Secret History: Writing the Rise of Britain’s Intelligence Services by Simon Ball

Lobster Issue 80 (Winter 2020)

[PDF file]: SECRET HISTORY Writing the Rise of Britain’s Intelligence Services Simon Ball London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020. Around £17.00 p/b Robin Ramsay In the last 30 years or so academic writing on intelligence services in this country has gone from being a non-subject to an enormous field, far too big for any one person to […]

New Cloak, Old Dagger: How Britain’s Spies Came In From The Cold

Book cover
Lobster Issue 33 (Summer 1997)

Michael Smith Gollancz, London,1996, £20 This is a curious and rather pointless book. In short chapters Smith attempts potted histories of MI5, SIS, signals and military intelligence. These are quite well done, but covering half a century in 20 pages, say, the chapters are barely more than sketches. (The Information Research Department gets a […]

The view from the bridge

Lobster Issue 48 (Winter 2004)

[…] group that we could prevent actions because of the credibility of our source.’ This is reminiscent of the comment by former BOSS agent, Gordon Winter that, ‘British intelligence has a saying that if there is a left-wing movement in Britain bigger than a football team our man is the captain or the vice captain, […]

Re:

Lobster Issue 48 (Winter 2004)

[…] characters, such as Greville Wynne and John Vassall, to major operators – Blunt, Burgess, Maclean and Philby. ‘Spooks’ are also covered, with almost ninety members of the intelligence community listed. Many of these had other occupations – John Henry Bevan (‘intelligence officer and stockbroker’), Maurice James Buckmaster (‘intelligence officer and businessman’), Tomas Joseph Harris […]

9/11’s Trainer in Terrorism Was an FBI Informant

Lobster Issue

[…] that: Shortly after 9/11, in October 2001, U.S. and British newspapers briefly alleged that the paymaster for the 9/11 attacks was a possible agent of the Pakistani intelligence service ISI, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. There was even a brief period in which it was alleged that the money had been paid at the direction […]

The big one? 9:11 Revealed. Challenging the facts behind the War on Terror

Book cover
Lobster Issue 50 (Winter 2005/6)

[…] one I can’t do it. The world is weird and the US state is capable of great evil but the people at the top of its military- intelligence complex are not stupid enough or bold enough to have sanctioned something like this. The MIHOP ‘sceptics’ presented in this book want us to believe that […]

Northern Ireland Act 1974

Lobster Issue 14 (1987)

[…] He enlisted as a private in the gunners, and three years later he was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Transport. He volunteered for the Special Military Intelligence unit in Northern Ireland when the present troubles began, and he was trained at the Joint Services School of Intelligence. Once his training was finished, he […]

Book reviews

Lobster Issue 8 (1985)

Books Alan Turing: the enigma of intelligence Andrew Hughes (Unwin 1985) If you have a chance, read Alan Turing: the enigma of intelligence by Andrew Hughes (Unwin 1985). Now in paperback, Hughes’ excellent biography rescues from near obscurity a true eccentric genius. It is of interest to us because of Turing’s essential work on […]

Brian Crozier, the Pinay Circle and James Goldsmith

Lobster Issue 17 (1988)

[…] therefore, that they are fully aware of his activities. He has extensive connections with members, or more accurately, former members, of the most important western security and intelligence services, eg the Comte de Meronges, ex Director of the French SDECE. Furthermore he has a close relationship with Mr ‘Dickie’ Franks, Director of the British […]

Accessibility Toolbar