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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
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[Katie Chan/Creative Commons]
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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.
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.
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