The State of Secrecy: Spies and the Media in Britain by Richard Norton-Taylor

Lobster Issue 80 (Winter 2020)

[PDF file]: […] opposed by openness (good), the actual ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ of the book reveal that Norton-Taylor is telling a slightly different story. Chief among the villains is Tony Blair. Blair’s refusal to openly admit his commitment to invading Iraq ensured British troops were sent to war unprepared. The lack of training, equipment and local intelligence […]

The view from the bridge

Lobster Issue 70 (Winter 2015)

[PDF file]: […] Simon Matthews, ‘The once and future king?’ in Lobster 56. And the fact that he did so is one of the reasons the NuLab faction – Brown, Blair et al – detested him: he knew more than they did, knew they were talking shit and told them so. 18 7 happens when you let […]

Peer group pressure

Lobster Issue 78 (Winter 2019)

[PDF file]: […] in the same boat?) Secondly, on a general point about the ennobled contingent of likely Corbyn haters, they will be heavily reinforced by the peers appointed by Blair and Brown – who know that Corbyn doesn’t like the peerage. He’s only appointed a handful himself (including Shami Chakrabarti – and look where that leads […]

Armed and Dangerous: the corporate origins of war with Iran

Lobster Issue 63 (Summer 2012)

[PDF file]: […] Iran Superficially, David Cameron’s commitment to war with Iran, in 2012, looks like a carbon copy of Tony Blair’s commitment to war with Iraq in 2003. For Blair, war with Iraq was payback for US and corporate support (e.g. from Rupert Murdoch and the City of London) for his hijacking of the Labour Party […]

The view from the bridge

Lobster Issue 91 (2025)

[PDF file]: […] Cato Institute, a free market, libertarian propaganda outfit in Washington, wrote a self-explanatory piece with the title ‘We Brexiteers must acknowledge the costs of leaving Europe’.19 Former Blair era Labour Minister Denis MacShane also spotted Mr Bourne’s mea culpa and added one I hadn’t seen by Jeremy Warner in the Daily Telegraph, two days […]

The View from the Bridge

Lobster Issue

[…] Matthews, ‘The once and future king?’ in Lobster 56. 18 And the fact that he did so is one of the reasons the NuLab faction – Brown, Blair et al – detested him: he knew more than they did, knew they were talking shit and told them so. For a political leader, like Mrs […]

View from

Lobster Issue

[…] a striking example in relation to the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He asked Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications at the time, if Tony Blair could change his mind about the decision to invade. Campbell replied: Think about what it would mean if he admitted he was wrong. It would overshadow […]

View from

Lobster Issue

[…] a striking example in relation to the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He asked Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications at the time, if Tony Blair could change his mind about the decision to invade. Campbell replied: Think about what it would mean if he admitted he was wrong. It would overshadow […]

View from

Lobster Issue

[…] a striking example in relation to the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He asked Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications at the time, if Tony Blair could change his mind about the decision to invade. Campbell replied: Think about what it would mean if he admitted he was wrong. It would overshadow […]

View from

Lobster Issue

[…] a striking example in relation to the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. He asked Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications at the time, if Tony Blair could change his mind about the decision to invade. Campbell replied: Think about what it would mean if he admitted he was wrong. It would overshadow […]

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