"Let the game begin..." - Tomlinson v. MI6
May 24, 2006 8:11 AM Subscribe
Richard Tomlinson is a former spy. Jailed under the Official Secrets Act in 1995 for publishing his memoirs, famed for claiming there's a cover up surrounding Princess Diana's death and allegedly leaking a list of active MI6 agents, he is still fuming about his dismissal from the Secret Intelligence Service. So he started a weblog, complete with posts containing sensitive information. The British authorities are displeased.
So, he's a regular 007 then? Sweet.
posted by IronLizard at 9:02 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by IronLizard at 9:02 AM on May 24, 2006
oh noes sensitive information
now people will know we're criminals
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 9:03 AM on May 24, 2006
now people will know we're criminals
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 9:03 AM on May 24, 2006
What a smug little twat. Not because he's doing what he's doing, but... christ, did you read his biographical profile?
Douchebag.
posted by stenseng at 9:32 AM on May 24, 2006
Douchebag.
posted by stenseng at 9:32 AM on May 24, 2006
Just because he's better than you doesn't necessarily make him a douchebag - it just means that you're not in the same class as he is. That's hardly his fault.
posted by slatternus at 9:38 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by slatternus at 9:38 AM on May 24, 2006
He's a traitor. He betrayed his country for nothing other than vanity. Everything he does, and everything he says, should be considered in that context.
posted by veedubya at 9:44 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by veedubya at 9:44 AM on May 24, 2006
Yachtbroker.
posted by fire&wings at 9:47 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by fire&wings at 9:47 AM on May 24, 2006
Everything he does, and everything he says, should be considered in that context.
That's a lot of effort, especially since he seems to have been released from jail by the UK government.
It would be a lot less demanding on everyone if we could just kill him.
Someday I hope we can have just governments which don't release criminals and leave their punishment to everyone else.
posted by nervousfritz at 9:51 AM on May 24, 2006
That's a lot of effort, especially since he seems to have been released from jail by the UK government.
It would be a lot less demanding on everyone if we could just kill him.
Someday I hope we can have just governments which don't release criminals and leave their punishment to everyone else.
posted by nervousfritz at 9:51 AM on May 24, 2006
Yeah, he's so much of a twerp that I'm seriously starting to wonder if he is in fact an invention of MI6: they use 'Tomlinson' to deliberately leak true information that, since it appears to come from him, is immediately discredited and believed to be bollocks for evermore! (Though my brain will melt if I try to apply that theory to his assertion that the spy list he allegedly leaked was in fact leaked by MI6 in order to discredit him...)
posted by jack_mo at 10:00 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by jack_mo at 10:00 AM on May 24, 2006
nervousfritz, say again? Your stream of consciousness was lost on me. Maybe 'cos I'm conscious.
posted by veedubya at 10:13 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by veedubya at 10:13 AM on May 24, 2006
Yeah, he's so much of a twerp that I'm seriously starting to wonder if he is in fact an invention of MI6
This is known in some circles as the "Ann Coulter Theory".
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:16 AM on May 24, 2006
This is known in some circles as the "Ann Coulter Theory".
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:16 AM on May 24, 2006
THE LIZARDS ARE REAL !
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:39 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by sgt.serenity at 10:39 AM on May 24, 2006
He's a traitor.
Agreed.
What a smug little twat.
Agreed.
In my opinion blog is boring and I blame him for wasting my tax money for being a twat and causing MI6 to "chase him" all over the world. We should claim rebates directly from him. Self rightous people are so annoying.
If this where the story of a struggling single mum from Moss Side being sacked from her local McDonalds - then I would sypathise. Its not like hes now living a life of poverty as a result his treatment by MI6.
On another note:
I am not a number! I am a free man!
crap. I am both...
posted by 13twelve at 11:25 AM on May 24, 2006
Agreed.
What a smug little twat.
Agreed.
In my opinion blog is boring and I blame him for wasting my tax money for being a twat and causing MI6 to "chase him" all over the world. We should claim rebates directly from him. Self rightous people are so annoying.
If this where the story of a struggling single mum from Moss Side being sacked from her local McDonalds - then I would sypathise. Its not like hes now living a life of poverty as a result his treatment by MI6.
On another note:
I am not a number! I am a free man!
crap. I am both...
posted by 13twelve at 11:25 AM on May 24, 2006
He may not be personally likeable, but he exposes what these intelligence agencies do, on taxpayers' money. They are unconstrained by the people who vote their superiors' in, and are often operate outside the control of those by whom they are meant to be controlled. They invade peoples' privacy illegally, arbitrarily detain people, and so forth ... in the case of Diana and Dodi's death: the death was very suspicious. A lot of loose ends do not tie up. The UK govt has re-opened the inquiry at least once. Who is more the traitor: the ostensible killer of a Princess or the former agent of a venal intelligence apparatus that has helped lead the UK into a quagmire in Iraq?
posted by Azaadistani at 11:32 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by Azaadistani at 11:32 AM on May 24, 2006
He's a traitor. He betrayed his country for nothing other than vanity. Everything he does, and everything he says, should be considered in that context.
For real, super douchebag. He's divulging state secrets on the internet because he's in the middle of a pissing match with MI-6 over being fired eight years ago (for reasons which he says '"remain murky").
posted by SweetJesus at 11:39 AM on May 24, 2006
For real, super douchebag. He's divulging state secrets on the internet because he's in the middle of a pissing match with MI-6 over being fired eight years ago (for reasons which he says '"remain murky").
posted by SweetJesus at 11:39 AM on May 24, 2006
I read his About page, which constantly describes MI6 as 'pompous, glib and self-important'. Projection, anyone?
posted by athenian at 11:51 AM on May 24, 2006
posted by athenian at 11:51 AM on May 24, 2006
Of course, it's possible that being a very very vocal, very high profile, memorably obnoxious twat is the only thing keeping him from randomly "disappearing," too...
Never know about that stuff...
posted by stenseng at 11:54 AM on May 24, 2006
Never know about that stuff...
posted by stenseng at 11:54 AM on May 24, 2006
I read his About page, which constantly describes MI6 as 'pompous, glib and self-important'. Projection, anyone?
Yours or his?
posted by doctor_negative at 11:55 AM on May 24, 2006
Yours or his?
posted by doctor_negative at 11:55 AM on May 24, 2006
Granted, there was a vindictive attempt to silence this disloyal chap.
And I can't say I remotely warm to him.
But ironic that he should have become living proof of one of his charges about various crappy aspects of MI6; since he obviously never should have passed the screening process in the first place.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 12:48 PM on May 24, 2006
And I can't say I remotely warm to him.
But ironic that he should have become living proof of one of his charges about various crappy aspects of MI6; since he obviously never should have passed the screening process in the first place.
posted by Jody Tresidder at 12:48 PM on May 24, 2006
doctor_negative: his (neurotic) projection. Unless you're saying I'm pompous glib and self-important, which would be a pretty good guess seeing as we've never even met.
posted by athenian at 1:11 PM on May 24, 2006
posted by athenian at 1:11 PM on May 24, 2006
a cover up surrounding Princess Diana's death
Hilarious ...
posted by Relay at 1:38 PM on May 24, 2006
Hilarious ...
posted by Relay at 1:38 PM on May 24, 2006
Well here we go, my first blog. I wish blogging had been invented years ago - it would have saved me a lot of aggro and a lot of money in legal fees!
Um, blogging had been invented years ago, and it certanly pre-dates the term "blog".
posted by delmoi at 1:50 PM on May 24, 2006
Um, blogging had been invented years ago, and it certanly pre-dates the term "blog".
posted by delmoi at 1:50 PM on May 24, 2006
a cover up surrounding Princess Diana's death
Yah, I read in the Daily Mail that the Merc was a Transformer - Robots in disguise! - taking its orders from Mossad.
posted by jack_mo at 2:26 PM on May 24, 2006
Yah, I read in the Daily Mail that the Merc was a Transformer - Robots in disguise! - taking its orders from Mossad.
posted by jack_mo at 2:26 PM on May 24, 2006
Really any mention of "Princess Diana" and "cover ups" should be accompanied by the batshitinsane tag.
posted by Artw at 9:38 PM on May 24, 2006
posted by Artw at 9:38 PM on May 24, 2006
That deposition was insane. "I have no real information, but I have a lot of crackpot theories that if you examine while wearing a tinfoil hat, might bear some resemblance to a bad LSD trip."
Also: his blog is dull.
Also also: Dood. May I call you dood? Yeah, you. D00D. MOVE ON. You were fired ELEVEN YEARS AGO. Live in the now. I'm sure that MI6 is really threatened by your blogging and that horribly blurry awful camera-phone esque photo of you that you provide at the top of the page. If I see you on the street, I am running away. Not because I believe you are a dangerous man, but because you give me the jibbly-jibblies.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:58 PM on May 24, 2006
Also: his blog is dull.
Also also: Dood. May I call you dood? Yeah, you. D00D. MOVE ON. You were fired ELEVEN YEARS AGO. Live in the now. I'm sure that MI6 is really threatened by your blogging and that horribly blurry awful camera-phone esque photo of you that you provide at the top of the page. If I see you on the street, I am running away. Not because I believe you are a dangerous man, but because you give me the jibbly-jibblies.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:58 PM on May 24, 2006
13twelve - Its not like hes now living a life of poverty as a result his treatment by MI6.
You've brought up a point that I keep forgetting to bring up - these people who've been disgraced/fired/whatever - how they hell do they make a living.
For example - Hwang Woo Suk - the stem cell scientist in Korea who falsified data; what's keeping him from starving to death?
CEO and politicos caught breaking the law, sure, but intelligence operatives (lowly government workers) and scientists (even lowlier "government workers")?
posted by porpoise at 10:05 PM on May 24, 2006
You've brought up a point that I keep forgetting to bring up - these people who've been disgraced/fired/whatever - how they hell do they make a living.
For example - Hwang Woo Suk - the stem cell scientist in Korea who falsified data; what's keeping him from starving to death?
CEO and politicos caught breaking the law, sure, but intelligence operatives (lowly government workers) and scientists (even lowlier "government workers")?
posted by porpoise at 10:05 PM on May 24, 2006
MOVE ON. You were fired ELEVEN YEARS AGO.
I imagine a year in prison probably kept his dislike burning.
posted by biffa at 2:59 AM on May 25, 2006
I imagine a year in prison probably kept his dislike burning.
posted by biffa at 2:59 AM on May 25, 2006
how they hell do they make a living.
As Yacht Brokers in the South of France, apparently.
posted by jack_mo at 7:45 AM on May 25, 2006
As Yacht Brokers in the South of France, apparently.
posted by jack_mo at 7:45 AM on May 25, 2006
Oh, and I'm gutted I missed this: your man from Franz Ferdinand was arrested because his real name is the same as one of Tomlinson's old aliases, Alex Huntley. (Alex 'Kapranos' adopted that name instead of Huntley due to a rather grisly child murderer being in the news when they got famous, pop trivia fans.)
posted by jack_mo at 7:52 AM on May 25, 2006
posted by jack_mo at 7:52 AM on May 25, 2006
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