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Deep state of anxiety
Richard Norton-Taylor's book on the secret intelligence services raises worrying questions about their intentions and fitness for purpose, says JOE GILL
PROTECTING THEIR OWN: Armed guard outside Parliament following the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing by Salman Abedi, previously assisted by the security services Photo Katie Chan/Wikipedia
The State of Secrecy: Spies and the Media in Britain
by Richard Norton-Taylor
(IB Tauris, £20)
IN 1985 my late father Ken Gill had a meeting with Cathy Massiter, a whistleblower from GCHQ, Britain’s eavesdropping centre in Cheltenham.
[[{"fid":"20097","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]As he told me afterwards, Massiter recited a personal conversation between him and his sister that, word for word, took place at our home. It was entirely mundane and proof of the fact that our house had been bugged by the security services and that GCHQ was listening in.
It must have been very eerie for my dad, although as a boy I found it quite thrilling. My father was, after all, a leading British communist and trade unionist, and it was the height of the cold war.
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