efforts being made to advance the cause of international nuclear disarmament".
He spent his final years travelling through the United States and Europe in the cause of peace and disarmament.
And the cause of global nuclear disarmament, once a dream with geopolitical cred, may wind up entombed in eternal apathy.
Some hope Ed Miliband will be different to the succession of Labour leaders who believed unilateralism would leave the UK more vulnerable to a future nuclear threat while doing precious little to advance the vitally important cause of global non-proliferation and disarmament.
Staff also recommended support for studies that explored newer themes, such as the economics of disarmament and understanding internal conflicts and their causes, along with continuing examination of approaches to sustaining peace, strengthening international law, and achieving world order.
