Churchill and Secret Service

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Lobster Issue 37 (Summer 1999)

[…] the time, Room 40 would have been established. Much more notable was Churchill’s continual interference in its running. Predictably, he was an eager victim of the ‘ spy mania’ that gripped the country on the outbreak of war in 1914, actually leading a raid, pistol in hand, on the home of an unsuspecting Tory […]

Malcolm Kennedy: secrecy ruling

Lobster Issue 45 (Summer 2003)

Abstract The Tribunal established to investigate complaints about phone-tapping and the activities of the intelligence agencies has, at its first ever public hearing, quashed rules made by the Home Secretary forcing the tribunal to hold all its hearings in secret. However, the Tribunal procedure remains too secret, and its decisions cannot be appealed. Malcolm Kennedy’s … Read more

The Open Side of Secrecy: Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee

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Lobster Issue 52 (Winter 2006/7)

Anthony Glees, Philip J. Davies, and John N. L. Morrison London: The Social Affairs Unit, 2006, £20, h/b   The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) is a recent addition to the roster of Whitehall bodies; the motives of those who created it, as the authors show, are obscure and its role to some extent remains … Read more

Vatican Connections

Lobster Issue 1 (1983)

[…] the stories issuing from the Vatican), but also, on pp 236-7 he gives an account of a memo -” a series of notes from the Italian government’s spy in the Secretariat of State (in the Vatican)”. This memo reports that Wojtyla’s candidacy was “pushed especially by the West Germans, the English-speaking North Americans and […]

Hilda Murrell: a death in the private sector

Lobster Issue 16 (1988)

[…] During my membership with the IPI I also had contact with numerous private investigators who also acted for the government, carrying out surveillance, investigations etc. for official spy masters. At one stage I was a Director sitting on the board of governors, dealing with the day to day affairs at the Institute. During this […]

Harassment by the state

Lobster Issue 45 (Summer 2003)

[…] insisted I not print it. I complied and forgot about it. I recalled my afternoon in the Station Hotel reading the account in Corinne Souza’s book Baghdad’s Spy (reviewed in this issue) of the harassment her family suffered at the hands of SIS. There it was again: break-ins, pranks, things left in the house, […]

The Campus Connection: Military Research on Campus

Lobster Issue 23 (1992)

Rob Evans, Nicola Butler, Eddie Goncalves Student CND, London 1991, £3.00 The contents list is reproduced here. This is not my field but Rob Evans of the Campaign Against Military Research on Campus (CAMROC) now has quite a track record in this area. This is available at £3.00 from Student CND, 162 Holloway Road, London … Read more

Spook-wise: MI6 and Clare Short

Lobster Issue 40 (Winter 2000/1)

MI6 persuaded Clare Short, the Secretary of State for International Development, to task them to give her early warning about coups in Africa. (Independent 23 July 2000) MI6 now have a license to roam throughout Africa. The spooks must love having Labour in office, terrified to oppose anything they ask for. Hitherto secret Whitehall committee … Read more

The Case Against Israel, and, The Power of Israel

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Lobster Issue 52 (Winter 2006/7)

The Case Against Israel Michael Neumann Oakland (US): CounterPunch, $15 Edinburgh (UK): AK Press, £10, 2005 The Power of Israel in the United States James Petras Atlanta and Black Point: Clarity Press and Fernwood Books, 2006, $16.95   In a year in which Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza were accompanied by more stories of … Read more

Wallace Clippings planted on Chapman Pincher

Lobster Issue 16 (1988)

[…] up the gun and injure or even kill the gunman. Examine Explosives experts who helped to compile the memo report, according to their “contact” – presumably a spy in the Government service – hundreds of these doctored rounds are already on their way to Northern Ireland. They warn I.R.A. commanders to examine all rounds […]

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