1. You think you’ve seen it all. You really have not. I’m a hard-bitten journalist of 39 years’ standing, but details of this story made me shout, weep and slap my head. This week’s column + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... - ThreadSky

georgemonbiot.bsky.social • 88 days ago

1. You think you’ve seen it all. You really have not. I’m a hard-bitten journalist of 39 years’ standing, but details of this story made me shout, weep and slap my head. This week’s column + 🧵
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/28/police-officer-spy-cop-bob-lambert-women-official-inquiry

Comments

frevilo.bsky.social•87 days ago

What's new about this? Hasn't this been in the news cycle 2011-2014-ish? Mark Kennedy, Bob Lambert etc?

markawilliams.bsky.social•87 days ago

When we say ACAB, they say that's unfair, but as they say 'You fit the description'....

eagleneedle.bsky.social•88 days ago

How many miners in the 80s were 'fitted up' on fake charges?
Only following orders.

janet-beale.bsky.social•46 days ago

The State has a lot to answer for.
#DismantleCapitalism

herned.bsky.social•88 days ago

Repulsive. There should be an extra level of offence for crimes committed on behalf of the state. Something like Nuremberg laws which apply to everyone. We could call them school bully laws

mick-mcdermott.bsky.social•88 days ago

There were lots of undercover police at work during the miners strike. I often wonder about some of the characters who were part of the anti hunting protests.

folkpolice.com•88 days ago

There were almost certainly cops infiltrating the hunt sabs and other animal right groups in the early 80s imo.

rebeccasjc.bsky.social•87 days ago

Makes hearing politicians/police talking about rebuilding public trust even more frustrating, the state only cares about public trust because of self interest.
Would be interesting to hear the PM ask about this.

oathkprssuck.bsky.social•88 days ago

weird, i just watched S1 of "sherwood"

bennevis.bsky.social•82 days ago

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/11/25/spycops-inquiry-25-november/

ganyet.bsky.social•88 days ago

Goita, @jordiborras.bsky.social.

jordiborras.bsky.social•81 days ago

👀

drunkratel.bsky.social•87 days ago

There are no good cops. They all are either participating in crime or refusing to put an end to it. The rest get bullied into leaving.

marxel.bsky.social•87 days ago

How utterly immoral.

philpixy7.bsky.social•87 days ago

Sickening. And maybe it's just me, but the people they were targetting were those standing up for environmental and animal rights. Not career criminals. What made them prioritise these areas? Is it a case of follow the money?

docpaperback.bsky.social•88 days ago

Thank you for writing this article.

heidiluna.bsky.social•88 days ago

Looks like they are taking a lesson from their US counterparts. We have entire departments under consent decree for just this type of thing.

verityplayer.bsky.social•88 days ago

I'm old enough to remember a documentary/news about this, which made me thankful I never fell for macho activist types.

intruder1500stevie.bsky.social•82 days ago

She needs to charge the Met for bringing up their child. Corporate responsibility etc. they obviously condone it cos they’ve rewarded the cop in question. Nothing in any legislation to say he escapes paternal liabilities. Will always be that child’s father. The child could fek up his life now.

annieingarden.bsky.social•88 days ago

The awful thing is, as well as describing the deeply immoral behaviour of individuals, this illuminates the overriding wilfully blind closing ranks culture of much institutional life. I’m sure many of us have experienced it at one level or another albeit not to these horrible direct extents.

nicolagt.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

stuartjeffery.bsky.social•88 days ago

It is horrific. I simply don’t understand how they (obviously it wasn’t just Lambert) are not being prosecuted for rape.

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

What the #spycops did was so unusual that whether it amounts to rape hasn't been tested in law. But there are many convictions for comparable levels of deceit that vitiate consent (women pretending to be men online then having sex with other women in character; men pretending to be women's partners)

bofbriz.bsky.social•88 days ago

Interesting how willing CPS are to prosecute women for rape by fraud/deception, but unwilling when it's men, and even more unwilling when it's policemen. By interesting, I mean corrupt and misogynistic.

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

Absolutely this.

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

Despite courts ruling the spying itself unlawful & a violation of numerous human rights, & a catalogue of crimes inc identity theft, criminal damage & sexual assault, no #spycops have been prosecuted.

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

Only one #spycops officer - Jim Boyling - has even faced disciplinary charges. The difference there was that he'd identified fellow spycops to a civilian & so had sinned against the police.

arthurassendune.bsky.social•88 days ago

Words fail....

Where to even begin...

mpm24.bsky.social•88 days ago

Scandalous.

jeremyjshapiro.bsky.social•87 days ago

This story is so upsetting that it made me physically nauseous. Horrible.

vriesk.bsky.social•88 days ago

This is pure vile.

alex-thornton.bsky.social•88 days ago

ACAB

booglehoops.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

plpzf.bsky.social•88 days ago

Google Play search for E-Play free music software

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

And we have to ask, how many more? Bob Lambert was only unmasked due to the efforts (& luck) of those he spied on. The public inquiry has granted anonymity to the vast majority of #spycops, often admitting there's no danger to them but they'd be embarrassed if their friends & family knew the truth.

maya-mitter.bsky.social•87 days ago

This is a copy cat George Monbiot account. Report this sucker.

copscampaign.bsky.social•87 days ago

You're mistaken - we're replying to the real one. The copycat to report is this one:
https://bsky.app/profile/george-monbiot.bsky.social

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

After Lambert gives evidence it's Andy Coles who also sexually abused women & got promoted. When exposed he was a Tory councillor, school governor & Deputy PCC for Cambs - exactly the kind of standing in public life the inquiry grants anonymity to protect

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/15/cambridgeshire-deputy-police-commissioner-resigns-over-spy-claims-andy-coles

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

We've unmasked a dozen or so & this the public knows if, like Lambert & Coles, they're in positions of public trust. But the inquiry protects the vast majority of guilty #spycops. With some we don't even get the fake names they used, so people who were spied on can't come forward

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

We need #spycops cover names to get testimony about what they did. We need the real names to keep them from positions of trust today. Everyone they spied on deserves to see their file. But the inquiry is more concerned with the embarrassment of the guilty than truth & justice

nomudnolotus.bsky.social•88 days ago

In an alarming article, in alarmed by statements about 'many' spy cops. Can you put a rough figure on how many you are talking about? Seriously terrifying.

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

About 140 #spycops between the formation of the Special Demonstration Squad in 1968 & its subsuming into Counter Terrorism Command in 2008 (plus managers, handlers, etc). Around 10 were deployed at a time. Over 1000 groups spied on, overwhelmingly from the left.

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

A second unit, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, ran 1999-2011 doing similar work with similar methods.

nomudnolotus.bsky.social•87 days ago

Wow. Mass organised abuse.

copscampaign.bsky.social•87 days ago

Generation after generation, infiltrating everything from the communist party to Uist Hedgehog Rescue to the Young Liberals to Stephen Lawrence's family

clioe21.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

beano2.bsky.social•88 days ago

How sickening

penny2.bsky.social•87 days ago

This is spine chillingly awful. Who can we trust?

pjdarcy.bsky.social•88 days ago

Wow. The last line of that article hits hard. Great work, George.

ianstev91.bsky.social•88 days ago

It's almost beyond belief that none of these perpetrators have faced prosecution

copscampaign.bsky.social•88 days ago

Only one #spycops officer, Jim Boyling, has even faced disciplinary charges - & that's because he outed colleagues to a civilian, which is an act against the police.

undercoverinfo1.bsky.social•88 days ago

ukskeptic.bsky.social•88 days ago

And yet we’re lead to believe that the police force are “the good guys”.

ruthatcreativemind.bsky.social•88 days ago

doesn’t surprise me. I survived a *policeman, posing as a domestic violence support officer. Actively supported my ex husband’s, aggressive sex fantasies-*got away with it bc his brothers in police force with their big daddy(?), enjoy it too. Using Jesus(not Christs real name)to forgive each other.

marolu.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

artemis165.bsky.social•87 days ago

Copycat account. Report it.

sanchopanzasmule.bsky.social•88 days ago

Al Fayad next

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

Aided and abetted by the Met who benefited.

cathiell.bsky.social•88 days ago

Yet another example of how big institutions like the state are playing with people’s idea of reality. Thanks for writing this.

mellotronworker.bsky.social•88 days ago

George, would you have felt any differently if this operation was targeting an organised criminal enterprise that offered a genuine threat to our lives? Or is it the principle of the operational means that you object to?

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

Please take your Oxford Union debate-me-sir questions elsewhere

mellotronworker.bsky.social•88 days ago

It was a genuine question. Do you think these tactics are ever justified?

cheriegrant.bsky.social•88 days ago

Absolutely disgusting.

sirbasil.bsky.social•88 days ago

Christ almighty.... good journalism shining the disinfectant of light on a shitty state

markindevon.bsky.social•88 days ago

It also shows a worrying indifference by the public to the treatment of people who campaign on environmental issues.

There isn't going to be a popular ITV drama about this because people do not want to think about climate collapse so the treatment of climate protestors will get worse not better.

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

They must have agents in those groups, and I fear the digital spying is sophisticated and permitted with the anti-terror laws.

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

"Commander Jon Savell said, "undercover policing had been transformed "with greater regulation, professional codes of practice, and judicial oversight". Also, "repeatedly refused to say if infiltration operations are still being used today in regards to protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion."

palustris.bsky.social•88 days ago

It always amazes me how much resource the state dedicates to infiltrating tiny groups of non-violent left-wing activists. In my experience (and I mean this affectionately), most of these people are barely capable of organising a washing-up rota let alone overthrowing capitalism.

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

They do it to control, they use activism as false flag events to maintain power where it resides. They cover up it because they intend to continue. It is state sanctioned and will not stop in this feudal system. We may learn later what stasi activities they are doing to us now.

palustris.bsky.social•88 days ago

I agree but even taking the policing establishment's point of view, there seems to be a disproportionate focus on the left. I'd have thought there was far more potential for violent criminality on the right.

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

I think that's telling, as if violent criminality is not the concern and the right sort of criminality can coexist and be useful to the state. It's the threat of any collective action from the left that must be subverted and stamped on.

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

They will use the jackboots of the far right to do the stamping if needed, if they can't squash it with legal state agencies, like they did with those lefty bastard miners. The Met warring against citizens.

dustytombs.bsky.social•88 days ago

This absolutely beggars belief. Astonishing.

petercorkeron.bsky.social•87 days ago

Not just the UK. I know an ASIS officer who did this. The woman he abused was his ex-girlfriend's sister. He & the girlfriend had split when he went off to spy school.

Trying to warn his victim of what was happening got me bashed. Hit in the face with steel pipe.

anarchitek.bsky.social•88 days ago

Humans are pigs. Some take it as a challenge.

uikaa.bsky.social•87 days ago

📌

typefromtheheart.bsky.social•88 days ago

WTF?! Outrageous and disgusting. The message it sends to every one of us is not to trust cops anymore. Then you wonder how much outrageous shit has gone unnoticed and still waiting to be exposed by journalists.🤦🏻‍♂️

naturehawk.bsky.social•88 days ago

Scandalous

onemoregoodman.bsky.social•88 days ago

Shocking, but, sadly, not surprising.

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

2. If this story were not true, it would be frankly unbelievable. State-sponsored rape, lies and deception on an industrial scale, illegal espionage and then a cover-up and rehabilitation effort operating right across official life, including at prestigious universities.

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

3. No punishment of the perpetrators. They’ve retired on lavish pensions. They’ve kept their medals and awards, obtained prestigious positions and influence over government. But they have left a legacy of broken lives, shattered minds and pain beyond endurance. *Among entirely innocent people.*

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

4. What it reveals is that the police in this country are not just institutionally racist, but also institutionally sexist. In fact, what this story shows is institutional rape, committed by the forces of “law and order”.

nevertrumper2012.bsky.social•88 days ago

So, police reflect the state of the population? Not groundbreaking at this point!!!

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

5. None of this would have come to light were it not for the brilliant investigative work of the COPS campaign, Helen Steel, Rob Evans, Paul Lewis and other campaigners and journalists. The fight for justice continues.

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

Here's the thread on one page: https://skywriter.blue/pages/georgemonbiot.bsky.social/post/3lbyivccx5k26

sprorganism.bsky.social•88 days ago

A disgusting tale of disgusting people doing unconscionable things at the behest of the British state.
I think it speaks volumes the way this particular officer's conduct has been actively rewarded, and as you say by a range of institutions, which I am saddened to see includes a Scottish university

sobeyharker.bsky.social•88 days ago

Incredible how when things like these come up you can only imagine what they've gotten away with that hasn't been unearthed. Horrible but necessary read.

gussets.bsky.social•88 days ago

I wondered how Lambert infiltrated the McLibel case. I'd heard rumours that Starmer was passing info to the other side, something which Helen Steel emphatically denied, she has nothing but praise for him. But did he mention anything to Lambert in passing, and if so what and why? And why Lambert?

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•87 days ago

Didn't need to. John Dines was getting all the info the cops and McDonalds wanted

gussets.bsky.social•87 days ago

What a bunch of bastards.

aethelfleda.bsky.social•88 days ago

This is truly horrific,

habumhug.bsky.social•88 days ago

Whilst in service of the state this guy deceived a woman into *having a child* with him, then abandoned them both. This is beyond fucked up. It’s despotic, human rights abusing, rogue state stuff.

enmarchant.bsky.social•88 days ago

Disgusting. Even worse, the same thing has happened in Catalonia recently, and there is no scandal! Reported in 2023, nothing has been seen since. https://www.elmundo.es/cataluna/2023/07/14/64b1772de9cf4aac508b45b1.html

martinbright.bsky.social•87 days ago

This is a fantastically important story. Those of us who tried to expose this man when he was working for Ken Livingstone have been vindicated.

bluecloudacademy.bsky.social•87 days ago

Spies act like poison when they're caught. Suddenly everyone becomes paranoid and then then the witch hunt begins. Innocent activists are accused of spying (I was) and the stigma nevers goes away.
This was how this spying saga affected me.

simonwookey.bsky.social•88 days ago

There is a huge cultural problem in the UK - the instinct to cover up and promote those responsible

The post office scandal, the grooming scandal, church abuse scandal, charity scandals…

There is a pattern

vespalien.bsky.social•88 days ago

Cladding scandal,
Hillsborough,
Election manipulation,
SEZs
Brexit

gilgreen.bsky.social•88 days ago

It's everywhere.

annewitha-e.bsky.social•88 days ago

The State has done, and will do anything ie anything, to protect itself.

jodes99.bsky.social•88 days ago

📌

acefujiwara.bsky.social•88 days ago

this is f**cked up. there is a lot more state 💩 that will never see the light of day. I 💩 you not.

#justice #ordinaryworld

phytobelief.bsky.social•88 days ago

It is the Stasi. Gaslighting rapists. They are instruments of the state. Thank you George.

partickle.bsky.social•30 days ago

👀

bsqqo.bsky.social•87 days ago

Google Play search for E-Play free music software

bonforage.bsky.social•88 days ago

This still happens at music festivals. The rule at burning man is: if you didn’t party with them last year, they could be cops. The end.

secondnature1.bsky.social•88 days ago

Why am I not remotely surprised?! Rotten to the core. What is surprising how there are some proper convictions in this country, what an indictment. You should do a column on the police protection of illegal fox hunters btw.

ckarion.bsky.social•88 days ago

The university positions really shocked me.

georgemonbiot.bsky.social•88 days ago

Me too. Louise Richardson went on to become VC of Oxford University, where she oversaw some truly disgraceful sponsorship deals. Another trail of carnage.

docpaperback.bsky.social•88 days ago

As an alumnus of St Andrews they shocked me too. What Lambert did was not 'done privately', as Louise Richardson stated, it was done whilst employed by the state. But then my alma mater recently barred Rector Stella Maris from the university court for making a very balanced statement about Gaza.

emmabedw.bsky.social•88 days ago

They have captured universities too. They get the right, compliant, grasping people in, leaving only a facade of the organization standing.

stv1dr.bsky.social•88 days ago

As always, the Establishment closes ranks and protects its own at the expense of everyone else.

mbm-1965.bsky.social•88 days ago

The British state spies on and conspires against British citizens. I find your faux outrage staggering.The State conspired against the Catholic/Nationalist population of Northern Ireland in the same manner for decades and probably still does.Wheres your outrage over that.

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