Maggie, Maggie, Maggie Giles Scott-Smith,(1) who wrote about the Congress for Cultural Freedom in Lobster 36 and 38, has written a very interesting study of Margaret Thatcher’s first visit to America in 1967.(2) Scott-Smith shows that Thatcher, then a junior shadow spokesperson in the Tory Party, was talent-spotted by the State Department’s man in the … Read more
In the course of my research into the U.S. Army LSD tests (see Lobster 23) among the U.S. Army records, I encountered a few vague references to similar experiments conducted in the U.K.. On February 28, 1993 I faxed a letter to Dr. Graham S. Pearson, the Director of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment … Read more
Since 1945, an Agricultural Revolution has occurred in Britain whose significance and impact outstrip anything which occurred in the 18th century. It has turned farming from the practice of husbandry into a form of industrial production, transformed the landscape through its destructive effects on traditional features and substantially changed the nature of the food we … Read more
Publications Origins of the Vigilant State: the London Metropolitan Special Branch Before the First World War Bernard Porter (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1987) Porter is an academic historian working an interesting new seam, and this is really very good indeed. If anything his account of the SB’s fabrication of an ‘anarchist’ and ‘Irish threat’ in … Read more
Assassination or ‘targeted killings’? Joshua Raines of the University of Iowa College of Law argues that although assassination, ‘narrowly defined’ [sic], is illegal, ‘targeted killings’ could well be permissible under ‘just war’ criteria. The US should therefore pass legislation that allows for ‘…targeted killings under a very narrow range of circumstances with adequate checks built … Read more
The Case Against Israel Michael Neumann Oakland (US): CounterPunch, $15 Edinburgh (UK): AK Press, £10, 2005 The Power of Israel in the United States James Petras Atlanta and Black Point: Clarity Press and Fernwood Books, 2006, $16.95 In a year in which Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Gaza were accompanied by more stories of … Read more
As the election for the new Pope began a fascinating US radio interview with a former senior CIA official was broadcast in which the name Michael Ledeen (See Lobsters 31, 45, 47) came up in connection with the forged Niger uranium documents cited by both the US and UK governments in the build-up to the … Read more
STANLEY MAYNE A Socialist Caucus pamphlet put out in June 1984, Cold War and Class Collaboration: Red Baiting and Witch-Hunts in the Civil Service Unions suggested that ‘A rather mysterious affair occurred in the IPCS (Institute of Professional Civil Servants). Its General Secretary, Richard Nunn, who had in April 1962 correctly realised that the Radcliffe … Read more
Wick the forgotten One of the most prestigious, yet least challenging, posts in British journalism is that of Washington correspondent. Prestigious because of the importance of the United States; but least challenging because the natives speak English, more or less; and there are so many ready-made stories ripe for recycling to Britain, as the Internet … Read more
George Orwel London, John Wiley, 2006, £18.99, h/b Having reviewed Matt Simmons’ Twilight In the Desert for the last issue of Lobster I looked forward to reading George Orwel’s book as Simmons’ appreciation appears on its cover. Orwel provides a good analysis of the peak oil debate concluding that the truth lies somewhere in … Read more
