Fifth Column: The decadence of our political system

Lobster Issue 55 (Summer 2008)

[…] counsel of the UK and other similarly-minded allies. This is the very essence of the liberal progressive ‘third way’ model which has been promoted by the British intelligence and security establishment and which was central to the decision to follow the US into Afghanistan and Iraq. This model made one big assumption that seemed […]

No one ever suddenly became depraved

Lobster Issue 50 (Winter 2005/6)

‘Britain, 2005. Saddam Hussein, still the ruler of Iraq and possessor of a long-range nuclear missile, seeks revenge on the west. Warned by intelligence reports of Saddam’s plan, the United States deploys a space-based missile shield, which will catch the Iraqi rocket before it gets to Washington. The key installation is based in Yorkshire […]

Puppet Masters: the political use of terrorism in Italy

Lobster Issue 22 (1991)

[…] messages of the Gladio network story — which is a chapter in this book.(1) What do we know of NATO intelligence-gathering and covert operations? Is there “NATO Intelligence’ somewhere? (Brian Crozier — writing as “John Rossiter’ — has NATO intelligence in his novel The Andropov Deception.) If so, where? How organised? How managed? Second, […]

Freedom of Information — new access legislation

Lobster Issue 48 (Winter 2004)

[…] you where it is. Absolute exemptions are not subject to any public interest test, and include information supplied by, or concerning: the Security Service, MI5; the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6; GCHQ; the Special Forces, e.g. the SAS; tribunals concerning intelligence and interception of communications including the Investigatory Powers Tribunal; and the National Criminal Intelligence […]

Spooks and the House of Commons

Lobster Issue 42 (Winter 2001/2)

An interesting piece by Mark Hollingsworth appeared in Punch of 23 May-5 June 2001, ‘Spooks in the House’, on intelligence and security personnel who become MPs. Some of the material was familiar but less well known were Raymond Fletcher, and Le Cercle. Fletcher was a Labour MP who was witch-hunted by MI5 as a […]

Some Notes on Occult Irrationalism and the Kennedy Assassination

Lobster Issue 24 (December 1992)

[…] Phenomenon of World History Since the Decline of the Vatican’, and its back issue list contained references to such articles as ‘Secret Societies as tools of British Intelligence’ (November 1984), ‘Rockefeller/British Conflict Over Germany’ (January-February 1985), and ‘The Jews and the Crown’ (March 1985). In addition, the May 1985 issue boasted of ‘Richard Landkamer’s […]

The History of Espionage

Book cover
Lobster Issue 54 (Winter 2007/8)

The clandestine world of surveillance, spying and intelligence from ancient times to the post 9/11 world Ernest Volkman London: Carlton, 2007, h/b, £20   This is a lavishly and creatively illustrated, large format, (i.e. slightly bigger than A4) glossy paper, coffee-table book on the history of espionage. A former journalist with Newsday, and author […]

Plotting for Peace and War

Lobster Issue 22 (1991)

[…] aristocrats and eccentric M.Ps or forces which were much more powerfully rooted in the structure of the British State? What was their relationship with the security and intelligence services? Why did Churchill feel the need to have his own intelligence adviser, Sir Desmond Morton? Costello seems to believe that the pro-appeasement faction was powerful […]

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Book cover
Lobster Issue 54 (Winter 2007/8)

[…] the history of the Agency, merely a history. Huge areas of the Agency’s activities have been ignored, as Jeffrey Richelson, one of the best informed historians of intelligence points out.(7) Richelson’s complaint is that the author has concentrated too much on the Agency’s covert operations. This is clearly true if we are to take […]

Defector Politics: or, grooving with Mr G.

Lobster Issue 29 (1995)

[…] ‘MI5 has a policy of doing nothing at all to punish or deter agents of influence….’ because ‘it is not illegal to co-operate in peace-time with hostile intelligence agencies to feed Western media with disinformation’. So, now you know: once again the public sector shows itself to be incompetent (or infiltrated) and the private […]

Accessibility Toolbar