Tony Comer
@tonycomer.bsky.social
Former Departmental Historian at GCHQ.
To help those interested in Second World War UK cryptology who wonder about the difference between an indicator and a discriminant, what forty-weepy might be, or what bonking and blogging meant at that time, I have compiled from original sources a glossary. (1/3)
On 27 November 1943, Guy Liddell, a senior MI5 officer recorded a story about Winston Churchill. (Source TNA KV4/192)
How you maintain Communications Security in the heat of battle? A new post at siginthistorian.blogspot.com looks at the Battle of the North Cape and concludes that leaving it pragmatically to the people on the spot may be the most sensible approach.
Does anybody know of a reasonable documentary about the Nuremberg process (apart from episode 25 of The World at War)?
From Threads. www.threads.com/@contagiousl... Animal welfare meets immigration policy.
Contagious Laughter (@contagiouslaughter.official) on Threads
Following a ban on using animals for entertainment, the Prime Minister of Denmark explains a complication that arose when the state subsequently had to purchase four elephants from the circus. 😂 funny...
threads.com
Out to lunch at a pub today and the server asked what drinks people wanted. One asked for Chardonnay and was told 'We don't have any Chardonnay but our house wine is made from the same grape'. 'OK. I'll have that then '
Excellent review!
Dr Ravi Nayyar@ravirockks.bsky.social · 10mo agoMy review of the second volume of the official history of ASIO. As a student of organisational governance, I love how this book is as much an organisational history as an operational one, especially when looking at ASIO under the Whitlam Government. cc: @tonycomer.bsky.social
I've had an article published in Diplomacy & Statecraft: 'Behind the Enigma: How GCHQ's Authorised History Appeared'. The first 50 people to click on the link get a copy for free! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/BCZTB...
I explore need-to-know again in a post at www.siginthistorian.blogspot.com looking at an Official Secrets Act case in which a clear Sigint connection was ignored because the investigators had no idea it existed.
How good is 'I was there' as a guarantee of historical memory? Not, perhaps, as good as it might seem. A new post at siginthistorian.blogspot.com looks at records and memory.
How to sort out parking on busy roads: this is what our council has done.
It's easy to overclassify and it's easy to be nervous about release. An illustration of this point in a new post on siginthistorian.blogspot.com
A new post at siginthistorian.blogspot.com looks at what can happen when two opposing sides are using the same cryptosystems.
RAF A400M ZM416 (c/s NAPER60) being used to teach pilots how to fly at 600 ft. I assume they have the aircon switched on!
Another superb piece by Gill - how many intelligence historians could follow their paper at a conference with a turn?
My antidote to uniformly depressing news. With apologies to War, original performers of Low Rider that has become Spy Writer . . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQLP...
An excellent thread!
Dr. Dan Lomas@sandbaggerone.bsky.social · last yr.🧵 #VEDay80 Much has been made of the role of Bletchley Park and ULTRA during #WW2 yet the role of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) was often underplayed. ⬇️ JIC chair Victor Cavendish-Bentinck noted SIS had "failed badly" initially and had been "saved" by ULTRA. #VEDay80
Excellent news that Bill Tutte is being commemorated on a VE-80 stamp. What a pity, however, that the Post Office doesn't seem to know that 'codebreak' isn't a verb and that codes and ciphers are different. If only there was a national agency that they could have approached for advice ... errr ...
I'm pleased to report that I asked the question that Daniel Shiu has answered in this article.
This is an excellent piece by Joe Devanny which spells out the extreme difficulties involved when an Inquiry has been asked to assess, not just how intelligence was acquired and assessed a quarter of a century ago, but how, at that time, without the benefit of hindsight,it should have been acted on.
Institute for Government@instituteforgovernment.org.uk · last yr.There is huge expectation on the Omagh Bombing Inquiry but it faces a very difficult task of contextually complex, historical judgement. Read our latest guest comment from @joedevanny.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/omag...
A really interesting edition of Código Crystal. An interview with former CNI Head Felix Sanz Roldán (in Spanish) about secrecy and transparency. He argues that a release and declassification legislation would increase trust in intelligence agencies. www.rtve.es/play/audios/...
A peacock butterfly on the blackthorn flowers, enjoying the sun and not thinking about tariffs at all.
I know that this sort of thing - that somebody' conscience was troubling them enough about unpaid tax or whatever that they sent an anonymous or unidentifiable amount to the authorities - used to be relativey common. But was it only in South Africa that it made the Gazette?
Austerity was really hard in 1949: but there was a welcome mitigation for staff at GCHQ. See siginthistorian.blogspot.com for what happened.
Words fail me, too, and, I suspect, many more of us.
Words fail me ...
Is the earliest satirical novel about IA a heavily disguised satire on GCHQ as well? See my latest post on siginthistorian.com ...
This short thread points out really well some of the conceptual historical challenges the Omagh Inquiry faces.
Joe Devanny@joedevanny.bsky.social · 2y agoHearing first from the bereaved and survivors is a very moving and powerful way to start the public hearings of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry. Reading the inquiry’s terms of reference, I was struck by how historically challenging some of its judgements will be for the Inquiry to make.
The lives traitors live(d)! Post-confession Anthony Blunt's drinks bill was £100 a month in 1965 and he claims to have lived for a day on gin: when gin was £1/10/- (£1.50) a bottle.
