On October 8 1998 the CIA’s Inspector General published a report on the recent CIA-cocaine controversy which – apparently – more or less copped the lot, acknowledging that the CIA had ignored drug smuggling by its Contra allies. (See for example The Independent 7 November 1998, ‘CIA turned a deliberate blind eye to Contras’ drug … 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
Two pieces here by Tim Pendry. The major piece is followed by an addendum, which began as the text of a letter from Pendry to Dr Sean Gabb of the Libertarian Alliance in response to an article of Gabb’s. Pendry copied me his letter and I saw that it would go nicely with the longer … Read more
Colin Thompson was in his sixties, with bottle-bottomed glasses. He was carrying a laundry basket when we met, so he offered me his forefinger to shake instead of his hand. When I asked who he had voted for, Colin became visibly confused. It was just after 9 pm on 5 May 2005 and polling stations … 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
The story in The Guardian of 12 November, ‘Diplomat’s “slave” can stay in UK’, was the tip of an iceberg. The story concerned the allegations made that a Sudanese diplomat had kept a ‘slave’ in London. Allegations of slavery in the Sudan have been made – and denied – for years. (A summary of the … Read more
Pieces without an author’s name are by the editor Parish Notices For information thanks to Jane Affleck and Robert Henderson, in particular. I wasn’t going to add my 5p’s worth to the ‘Good-bye Tony’ feature in this issue. But since Our Great Leader announced he was slipping his moorings and was pushing off into a … Read more
Footy and me I did two things with Paul Foot. Over two days, he, Colin Wallace and I copy-edited the manuscript of what became Foot’s Who Framed Colin Wallace? Foot was impressively objective about his own writing, accepting editing suggestions on their merits. During a lunch break he said to me: ‘What’s a bright guy … 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
Iraq – fallout continues ‘Five years on from Hutton and we still haven’t been told the truth about the war based on lies’, fulminated Peter Oborne earlier this year. (1) Also less than happy was barrister Michael Shrimpton who unsuccessfully complained to Ofcom about an interview he gave for David Kelly: the conspiracy files, (2) … Read more
