Spinning the Spies: Intelligence, open government and the Hutton Inquiry

Book cover
Lobster Issue 49 (Summer 2005)

[…] subtle than that. In any case, the JIC precisely certified as ‘genuine’ intelligence which was ‘false and dubious’: it has almost all had to be ‘withdrawn’ by MI6. () Indeed, as the Australian analyst Rob Barton has told us, the JIC Chair, John Scarlett was still trying to get ‘false and dubious’ intelligence put […]

Brands and Britannia: Some aspects of national image and identity

Lobster Issue 54 (Winter 2007/8)

[…] intelligence force, answerable to the Home Secretary, freeing SIS to continue with its core functions, answerable to the Foreign Secretary’. This would avoid a ‘wholesale take-over of MI6 priorities by MI5-led anti-terrorism operations,’ which, he said, many intelligence operatives fear.Note: In the ‘old’ days spook lobbying and territorial warfare were invisible. Given other associations […]

The Anglo-Rhodesian Society

Lobster Issue 22 (1991)

[…] Paget MP (Labour — Eton, Trinity College, European Movement); Conservative Cabinet member Duncan Sandys; Patrick Wall MP (founder of the secret 92 Group of Tory MPs);(15) ex MI6 officer Stephen Hastings MP; Lord Salisbury, the Society’s President, and his son Lord Cranborne; Lord Coleraine, Judge Gerald Sparrow, Lord Hinchenbrooke (Victor Montagu), Lord Forester, the […]

The smearing of Colin Wallace

Lobster Issue 14 (1987)

[…] never alleged this. “In an account he claims to have written in 1976 as evidence of his intimate involvement in the intelligence world, Wallace talks of an MI6 operative he knew. In fact that document reveals an event – the death of a policeman – that actually occurred in December 1981.” I think I’ve […]

Fifth Column: A brief sojourn East of Suez: a last gasp for British great power status

Lobster Issue 54 (Winter 2007/8)

[…] into play some awkward facts. The UK’s largest Muslim minority is from Pakistan. Western engagement against Islamism in Western Asia would naturally create conflicts of loyalty. While MI6 might enjoy itself understanding the intricacies of Pathan tribal politics, it was MI5 that was going to have to pick up the pieces. As we move […]

The Dirty War, and, The SAS in Ireland (Book reviews)

Lobster Issue 21 (1991)

[…] the United Kingdon believed that unorthodox methods and techniques were required in the war. The intervention of these groupings, which included Special Branch, military intelligence, MI5 and MI6, was uncoordinated. Much has been written about that period, some of it honest journalism, but most of it (emphasis added) propaganda inspired by the terrorists and […]

Parafinance: Enron and drilling for red ink

Lobster Issue 43 (Summer 2002)

[…] gradually through the ranks of associates at Stoy. Given this, it is possible that he was merely a conduit for Cold War funds from other sources, either MI6 or, more likely, the CIA. Berlusconi Andersen’s government contacts don’t stop there. With the election of Silvio Berlusconi in 1994, Italy nearly became the first Western […]

The New Spies: Exploring the Frontiers of Espionage

Lobster Issue 27 (1994)

[…] that Mr Adams would, either.) On the British end of things Adams tells us, inter alia There has been a complete purge of the upper echelons of MI6 in favour of younger people. (So a lot of disgruntled senior people to leak in the future?) SIS has got a lot of good sources inside […]

Your Right To Know: How to use the Freedom of Information Act and other access laws

Book cover
Lobster Issue 49 (Summer 2005)

[…] an absolute exemption for information that was supplied directly or indirectly, or relates to the following security bodies: the Security Service (MI5), the Secret Intelligence Service ( MI6), GCHQ, Special Forces …the National Criminal Intelligence Service…a certificate from a minister is all that is needed for the exemption to apply…….The security services in the […]

Policing Politics: Security Intelligence and the Liberal Democratic State

Lobster Issue 27 (1994)

[…] of bureaucratic and organisational models of the modern state, concluding that inter-agency rivalry is to be expected — or you can have an overview of the MI5/ MI6 turf wars. You can’t, yet, have both. Which is not to say this book is ‘Parapolitics for Beginners (with sociology degrees)’. Some of Gill’s academic digressions […]

Accessibility Toolbar