How MI6 and the CIA were involved in the death of Princess Diana Jon King and John Beveridge New York: SPI Books, 2002, £18.95 In the five years since the Paris car crash that killed Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed, and Henri Paul, interest in Diana herself may have waned, (1) but the circumstances surrounding her … Read more
Bilderberg Originally given as a paper at the British Association for American Studies 2002 Annual Postgraduate Conference, this draws on newly available archival evidence to document the origins of the Bilderberg Group. It also considers the various conspiracy theories which have attached themselves to the Group. Is it a CIA plot to undermine socialism or … Read more
The big news in this field is the announcement that the distinguished scientist, Dr Rosalie Bertell, is apparently involved, assembling data on microwave or electromagnetic harassment. This is on the Web at http://www.calweb.com/~welsh/bertell.htm Preliminary conclusions were due to be announced in September but I understand those in the study are extremely busy and the September … Read more
Yesterday’s loony tunes become today’s reality. Here are some recent examples. Gulf war syndrome, whose existence has been denied by the Ministry of Defence for over a decade, is now being admitted. As the Telegraph’s version of the story put it: ‘Soldiers sent to the 1991 Gulf war were given a combination of vaccines that … Read more
Kevin Coogan is the author of the study of the American fascist Francis Parker Yockey, Dreamer of the Day, reviewed in Lobster 39. He sent me an essay primarily about the American far-right group the Defenders of the American Constitution. The essay, while fascinating, is too big (about 20 pages) for these columns. However within … Read more
Hernando Calvo Ospina Translated by Stephen Wilkinson and Alasdair Holden London and Sterling,VA.: Pluto Press, 2002, pb, £10.99 This is the first book to document the on-going attempt by the Bacardi company to both help overthrow the Fidelista Cuban Government and sabotage the commercial interests of competing, Cuban-sourced, rum companies. It also documents the … Read more
John Pilger Vintage Books, London,1998, £8.99 pb As one of the few serious radicals in this country to whom the mass media pay any attention, Pilger is important. This is a collection of essays, a few already published but most written for this book. We are back in what is recognisably Pilgerland: the corruptions of … Read more
The first of three essays in this issue are about New Labour and its origins. I put mine first because of its general, context-setting nature. The subsequent essays, on the Successor Generation and the operations in the British Unions, deepen and thicken the section towards the end of the opening essay which discusses New Labour’s … Read more
Parish Notices A number of noteworthy events since the last issue of Lobster. One was the quashing of Colin Wallace’s conviction for manslaughter, about which I say few things below. Another was the deaths of Anthony Verney (whose wife’s death was noted in the previous issue) and Kim Besly, both of whom had been engaged … Read more
