Stakeknife and Mad Dog

Book cover
Lobster Issue 47 (Summer 2004) £££

[…] politicians claimed that the FRU was directed at loyalist and republican para-militaries, this is simply untrue ….the FRU was prevented by RUC Special Branch from infiltrating loyalist murder gangs.’ (p. 32) (1) The exception to this was ex-Army Brian Nelson, the ‘intelligence officer’ of the UDA, who directed the UDA’s killing of republicans for […]

Some examples of corporate, cultural and state PR

Lobster Issue 52 (Winter 2006/7) £££

[…] 27 August 2006). See also Terry Hanstock’s Re: in this issue – ed. Note: ‘unwelcome’ public sector histories are always of interest. For example, in his book Murder in Samarkand, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray writes: ‘I returned to London for a conference. At a meeting with Linda Duffield, Director of Wider […]

The American Papers: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh documents

Book cover
Lobster Issue 43 (Summer 2002) £££

ed. Roedad Khan Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 1999 Faisal A. Qureshi This book caused quite a stir when published in Pakistan due to the government’s reluctance to declassify its own documentation for this period. The editor deserves credit for going to the US and utilising the FOIA to put together and index various documents, such … Read more

Secrets and Lies

Book cover
Lobster Issue 57 (Summer 2009) £££

Secrets and Lies: A history of CIA mind control and germ warfare Gordon Thomas JR Books (www.jrbooks.com) 2007, h/b, £20   Gordon Thomas has written a number of books on the intelligence services and this has a glossy cover, voluminous appendices and some admiring quotes. But it adds little to what we already know about … Read more

People

Lobster Issue 26 (1993) £££

[…] was arrested in April for his alleged part in a conspiracy to assassinate the ANC leader Chris Harni (Independent, 19 April, 1993) and later convicted of the murder. The Guardian (21 April) reported that Derby-Lewis ran an organisation called The Stallard Foundation, which affiliated to Western Goals. Stallard rang a bell with me and […]

Inside the UDA

Book cover
Lobster Issue 47 (Summer 2004) £££

Colin Crawford. London: Pluto Press, 2003, £14.99, p/back   When World-in-Action and Tribune journalist David Boulton published his excellent book, The UVF, 1966-73, (Torc Books, 1974) he bemoaned a near absence of valuable books and journal articles on Loyalism. In contrast to their Republican counterparts, Loyalists do not have a substantive support base overseas; nor … Read more

Web Update

Lobster Issue 32 (December 1996) £££

Here are a few more web sites that may be of interest. Thanks for contributions to David Guyatt, Terry Hanstock, Daniel Brandt, Chris Atton and Tony Hollick. Further contributions and comments are welcome: my e-mail is Politics and government USA DoE Office of Human Radiation Experiments http://www.ohre.doe.gov/ ‘OHRE, established in March 1994, leads the … Read more

Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the press and ‘Project Truth’

Book cover
Lobster Issue 38 (Winter 1999) £££

[…] the US media, which ran with the Watergate story and all its ramifications in the 1970s, ended up, less than a decade later, becoming accomplices to the murder of American nuns in Central America. Parry’s account of the major media’s timidity under corporate and political pressure may turn out to be the more important […]

Notes from the Underground, part 4: British Fascism 1983-6 (II)

Lobster Issue 26 (1993) £££

Larry O’Hara See also: Part 1: British Fascism 1974-92 (Lobster 23) Part 2: British Fascism 1974-92 (II) (Lobster 24) Part 3: British fascism 1983-6 (Lobster 25) The 1986 National Front Split (Lobster 29) A left turn for the NF? Having described some of the multiple policy initiatives undertaken by the National Front in part 3 … Read more

Book reviews

Lobster Issue 8 (1985) £££

Books Alan Turing: the enigma of intelligence Andrew Hughes (Unwin 1985) If you have a chance, read Alan Turing: the enigma of intelligence by Andrew Hughes (Unwin 1985). Now in paperback, Hughes’ excellent biography rescues from near obscurity a true eccentric genius. It is of interest to us because of Turing’s essential work on the … Read more

Accessibility Toolbar