UK Spies

MI6 'Ghost Money' Helping Afghan Drug Trade?

Annie Machon | Posted 13.05.2013 | UK Politics
Annie Machon

And how has this money been spent? Certainly not on social projects or rebuilding initiatives. Rather, the reporting indicates, the money has been funnelled to Karzai's cronies as bribes in a corrupt attempt to buy influence in the country.

What Are Our Intelligence Services Doing in Our Name?

Bob Morgan | Posted 12.04.2013 | UK Politics
Bob Morgan

Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the all-party group on rendition, said the Justice and Security Bill would make it more difficult to establish the truth about Britain's complicity in kidnap and torture and make us all less safe. I think he is right about that.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Newspaper Reporting

Annie Machon | Posted 01.04.2013 | UK Politics
Annie Machon

Where to start with this tangled skein of media spin, misrepresentation and outright hypocrisy?

What's The Deal With Movie Making And Torture?

Kevin Toolis | Posted 18.03.2013 | UK Entertainment
Kevin Toolis

I am all in favour of movies that try to help us understand the world we inhabit. And there is nothing more serious than democratic states abandoning the rule of law and torturing people. And that is why I have spent the last three years of my life also making a movie about torture.

Echelon Redux

Annie Machon | Posted 01.03.2013 | UK Politics
Annie Machon

In the same way that President Obama signed the invidious NDAA on 31 December last year, despite his previous protestations about using his veto, it appears the US government has sneaked/snuck through (please delete as appropriate, depending on how you pronounce 'tomato') yet another draconian law during the festive season, which apparently further erodes the US constitution and the civil rights of all Americans.

MI5 Boss 'Unwittingly Passed Soviets Information On Cambridge Spies'

PA/Huffington Post UK | Posted 26.10.2012 | UK

The man investigating the defection of two of the notorious "Cambridge spies" was confiding in members of the same group of Soviet double agents unkno...

The Scorpion Stare

Annie Machon | Posted 02.11.2012 | UK Tech
Annie Machon

I have written over the years about the encroaching surveillance state, the spread of CCTV and the increasing use of drones in our skies. When the North East of England introduced talking CCTV cameras that could bark orders at passing pedestrians in 2008, I thought that we were fast approaching the reductio ad absurdum point - and indeed this subject has raised a wry laugh from audiences around the world ever since.

Will MI6 Fix Intelligence on Iran?

Annie Machon | Posted 23.09.2012 | UK Politics
Annie Machon

Recent remarks by the head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, leave us wondering if the Secret Intelligence Service is preparing to 'fix' intelligence on Iran, as his immediate predecessor, Sir John Scarlett, did on Iraq.

Former Tory Minister 'Spied For Communists'

PA/The Huffington Post UK | Posted 28.06.2012 | UK Politics

A Conservative minister in the 1960s sold information about his colleagues and Parliament to communist spies, it has emerged. Czech Security Servic...

North Korean Traitors and South Korean Witch Hunts

Colin Pattinson | Posted 15.06.2012 | UK
Colin Pattinson

A recent drunken rant has stirred up controversy in South Korea and sparked debates questioning senior figures loyalty and their possible links to North Korea.

Watching the Detectives

Chris Atkins | Posted 14.07.2012 | UK Entertainment
Chris Atkins

The phone hacking scandal has brought to public attention investigators selling intrusive information on celebrities. This in some ways has distracted from a much wider issue of the trading in the private and most personal information on us all.

'Woman's Wig' Alerted Policeman Sent To Check On Gareth Williams

PA/Huffington Post UK | Posted 23.04.2012 | UK

A woman's wig hanging on a chair caught the attention of the policeman sent to Gareth Williams's flat to check on the missing spy, an inquest has hear...

'Dark Arts' Secret Agents May Have Covered Up MI6 Spy's Death, Coroner Hears

Huffington Post UK / PA | Posted 30.03.2012 | UK

Secret agents specialising in the "dark arts" might have tried to cover up the mysterious death of an MI6 spy found in a holdall, a coroner heard. ...

William Hague: Spies Have Lost Their Lives In The Fight Against Terrorism

Huffington Post UK | Posted 16.11.2011 | UK Politics

William Hague has lifted the lid on British spying, saying secret agents "risk" or "lose" their lives as part of their work. In a rare speech by a ...