back to article MI6 tried to intervene in independent court by stopping judge seeing legal papers – but they said sorry, so it's OK

The UK's Secret Intelligence Service, aka MI6, has been accused of trying to tamper with a court that is supposed to oversee and regulate it after an extraordinary tale emerged yesterday. Two spies from the secretive agency attempted to prevent Lord Justice Rabinder Singh, president of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), …

  1. cbars Silver badge

    Tut tut

    "Noo, we don't do that do we? Now, say you're sorry... that's right, good boy/girl. Who wants ice cream?"

    1. NeilPost

      Re: Tut tut

      Will Tom Tugendat MP be as outraged at this as he is about China or as disinterested in Russia and Brexit Ref??

      1. Scott 53

        Re: Tut tut

        Tom Tugendhat may be uninterested but I wouldn't believe him if he claimed to be disinterested.

  2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Code Red ......

    "In March 2019, it was recognised that the direct communication was inappropriate."

    So realising the need for future communication to be indirect? How very weird, but I imagine right up MI6's street.

    "Britain's security services play a crucial role in keeping this country safe, but they do not get to decide what evidence a court should see." ..... Maya Foa, director of human rights pressure group Reprieve

    As much as you might like it to be otherwise, Maya, whenever it is classified and/or above Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information, you will invariably find that they do so decide .... and rightly apologise for it not being so.

    And of course, this is bound to be wheeled out by both the prosecution and the defence ...... You Can't Handle the Truth!

    1. Cliff Thorburn

      Re: Code Red ......

      Shady MK Ultra Elite spread betting shenanigans no doubt.

      Having been the proverbial racehorse in that sporting event, can wholeheartedly confirm anything and everything everywhere goes!

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: Re: Code Red ......

        Shady MK Ultra Elite spread betting shenanigans no doubt.

        Having been the proverbial racehorse in that sporting event, can wholeheartedly confirm anything and everything everywhere goes! .... Cliff Thorburn

        So the spooks' problematic woes then, CT, are their leaderships are all spineless and clueless and toothless and too colloquially parochial to be in any way surprisingly effective in a series of stealthy leading operation with global missions to perform for news media to present as unfolding daily changing events which at best always appear as a quite relatively normal progression which renders an encouraging attractive improvement upon troublesome matters which can easily be denied as being stage managed, if ever an agency's agents are rumbled or tumbled/outed and found wanting?

        And that is, for it can only be so, the direct result of a lack of leading proprietary intellectual property from titular department heads delivering an information deficit which has all parties trailing and dependent upon and indebted to past failings rather than forging ahead in new fields of exciting endeavour and enriching enterprise.

        J'accuse ...... for surely the evidence in current activities is pretty obvious and quite overwhelming and cannot be any longer plausibly denied, although one can be almost certain that will be strenuously denied ...... and thus further prove the fact is no fiction of a smarter faction in action or SMARTR Faction ACTivity.

        1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

          Code Blue ? ......

          Novel broom or yet another damp squib? ........ New MI6 boss named

        2. Cliff Thorburn

          Re: Code Red ......

          What a shock it would be to joe public that their illusionary taxpayer pounds/dollars are spent in Nazi originated spooky psychological operations torturing innocent British Citizens, with ping pong antics of advanced technological Neoconopticon mass media puppets with 5ghz wireless strings, shown both everything and everywhere, for all and everyone.

          The end result for the vegetated test pilot, be rich and famous or poor and floundering.

          Plausable deniability has passed the rubicon with mountains of evidence, and two books ready for refinement.

          With the threat of yet more accountability for yet more misdemeanours, good old ministry of magic seeks rapid exit from the long arms of the ECJ and other regulatory authorities, to become the above the law banana republic, sailing the high seas in ships of the East India Trading company resurrected with long lost pirate treasure.

          Wild, wacky, insane?, or wholly accurate, and exact?, you decide, and remember the truth is certainly stranger than fiction in this, past, present and future alien experiences and experimentations ....

          1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

            Re: Code Red ...... Trick or Treat ?

            With the threat of yet more accountability for yet more misdemeanours, good old ministry of magic seeks rapid exit from the long arms of the ECJ and other regulatory authorities, to become the above the law banana republic, sailing the high seas in ships of the East India Trading company resurrected with long lost pirate treasure. .... Cliff Thorburn

            Re: the above threat, CT

            amanfromMars Sun 2 Aug 20:25 [2008022025] ....... airing a few honest truths on https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/russiagates-zombie-corpse-dug-up-for-one-more-news-cycle/

            The zombie/ponzi gift which just keeps on giving .......

            amanfromMars August 2, 2020 at 14:23 having a say on https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/07/bill-binney-on-russian-hacking-live/

            Oops, the following hyperlinked tale is awkward and revealing and more than just embarrassing if it cannot be plausibly denied and debunked/be easily quickly proven beyond any reasonable doubt demonstrably fake …….. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/austria-confirms-opcw-report-skripal-faking-british-exposes-ft-lies-cover

            It definitely makes one wonder about the quality of certain state intelligence services should they be willing to let such operations as be false unfold themselves, and be servered by mainstream media and myriad senior public servants, on their watch. Such would be a quite lamentable lack of intelligence displayed …… and there’s no denying that fact, is there? .....

            'Tis a Brave New More Orderly World Order Time in these novel informative spaces and virtual places, is it not? :-) .... and quite absolutely terrifying for those and that which really should have known better but just couldn't be bothered as they dithered and abused and misused all around them.

            Certainly are these Interesting Incendendiary Internetional Times.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe we should move to HongKong

    I heard they had a recent new law that improved on that which we have in the UK.

    1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

      Re: Maybe we should move to HongKong

      Yup, they outsourced it to mainland China.

  4. Cynic_999

    Sauce, goose gander.

    It is an unaccountable secret court. The same that we criticise China for having.

    1. Kabukiwookie

      Re: Sauce, goose gander.

      But, we're the Good Guys(tm).

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: Sauce, goose gander.

        But, we're the Good Guys(tm). ...... Kabukiwookie

        :-) I'm calling MRDA on that sentence, Kabukiwookie.

        1. X5-332960073452
          Trollface

          Re: Sauce, goose gander.

          Men's Roller Derby Association (formerly Men's Derby Coalition; est. 2007)

          Mitsubishi Research and Design of America

          Moldovan Research and Development Association

          Meeting Recorder Dialog Act

          Mandy Rice-Davies Applies

          Mundri Relief and Development Association

          Missouri Rental Dealers Association

          Mineral Resources Development Act (Tasmania, Australia)

          Media Research Directors Association

          Maine Rural Development Authority

          Military Recommended Dietary Allowance

          Multi Resolution Data Access

          Maple Road Development Association

          Missouri Round Dance Association

          Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association, Inc. (Canada)

          Mental Retardation Diagnostic Assessment

          Mercy Relief and Development Asia

          Ministry Reporting Database Application

          Mitsubishi Research and Design America, Inc.

          Manager Radiological Dose Assessment

          Mission Requirements Definition and Analysis

          Mission Requirements and Definition Analysis

          Minerals Regulation and Development Act

          Multi-Resonant Dipole Antenna

          Minimum Recommended Daily Allowance

          1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

            Re: Sauce, goose gander.

            Crikey, X5-332960073452, I didn't realise that could be ambiguous. Sorry for that.

            Stephen Ward was found guilty of living off immoral earnings (money obtained from Rice-Davies and Keeler among others) – the trial having been instigated after the embarrassment caused to the government.

            Whilst being cross-examined at Ward's trial, Rice-Davies made a riposte which has since become famous. When James Burge, the defence counsel, pointed out that Lord Astor denied an affair or even having met her, she dismissed this, giggling "Well he would, wouldn’t he?"[9] (often misquoted "Well he would say that, wouldn't he?").[10] By 1979, this phrase had entered the third edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and is occasionally referred to with the abbreviation MRDA ("Mandy Rice-Davies applies") ....... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandy_Rice-Davies#MRDA

  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    WTF?

    Rather like those superinjuctions

    Where astonishingly rich types demanded permanent anonymity and the other side of the story was never heard, because they didn't even know it was being taken out.

    1. Fred Dibnah

      Re: Rather like those superinjuctions

      See also the Cuban middle crisis, which should really be called the Turkish-Cuban missile crisis.

      1. Barry Mahon
        Happy

        Re: Rather like those superinjuctions

        So there was another crisis in the middle?

        Was that revealed in a secret tribunal?

        1. Fred Dibnah
          Facepalm

          Re: Rather like those superinjuctions

          Bloody phone autocorrect. Plus bloody idiot failing to preview his own post before pressing submit :-(

        2. Kane
          Joke

          Re: Cuban Middle Crisis

          So there was another crisis in the middle?

          Was that revealed in a secret tribunal?

          Not enough ham.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll take an guess

    That the document they wanted to block the judicial system from seeing contained information on how the government is manipulating the judicial system......

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'll take an guess

      > That the document they wanted to block the judicial system from seeing contained information on how the government is manipulating the judicial system......

      At the risk of coming over all Dave Spart[*] the judicial system is already so heavily biased in the Government's favour, there's hardly any need to make it more so.

  7. earl grey
    Mushroom

    as they used to say in the states

    smooth move, exlax

  8. Intractable Potsherd

    "This tribunal is, in substance, a court which is completely independent of the Government, the intelligence agencies and everybody else." (my emphasis)

    Well, there you have it - even its President thinks the IPC isn't really a proper court, only" in substance".

    1. Peter2 Silver badge

      "In Substance" is defined as "Essentially", which basically means "In the important points".

      Any tribunal is technically not a court, but is part of Her Majesties Courts and Tribunrals Service and holds much the same powers.

      So what he's saying is that the tribunal is in effect a court in all the important points.

  9. TireIron
    FAIL

    Did These Spies Actually Leave There Names And Addresses?

    Seemingly so....

    "Two spies phoned the IPT to demand that the report was kept away from the judge's eyes. IPT secretary Susan Cobb wrote back..."

    ...and did it really take two spies to make the phone call? ...We are doomed...

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Re: Did These Spies Actually Leave There Names And Addresses?

      did it really take two spies to make the phone call?

      One to hold the conversation and another to listen in.

      Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

      :)

    2. VulcanV5

      Re: Did These Spies Actually Leave There Names And Addresses?

      Why El Reg failed to print the rest of the joke, I dunno, because having forgotten it, I'd have greatly appreciated being reminded of it.

      Anyway. It begins thus: "Two spies phone the IPT to demand that . . . "

      One of the spies is Welsh, the other English. Or perhaps they're both English. Or Scottish. Whatever. It's a great joke, I seem to recall, involving two spies in a phone box, a parrot, and a judge and what passes for individual rights and freedoms in today's UK.

  10. Barry Mahon

    This is getting stupider and stupider

    Is it not time we called this for what it is, a throwback to another world, which even then wasn't that important.

    There is a sort of omerta about anything which is labelled 'security' In effect it enables certain agencies, with impunity, to do what they like.

    There may be certain illegal activities and associations which require investigation, in private, at the time. However, the definition of them is nowhere to be found.

    A good deal of what is covered is 'revealed' when the agencies and the police etc., say it is covered by security requirements. One can then conclude that whatever it is is 'security' related. In many cases it is later revealed to be untrue.

    A heck of a lot of it is related to previous and current government activities and/or policies.

    Very handy....

    1. YetAnotherLocksmith

      Re: This is getting stupider and stupider

      Don't worry, the Russians are our friends now...

      I recall when we spent 60+ years fighting against them and their KGB. Turns out all they had to do was change the name to FSB, and they could do what they want. And both Republicans and Tories would cheer and go along with it if they called it fascism instead of communism.

  11. Tarjia477

    If it were not for an HONEST COURT MANAGER , l would not have been informed and copied into my neighbour writing ex-partia to the Judge for my case. That said l have now TWICE , come up against WITNESS PROTECTION interfering in separate locations l have lived in . The Human Rights Chambers had a guest writer saying it was time secrets were revealed to those that have had the course of their lives changed and lost everything as a result of all that has previously been covered up . It all amounts to the powers that be , including our Government, deciding on our destiny's. Is it any wonder the amount of suicides ? No one can understand unless they have lived it . It is no mystery to me that Martin Lewis warns people against owning property , and to rent instead. There is a gentleman who knows that by owning anything , you can be targeted to loose everything and there being no accessible redress in play across the UK

    1. VulcanV5

      Martin Lewis is a Russian. Or maybe it was Chinese?

  12. JCitizen
    FAIL

    Across the pond..

    What gripes me, is that the Wiki Leaks proved that many things that are tagged as super secret, don't even deserve that status, but on the other hand, the news media regularly air details on things that get our operatives and soldiers killed because of their twisted 1st amendment excuse that the pubic has a right to know. Know what? How to get our troops killed by blabbing our mouths off!

    We just can't win.

  13. Conundrum1885

    Case in point

    Up until 1990 the existence of transuranic elements on the Periodic Table were classified at the same level as the atom bomb (ie SCI)

    Once it became clear that they were only ever going to be available in vanishingly small quantities unsuitable for weapons

    the information was quietly published though many nuclear physicists were already aware to some extent.

    In fact this lack of information was one reason why the existence of Element 122 got quickly ruled out as possible noise

    due to the (well known) properties of lighter ones and implausibility of cold fusion reactions ie Cf-Ca or Pu-Ca

    247Bk was actually used to make a few atoms of something interesting but as we found out it wasn't as stable.

    1,360 year half life is marginally useful but only if we find a natural source (cough Mars /cough)

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