Pieces without an author are by the editor Parish Notices Thanks to Phil Chamberlain, Alex Cox, Richard Alexander, Robin Whittaker, Rom, Jane Affleck, Peter Watson, Chris Tame, Terry Hanstock and Phil Edwards for information, cuttings or sources. Somebody commented recently that Lobster had changed from its early days. Yes it has. This is inevitable. The … Read more
Introduction Despite their reputation for ’empiricism’, British academics have tended to treat political power by means of abstract concepts rather than empirical information about the actions of determinate individuals and groups (e.g. Giddens, 1984, 1985; Scott, 1986). After a brief efflorescence of empirical studies of the so-called ‘Establishment’ in the early 1960s, sociologists in Britain … Read more
Pieces without an author’s name are by the editor Parish Notices Errors in Issue 53 In the review The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism, Richard Cummings appeared as John Cummings. On the front cover and on pp. 2 and 31 Corinne Souza was given as Corinne de Souza. Considering that both have written for this … Read more
Pieces without an author are by the editor. Parish Notices Thanks to Robin Whittaker, Rom, Jane Affleck, Richard Alexander, Terry Hanstock, Chris Tame, David Turner and Peter Watson for information. Thanks in particular to the mysterious and anonymous visitor, ‘Luca’, who knocked on my door one day, stayed about ten minutes and gave me £1000. … Read more
Pieces without an author’s name are by the editor Parish Notices Thanks to Bill Clark, Bob Ardler and Chris West for money or offers of money. Happily, thanks to the sales of the CD-Rom, Lobster is self-financing. There are many other little magazines (and, indeed, Web sites) which are not in this fortunate position and … Read more
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
Parish Notices Thanks to Robin Whittaker, Rom, Tom Easton, Ian Tresman, Jane Affleck, Dr. David Turner, and Terry Hanstock for information since the last issue. The big event in this neck of the woods is the arrival of the Lobster CD-Rom. Credit for this goes chiefly to Ian Tresman, Lobster Website manager and creator, who … Read more
The Christic Institute’s allegations that there has been a ‘secret team’ of CIA and ex CIA personnel operating since the early 1960s right through to the present day have had a surprising amount of publicity in Britain considering that this is the kind of conspiracy theorising which is normally anathema to our straight media. It … Read more
Richard B. Spence Los Angeles: Feral House, 2003 , $29.95, h/b Boasting over 1800 footnotes and a magnificent bibliography (including texts published in Turkmenistan) this would be awarded A for Application if such a prize existed in academia. The author, Professor of History at the University of Idaho, appears to be something of an … 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
