In Substack years I’m 2 years old today… I wonder what that is in dog years? 😄 Do feel free to come say hi over there. I’m very friendly I promise!

Bombed Chornobyl shelter no longer blocks radiation and needs major repair – IAEA #nuclear www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

What are you doing on Sunday? Why not watch this gripping Korean nuclear spy thriller (plus a little short of mine!) then sign up to my movie club & come chat about it with us on Zoom? All the details are in the post. I'd love to see you there! 🍿🎬☢️ #filmsky #nukesky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

Last month it was 1940s Soviet jazz, this month the soundtrack to my latest film club essay is the first K-pop band ever to perform in North Korea! Look out for my ‘10 Things to Know About… The Spy Gone North’ - the terrific Korean nuclear espionage film we’re watching this month - out later today…

Here it is, my full report on Margot Bennett’s slice of mid-century atomic science served with a nice dollop of regressive ’60s gender stereotypes on the side. You can snap up your own copy for a cool 180 quid at Oxfam Books or just watch my video instead! open.substack.com/pub/vickiles... #nukesky

In response to the order by Trump for US to resume nuclear testing, the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, of which the Western Shoshone's Native Community Action Council are a member, will be at the gates of the Nevada National Security Site for an educational Peace Camp today November 21, 2025.

🚨 JUST IN: Since it started as a producer of nuclear waste storage canisters, #Holtec has built an empire around mothballed nuclear power plants and incomplete nuclear initiatives. The firm's history of overpromising and underdelivery raises the question of whether to trust it this time. #nukesky

I've recorded my latest video book report, this one on my mid-1960s vintage charity shop gem, 'The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Atomic Radiation'. Full thing will be up later on this evening but here's a sneaky peak... #nukesky

I couldn't possibly do a season on atomic movies in my film club without including a spy thriller could I! This month's movie pick takes us to 1990s North & South Korea for some super tense nuclear espionage action in The Spy Gone North... vickilesley.substack.com/p/the-film-t... #nukesky #filmsky

Whilst I found the repeated telling of events from different angles rather anti-climactic, I DID really like the choice to end the film on that deliberately suspended moment before whatever happened happened. This beautifully written piece articulates much better than I could why.

Today at 11:30 AM CST / 12:30 PM EST, join the Bulletin for an expert discussion unpacking "A House of Dynamite." Watch below. ⬇️

Nuclear testing you say? "Nuclear Conquistadors: Military Colonialism in #Nuclear Test Site Selection during the Cold War” #NuclearTesting #ColdWar #NukeSky ipus.snu.ac.kr/eng/wp-conte...

Current reading, from my pile of charity shop finds. Published in 1964 and written by a Scottish mother of four whose first job was on a New Zealand sheep station and who later wrote crime & sci-fi novels. And that cover! I mean how could I possibly refuse? 😄 #nukesky

Just finished watching House of Dynamite. I made my son go to bed halfway through cos it was late and it’s school tomorrow. He was annoyed but I honestly think he already saw the best of it. It’s fantastic that Bigelow is tackling nuclear weapons but watching brought sadly diminishing returns for me

My latest deep dive essay for my film club is out! I *really* enjoyed learning more about this late Soviet portrait of Chernobyl made just 3 years later, shot through with cinematic ambition, surreal humour & deep humanity. Shame it’s not better known #filmsky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

Just finished up on a Zoom call and popped upstairs to see my son who’d arrived back from school in the meantime. After the briefest of pleasantries were exchanged he said, “Well I’ll let you get back to work…” How to tell me to get out of your bedroom without telling me to get out of your bedroom 😂

And just seen there’s an introduction from actor Ian McNeice too. Thank goodness for the iPlayer eh…😄

It’s so rare I ever scroll through the TV guide and find anything on I actually want to watch anymore. But tonight… BBC4 truly is spoiling us with gripping 1980s nuclear conspiracy thriller Edge of Darkness. Quite possibly one of the best British TV dramas ever. Don’t miss if you’ve never seen it!

You can watch Raspad in full on Youtube with English subtitles. I couldn't find a translated trailer but this one in the original Russian has very little dialogue and really conveys the essence of this damning, moving, blackly comic & grimly fascinating movie www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HFK...

How did people in Kiev experience the catastrophe at Chernoby amidst official misinformation & a disintegrating society? That's what we'll be talking about in my online movie club this month, looking at the 1990 Soviet/Ukrainian film Raspad #filmsky #nukesky vickilesley.substack.com/p/the-film-t...

Finally looking through and closing some of the bajillion tabs I’ve got open on my phone and I found this gem (possibly from around the time I watched The Killing of Sister George). I bet Beryl & Derek were a right pair at parties 😄 m.youtube.com/watch?v=tyPs...

Final Destination had nothing on British public information films.

Tomorrow morning. Join us! 🍿⚛️☕️🥐

Reading about the amazing Greenham rebel women and enjoying some autumn sunshine in the community garden this morning. The reading/researching/thinking phase of a new film is such a nice place to be…

Today in 1964 Fail Safe was released in theaters. #filmsky #nukesky

Got any plans for Sunday morning? Why not pop in to my online film club for a cozy chat about this hilarious/weird documentary with me & the official historian at Aldermaston. Coffee, croissants & nuclear warheads! I'd love to see you there vickilesley.substack.com/p/10-things-... #filmsky #nukesky

Been reading a memoir from Greenham Common this morning and it's only making me even more excited about reading the new novel from @eanstruther.bsky.social Fallout, coming to your shelves next year. Check out the trailer! #nukesky

This is appalling news!

You know that feeling when you've done something a hundred times and you just have to celebrate by listening to a Tragically Hip song? Just me then😄 If you've absolutely no idea what I'm on about, give this a read and all will become clear...

Two freaky Fridays, some ludicrous flooding, yacht rock and the mental load - just some of the cultural snacks I’ve got to share with you this month. Also a whole lot of Australians. Check it out 🤩

CRACKS (1975): Legendary Sesame Street animation that was, for decades, considered lost media until it popped up on YouTube. Creepy, queasy, and wonderfully weird, it features legendary sax player Mel Martin and Dorothy Moskowitz from experimental rock band The United States of America.

If I was in London I would one hundred percent be booking a ticket for this... @thegardencinema.bsky.social continue to excel with their brilliant programming 👏🏻https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/peter-watkins-the-war-game-at-60-with-peter-kennard/

Wanna come to 'The Plutonium Circus'? Yep it's off to the Lone Star State for our next pick in my online film club currently taking a slow tour across the atomic age. Just £8 gets you full access to my deep dive intro post & our online meetup. Details here⬇️ #filmsky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

A flying visit to the beautiful Othona Community nestled by the mudflats on the Essex coast, in the shadow of Bradwell nuclear power station, to screen my film at an intimate gathering of artists, archaeologists & activists. What a landscape. I hope to come again someday and stay a little longer.

A quick reminder: our next online meeting of The Film Thread film club is TOMORROW when we’ll be discussing this incredible anime about a young boy living in Hiroshima when the bomb drops. It’s just £8 to sign up - all details in the post. I’d love to see you there! open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

Have you seen this incredible film? It’s perhaps the definitive celluloid telling of a true story of survival after the Hiroshima bomb. We’re discussing it in my film club this month - all very welcome (details in the primer post ⬇️) #filmsky #nukesky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

I have now! #britishholidays #isleofwight

Found amidst the layers of old newspaper (2004 on top of 1974) underneath the fitted wardrobe the builders just ripped out of my bedroom. Yes that’s a Page 3 playing card! (I’ll spare you the picture on the other side). Cue explaining Page 3 girls to my 11 year old son. “That’s just *weird*. Yup.

Three great movies I had no idea I had squirrelled away on VHS…

As part of remembering & honouring the victims at Hiroshima in 1945, I recorded some survivors' testimonies, taken from a book I purchased in the Peace Memorial Museum when I visited in 2004. Do listen & share with anyone you think needs to hear these words. vickilesley.substack.com/p/extracts-f...

"Many Christians are deeply disturbed over use of atomic bombs against Japanese cities." - Samuel McCrea Cavert [1888-1976] telegram sent 80 years ago to President Truman. With Truman's Aug. 11, 1945 reply. Found these at the Truman Presidential Library a few years ago.

A very special interview on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb strike on Hiroshima with Professor Yuki Miyamoto, who grew up in the city as the child of a hibakusha (survivor of the attack). Do take a moment today to have a read if you can #nukesky open.substack.com/pub/vickiles...

I'd not heard of the 'family successors' initiative for children of hibakusha to record & pass on their parents' experiences of surviving the atomic bomb mentioned here - but I'm glad to learn of it. We cannot allow their voices & their warnings to be forgotten... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Was about to say I had parenting of both kids at the Brighton & Hove CC Under 11s Friday night match fully under control. Until a neat cover drive from the first born almost took out my pint!! 🤣 #cricket

Samuel L Jackson being sensational as ever!

So I feel like it should be obvious why naming a public software release after a raw material is a bad idea on a number of levels... "Today, CISA, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, announced the public availability of Thorium." www.cisa.gov/resources-to...

Counting down to the end of the launch discount on my slow cinema club The Film Thread. Half price till the end of today. Come chat about nuclear testing sending the world spinning off its axis! (thankfully only in Val Guest's movie not for real😁) vickilesley.substack.com/subscribe #filmsky #nukesky

Belatedly hearing of the passing of the wonderful Tom Lehrer. No-one ever made the perils of nuclear proliferation sound so upbeat & catchy. RIP. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRLO...

Hell of a night on BBC Four ahead.

"All the nuclear tinkerings of man were powerless." But you're not. You can come join us to talk about this atomic sci-fi classic - and many more - in my brand new movie club The Film Thread! And it's still 50% off till end of play Thursday ☢️🎬 vickilesley.substack.com/subscribe #filmsky #nukesky