The apparent re-election of George W. Bush as US President seems to have its roots in a mechanical failure. On 12 March 2004, a car went out of control on a busy highway and propelled itself in front of an 18-wheeler. The driver – an African-American clergyman called Athan Gibbs – was killed outright. Gibbs, … Read more
All the issues thus far of Lobster, numbers 1-40, plus the special issue, The Clandestine Caucus, are now available on a fully-searchable CD-Rom. The Lobster CD-Rom requires a PC or Mac with a Web browser installed. The CD’s search engine requires your browser to be Java enabled. On PCs this means MS Internet Explorer … Read more
See Note (1) Introduction In The Wealth of Nations, a book supposed to underpin modern free-market philosophies, Adam Smith thought that the separation of management from ownership would inevitably gave rise to negligence and corruption. The owners of Enron were the shareholders, represented by pension funds, banks and trust funds. The chief managers of Enron … Read more
Pieces without an author are by the editor. Parish Notices Thanks to Jane Affleck, Richard Alexander, John Burnes, Phil Chamberlain, Terry Hanstock, Robert Henderson, Paul Lashmar, Philip Murphy, Rom, David Turner, Peter Watson and Robin Whittaker for information. This issue of Lobster would have appeared a week or so earlier than it did had it … Read more
Reflections on the ‘cult of the offensive’: pre-emptive war, the Israel lobby and US military Doctrine In our book, Spies, Lies and the War on Terror,(1) a central theme is the ascendancy of pre-emptive war doctrine in US military strategy and its impact on public perceptions and the construction of political narrative. A parallel and … Read more
Pieces without an author’s name are by the editor Parish Notices This is the final hard copy of Lobster.… but not the final issue of Lobster. I am merely giving up the labour of producing and distributing 1000 copies of a 50 page magazine. The next issue will appear – in precisely which form I … Read more
From David Hambling On the topic of the People Zapper (Lobster 41 p. 9), the new ‘Active Denial System’ is probably not the first microwave weapon to be deployed. There have been repeated rumours of cruise missiles with HPM (high-powered microwave) warheads being used in former Yugoslavia to knock out communications centres, though apparently the … Read more
Parish Notices Thanks to Martin Collins, Grattan Healy, Robin Whittaker (in particular), Rom, Terry Hanstock, Jane Affleck, Dr Sean Gabb, anon in Dubai and Simon Matthews for cuttings and other information. Morris Riley – an apology In Lobster 37 (p. 47) I said his book, Philby: the Hidden Years, had been ‘published without anyone looking … Read more
Since 1945, an Agricultural Revolution has occurred in Britain whose significance and impact outstrip anything which occurred in the 18th century. It has turned farming from the practice of husbandry into a form of industrial production, transformed the landscape through its destructive effects on traditional features and substantially changed the nature of the food we … Read more
Conference Report by Jane Affleck On November 10 2000 the Freedom Forum’s European Centre in London, in association with Article 19, Index on Censorship and Liberty, hosted a debate on National Security. (1) Three panels spoke on The Nature of National Security, British State Security in Northern Ireland, and The Internet – Circumventing Censorship? The … Read more
