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David Southwell (born 1971) is a British writer, and the author of several books on conspiracy theories and organized crime.
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David Southwell (born 1971) is a British writer, and the author of several books on conspiracy theories and organized crime.
Prior to full-time writing, Southwell worked as a journalist and as Director of Communications for the British Retail Consortium (BRC).[ citation needed ] In his role at the BRC, he regularly clashed with the British government's media relations department and pressure groups, and played a part in forcing Stephen Byers to scrap the Rip-Off Britain campaign.[ citation needed ] In a front-page story in The Sunday Times in 2003, Southwell, then a spokesman for the BRC, mentioned that MI5 was coordinating with the business community with regard to potential terrorism. [1] Southwell later stated in his own books that he had liaised with MI5 on anti-terrorism issues and with the UK Government's emergency planning Cabinet Committee Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA).[ citation needed ]
He has acknowledged a specialist knowledge and ongoing interest in the Angry Brigade and conspiracies surrounding the events that inspired VALIS. [ citation needed ] In 2005 he was thanked as an inspiration by Gary Russell in his Doctor Who novel Spiral Scratch.
A regular broadcaster in the UK and North America on the subjects of conspiracies and counter-culture, he jokingly claims on the back of his books that if he "dies a mysterious death it will be because he knows too much and has upset some very powerful people".[ citation needed ]
Southwell lives on a narrowboat on Regent's Canal in London, and married for the second time in 2010. [2] He wears an eye-patch due to the loss of 80% of the sight in one eye. [3]
In early 2016 Southwell was a winning contestant on the BBC quiz Pointless .
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MI5, officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and Defence Intelligence (DI). MI5 is directed by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), and the service is bound by the Security Service Act 1989. The service is directed to protect British parliamentary democracy and economic interests and to counter terrorism and espionage within the United Kingdom (UK).
Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. This genre is well suited to film and television.
The New World Order (NWO) is a term used in several conspiracy theories which hypothesize a secretly emerging totalitarian world government. The common theme in conspiracy theories about a New World Order is that a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually achieve world domination and rule the world through an authoritarian one-world government—which will replace sovereign nation-states—and an all-encompassing propaganda whose ideology hails the establishment of the New World Order as the culmination of history's progress. Many influential historical and contemporary figures have therefore been alleged to be part of a cabal that operates through many front organizations to orchestrate significant political and financial events, ranging from causing systemic crises to pushing through controversial policies, at both national and international levels, as steps in an ongoing plot to achieve world domination.
David Anthony Yallop was a British author who wrote chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s, he contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows, including Minder. In the same decade he also wrote 10 episodes for the ITV court drama, Crown Court.
Meibion Glyndŵr was a Welsh nationalist group which carried out more than 200 arson attacks against English-owned holiday cottages in Wales. The organisation was founded in 1979, during a period of increasing nationalist sentiment in Wales. During this period, significant elements of Welsh public opinion were opposed to the purchase of holiday cottages in Wales by English people, perceiving it as being a major cause in increasing Wales' house prices. Members of Meibion Glyndŵr were responsible for setting fire to several English-owned properties in Wales from 1979 to the mid-1990s, with only one person connected to the group being arrested.
The Nelson Thomlinson School is a comprehensive secondary school located in the market town of Wigton, Cumbria, England. The school's motto is the Latin phrase Fide et Operis, "Faith and Works". The position of Headteacher has been occupied by David Samuel Northwood since September 2011, after the former head, Janet Downes, retired at the end of the previous academic year.
Since the mid-1970s, a variety of allegations have emerged regarding British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. These range from Wilson having been a Soviet agent, to Wilson being the victim of treasonous plots by conservative-leaning elements in MI5 and the British military, claims which Wilson himself made.
The Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate, also known as the Adams Family or the A-team, is an English criminal organisation, allegedly one of the most powerful in the United Kingdom. Media reports have credited them with wealth of up to £200 million.
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed is a British investigative journalist, author and academic. He is editor of the crowdfunded investigative journalism platform INSURGE intelligence. He is a former environment blogger for The Guardian from March 2013 to July 2014. From 2014 to 2017, Ahmed was a weekly columnist for Middle East Eye, the London-based news portal founded by ex-Guardian writer David Hearst. He is 'System Shift' columnist at Vice covering issues around global systems crises and solutions. Ahmed is now Special Investigations Reporter at Byline Times.
"Londonistan" is a sobriquet referring to the British capital of London and the growing Muslim population of late-20th- and early-21st-century London.
Mathias Bröckers is a German journalist, publicist, political blogger and author, co-author or editor of political monographs, and novels. He was co-founder, culture and science editor of the taz, and from 2006 its online consultant. He worked as a columnist for Die Zeit and Die Woche and as a science editor for ARD radio.
Rosalind Sarah Myers is a fictional character from the BBC television series Spooks, which follows the exploits of Section D, a counter-terrorism division in MI5. She is portrayed by British actress Hermione Norris. The character was a former MI6 officer who joins MI5 in the fifth series.
Manfred Roeder was a German lawyer and Neo-Nazi terrorist. Roeder was a Holocaust denier and an early representative of the Reichsbürger movement.
Jonathan Douglas Evans, Baron Evans of Weardale, is a British life peer who formerly served as the Director General of the British Security Service, the United Kingdom's domestic security and counter-intelligence service. He took over the role on the retirement of his predecessor Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller on 21 April 2007. Evans was succeeded by Andrew Parker on 22 April 2013.
David Neiwert is an American freelance journalist and blogger. He received the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000 for a domestic terrorism series he produced for MSNBC's website. Neiwert has concentrated in part on extremism in the Northwest.
Terrorism in the United Kingdom, according to the Home Office, poses a significant threat to the state. There have been various causes of terrorism in the UK. Before the 2000s, most attacks were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict. In the late 20th century there were also attacks by Islamic terrorist groups. Since 1970, there have been at least 3,395 terrorist-related deaths in the UK, the highest in western Europe. The vast majority of the deaths were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict and happened in Northern Ireland. In mainland Great Britain, there were 430 terrorist-related deaths between 1971 and 2001. Of these, 125 deaths were linked to the Northern Ireland conflict, and 305 deaths were linked to other causes, including 270 in the Lockerbie bombing. Since 2001, there have been almost 100 terrorist-related deaths in Great Britain.
Rangzieb Ahmed is a British citizen who was allegedly the highest ranking al-Qaeda operative in the United Kingdom (UK). Ahmed, who was a key link between British recruits and al-Qaeda leaders, was responsible for setting up a terrorist cell in Manchester and contacting one of the terrorists responsible for the failed London bombings of 21 July 2005.
Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories is a non-fiction reference book about conspiracy theories, with an introduction by editor Thom Burnett. It was published in 2005 by Chamberlain Bros., and in 2006 by Collins & Brown. Contributors to the work include Thom Burnett, Nigel Cawthorne, Richard Emerson, Mick Farren, Alex Games, John Gill, Sandy Gort, Rod Green, Emma Hooley, Esther Selsdon, and Kenn Thomas. The encyclopedia discusses 365 conspiracy theories, most of which are political.
The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried aboard airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British Metropolitan Police during an extensive surveillance operation. As a result of the plot, unprecedented security measures were initially implemented at airports. The measures were gradually relaxed during the following weeks, but passengers are still not allowed to carry liquid containers larger than 100 ml onto commercial aircraft in their hand luggage in the UK and most other countries, as of 2024.
Special Branch was a unit in the Metropolitan Police in London, formed as a counter-terrorism unit in 1883 and merged with another unit to form Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) in 2006. It maintained contact with the Security Service (MI5) and had responsibility for, among other things, personal protection of (non-royal) VIPs and performing the role of examining officer at designated ports and airports, as prescribed by the Terrorism Act 2000.
