[…] were the other stories. Some were the horror stories with which we have become familiar: for example MK-Ultra and Ewen Cameron’s insane experiments with reprogramming the human mind which Hollings discusses. But also: by 1959 Cary Grant had taken LSD over 60 times as part of a Hollywood set who were using it with […]
[…] inquiries into past spying’ (Guardian, 27 March 1995). There are a few MPs who know something of the intelligence services: Tam Dalyell and Rupert Allason spring to mind; and others willing to ask awkward questions. None of those were appointed by the leaders of the two main parties to the committee. It would have […]
[…] that someone’s lying, or they may simply have been produced by fallible human beings. You start out by doubting the official story, but you keep an open mind and apply the same sceptical standards to all the alternative versions. Debunking an error is an endless process, even if you believe you’ve seen a white […]
[…] the siting of US missiles around Russia in his capacity as Poland’s Foreign Minister. Mention Poland in British politics and the name Denis McShane MP springs to mind. The son of a Polish émigré, McShane was, like Sikorski, deeply involved in Solidarity there before he rose to prominence in international relations, in his case […]
[…] you get some actors?’ (There were two sitting in the room, drinking tea.) No: Loach wanted us to improvise it. So in front of some professional actors, mind, we spent an excruciating 15 minutes trying to improvise a dialogue about the 1970s, pretending to be a British Army officers engaged in a cabal. We […]
[…] industrial trade union, led by CPGB members and ex-members, opposing government policy, was more than enough. The nonsense – the communist conspiracy theory – in Mrs Thatcher’s mind was of no relevance to MI5. But it surely is relevant to this story. Beckett and Hencke give us an expanded take on the received version […]
[…] Orange Two. Through General Sir Peter Leng, Ware confirms the existence of a “Clockwork Orange One” (“hare-brained”, according to Leng), but tells us that “today, in Wallace’s mind, ‘Clockwork Orange’ has become a more sinister Mark Two which … went beyond destabilising the IRA; it was aimed at mainland Labour politicians – which just […]
The killing of WPC Yvonne Fletcher in public view and for no apparent reason remains one of the most notorious murders of recent decades. For sixteen years there have been few signs of any serious attempts to locate and bring to justice the perpetrator of this outrage. Finally, this April, in an outstanding piece of … Read more
The Secret of Bryn Estyn: The Making of a Modern Witch Hunt Richard Webster Oxford: The Orwell Press, 2005, £25 This is an account of the various child abuse and satanic abuse cases that developed across the UK from the mid ’80s onwards. At the phenomenon’s peak, around 1995, many police forces were carrying […]
[…] of the British state; and on the dominance of London and Roseland (rest of the south of England); and on nationalism and identity. Nairn has a powerful mind, a wide knowledge rooted in Marxism, and wonderful savage rhetoric. Here are some quotations. You could almost pick quotes at random; much of it is like […]
