Operation Brogue

Lobster Issue 4 (1984) £££

In the mainland UK press the bugging of a house used by Seamus Mallon, deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, was presented as (merely) another mysterious and rather inept example of ‘dirty tricks’ in Irish politics. (See eg Guardian 20th February 1984) A brief story appeared and then vanished again. But Irish … Read more

Vote-rigging USA

Lobster Issue 47 (Summer 2004) £££

Hi-tech computer voting is now the order-of-the-day in America. In October 2002 the US Administration passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which authorised $4 billion for states to use the Direct Recording Election system (DRE) equipment which would have to meet certain standards (set by the Act) by the year 2006. At which point, … Read more

Print: Magazines and Catalogues

Lobster Issue 18 (1989) £££

Colin Wallace On the Colin Wallace front, the big event since issue 17 has been Paul Foot’s book, Who Framed Colin Wallace? (Macmillan, 1989). With this book Paul Foot has re-researched and synthesised all the previous work and produced what is likely to remain the definitive account of Wallace’s biography, his allegations and – most … Read more

West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir

Book cover
Lobster Issue 43 (Summer 2002) £££

William Blum New York: Soft Skull Press, 2002, $15 www.softskull.com   The working lives of writers, especially writers of non-fiction like Blum – or me – are rather dull. To produce Lobster and my other bits and pieces I have to stay in one place, read e-mails every day, books, newspapers, visit libraries, go to … Read more

M. Fennema: “International networks of banks and industry”

Lobster Issue 8 (1985) £££

Books International networks of banks and industry M. Fennema (Martinus Nijhoff, PO Box 2501, CN The Hague, Netherlands: Distribution in Europe by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, PO Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Distribution for US and Canada by Kluwer Boston Inc. 190 Old Derby St., Higham, MA 02043, USA).1982 Very little academic work … Read more

Magazines, journals etc.

Lobster Issue 22 (1991) £££

Wellington Pacific Review Owen Wilkes has ceased production of Wellington Pacific Review (ISSN 0135-5619), the New Zealand newsletter on events in that part of the Pacific, but it continues under the control of Iain MacDougall. At £10/ US 14 for 10 issues, WPR should be on the list of anyone with even a passing interest … Read more

SISies: MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations and A Life: A. J. Ayer

Book cover
Lobster Issue 40 (Winter 2000/1) £££

MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations Stephen Dorril Fourth Estate, London, 2000, £25 A Life: A. J. Ayer Ben Rogers Chatto and Windus, London, 1999, £20   Many books on intelligence matters simply rehash old ‘facts’, adding a new twist to – a slightly different interpretation of – well-known, if not necessarily well-understood, events. If … Read more

The British American Project for the Successor Generation

Lobster Issue 33 (Summer 1997) £££

Let’s start with the easiest question: what do George Robertson, Chris Smith and Marjorie ‘Mo’ Mowlam have in common? They are, of course, all strong Tony Blair supporters in the new Labour Cabinet. And what about Peter Mandelson and Elizabeth Symons? Not yet quite Cabinet members, but both are key figures in the ‘modernising project’ … Read more

Smearing Wallace and Holroyd

Lobster Issue 15 (1988) £££

This continues where Lobster 14‘s reprint of the piece from Tribune stopped. It was unfortunate that the debate over the status of Colin Wallace and his allegations really got going just as Lobster 14 went to the printer. Below is what followed. 27th August 1987. Colin Wallace letter in response to the John Ware article … Read more

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