Labour Party PLC David Osler Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, £15.99, 2002 Colin Challen MP Having written a history of Conservative Party funding, (1) I had been wondering when somebody would get round to doing a similar job on Labour. However, Labour Party plc is more than a simple history of party financing, it seeks to show … Read more
See note (1) David Phillips, the former CIA officer considered by the Select Committee on Assassinations as a possible candidate for the true identity behind the cover name ‘”Maurice Bishop” -(2)- reacted strongly when this book was published in the summer of 1980. He contacted top executives in newspapers and television, making himself available to … Read more
Paul Bruce Blake Publishing, London 1995, £15.99 The pseudonymous author claims to have been a member of a clandestine 4-man SAS squad which assassinated a couple of dozen alleged IRA members in the 1971-3 period in Northern Ireland. The author’s taped and transcribed memories are intercut with sections from an uncredited ghost writer – apparently … Read more
Drugs, oil and war Peter Dale Scott Oxford (UK) and New York : Rowman and Littlefield Inc; 2003, $22.95, p/b On the left-hand page facing his first page of text Scott gives us two definitions of deep politics, the concept he introduced which succeeded his earlier concept of parapolitics. deep politics: ‘all those political … Read more
Paul Johnson, former editor of the New Statesman turned ‘new right’ Thatcherite, turned his hack hand to KAL 007 in a review of Alexander Dallin’s Black Box KAL 007 and the Superpowers (University of California Press 1985) in the Times Literary Supplement (August 23 1985). Johnson asks the question: “How could a Korean pilot skilful … Read more
9/11: The new evidence Ian Henshall London: Robinson, 2007, p/b, £9.99 This is a sequel to, an updating of, Henshall’s book (co-written with Rowland Morgan) 9:11 Revealed, reviewed in Lobster 50 (p. 29). Some new bits and pieces are chewed over, some new evidence is presented, some familiar material is reworked. It is done … Read more
Scott et al I do have a copy of the Scott Report but I simply have not had time to read it. It seems pretty clear from the comments of a number of the knowledgeable minority who have followed this story for the past few years that, for whatever reason, Scott and his team have … Read more
‘Let me through! I’m an academic conspiracy expert.’ Peter Knight London and New York: Routledge, 2000 p/b £16.99, h/b £60 Page one of this book or, rather more accurately, page ix, the first page of text, saw my heart sinking. There, above the preface, was a quote from Don DeLillo’s novel about Lee Harvey … Read more
Conspiracy, Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracy Research Robin Ramsay ‘The unexpected and dramatic death of the famous, whether statesmen like John F Kennedy, or media stars like Marilyn Monroe, invariably give rise to conspiracy theories.’ Thus Cambridge historian, Christopher Andrew, during his disgraceful hatchet job on Hugh Thomas’ books about Rudolph Hess for BBC2 ‘s Timewatch … Read more
Beatrix Campbell London: Lawrence and Wishart, 2008, p/b, £14.99 ‘The rule of law is the cornerstone of democracy,’ a High Court judge said in February in relation to the case of alleged torture of a British resident held in Guantamo Bay. This book is solely about Northern Ireland’s recent history and it shows how … Read more
