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Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Military intelligence exhibition for Blitz tunnels
The history of military intelligence will be explored as part of a planned tourist attraction in London's World War Two air raid shelter tunnels. As part of its plans to bring the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels to the public, London Tunnels will collaborate with the Museum of Military Intelligence to showcase original artefacts, equipment, weapons and documents. About 8,000 sq m of tunnels under High Holborn were built in 1942 to provide protection during the Blitz. They were later used as a home for a British spy organisation. Angus Murray, CEO, The London Tunnels, said the site was an ideal backdrop to tell the remarkable stories of men and women who played a "vital role in protecting Britain". The tunnels, which featured in the first James Bond novel, have remained unused since they were decommissioned in 1990. The exhibition will feature stories from the Battle of Britain and D-Day, the espionage operations of the Cold War, the Falklands War, peace-keeping missions and the terrorist threat of the 21st Century. General Sir Jim Hockenhull KBE ADC Gen, Commander of Strategic Command and Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps, said it would be "the world's most authoritative permanent exhibition of military intelligence". The trustees of the Museum of Military Intelligence said the "historically significant and evocative location" would bring the exhibition to life. The Museum of Military Intelligence was founded by the British Army's Intelligence Corps and is now also supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to Opening up the 'James Bond' spy tunnels under London Museum of Military Intelligence
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Military intelligence exhibition for Blitz tunnels
The history of military intelligence will be explored as part of a planned tourist attraction in London's World War Two air raid shelter tunnels. As part of its plans to bring the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels to the public, London Tunnels will collaborate with the Museum of Military Intelligence to showcase original artefacts, equipment, weapons and documents. About 8,000 sq m of tunnels under High Holborn were built in 1942 to provide protection during the Blitz. They were later used as a home for a British spy organisation. Angus Murray, CEO, The London Tunnels, said the site was an ideal backdrop to tell the remarkable stories of men and women who played a "vital role in protecting Britain". The tunnels, which featured in the first James Bond novel, have remained unused since they were decommissioned in 1990. The exhibition will feature stories from the Battle of Britain and D-Day, the espionage operations of the Cold War, the Falklands War, peace-keeping missions and the terrorist threat of the 21st Century. General Sir Jim Hockenhull KBE ADC Gen, Commander of Strategic Command and Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps, said it would be "the world's most authoritative permanent exhibition of military intelligence". The trustees of the Museum of Military Intelligence said the "historically significant and evocative location" would bring the exhibition to life. The Museum of Military Intelligence was founded by the British Army's Intelligence Corps and is now also supported by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to Opening up the 'James Bond' spy tunnels under London Museum of Military Intelligence
The Independent
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
If Labour is to beat Reform, we must show we are the party of British values
I grew up in a family built on British values, on service, duty and hard work. My grandfather hunted Nazi U-boats before becoming a Colman's Mustard salesman. My father dedicated his career to policing, while my mother cared for the vulnerable, ensuring dignity and respect for those in need. At 20, I joined the Intelligence Corps, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, before tackling criminals with the National Crime Agency and later working in counterterrorism to defend Britain's democracy and security. British values are not abstract to me – they are what I have fought for. We defend these values not with slogans, but with action. That means rejecting the extremities of politics and focusing on what truly makes Britain great: democracy, the rule of law, respect, firmness, decency and opportunity. British values are mirrored by our Armed Forces, who embody discipline, professionalism and a commitment to protecting those who cannot defend themselves. Strength matters, but let's be clear; leadership without decency is weakness something we see at both ends of the extremes. True leadership is knowing when to stand firm and when to show diplomacy. It is understanding that decency is not a weakness but a necessity. For more than a century, these values have guided our democracy. Britain has always rejected extremism. When the far right threatened our democratic values in the 1930s, we defeated them. When the hard left rejected economic responsibility in the 1980s, we rejected them. Today, Britain again needs competence over ideology, fairness over division, and leadership over chaos. This is why mainstream, centrist politics has always won out in the end. Britain is not a country seduced by radicalism – it is a country that demands action, fairness and results. British values are rejected on the extremities. They thrive in and around the centre. At every turning point in history, when Britain has needed strong, responsible government, it has found it. And when leadership has required firmness with decency, we have seen it in action. One of the greatest examples of this leadership was Mo Mowlam's role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Facing a fragile ceasefire, she took the bold and risky decision to walk into the Maze Prison, persuading loyalist paramilitaries to stay in the peace talks. It was a courageous, unconventional move, but she won respect by listening, speaking plainly, and refusing to be intimidated. She proved that real leadership is not just about being tough – it is about being fair, firm and decent. The secretary of state for work and pensions, Liz Kendall, echoed this on Tuesday, saying: 'I am not interested in being tough. This is about real people with real lives.' Britain needs leaders who act – not just talk. Leaders who make the tough calls with the right values at heart. That is what Keir Starmer is delivering. Yet we have seen a breakdown in British values in parts of our parliament – disturbing and unacceptable. Nigel Farage has fawned over Putin, wrapping himself in our great flag while proving he is no patriot – just a political opportunist, forever waiting to see which way the wind blows. The Reform party's confusion over President Zelensky's decision not to hold elections while at war – just as Winston Churchill did – further exposes their abandonment of British values, which is sad to see on our precious green benches. But this betrayal does not stop with Reform. The Conservative Party has also turned its back on British values, joining Reform in voting against the Employment Rights Bill legislation that ensures fair pay and protections for workers, restoring balance in our economy so that those who contribute to Britain get the respect they deserve. They also voted against the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which brings counter-terror powers into the fight to secure our borders. Labour's approach to immigration is another example of strength with decency - deporting record numbers who shouldn't be here while ensuring we help those in genuine need. Nowhere is the need for strong, responsible government clearer than in the NHS. This Labour government is delivering record investment and taking bold steps to fix the system, ripping up the bloated bureaucracy of NHS England. Sometimes you need to break eggs to make an omelette. The NHS is currently both overmanaged and poorly managed by an opaque and poorly co-ordinated bureaucracy. Reforming the NHS is clear; cut out duplication, have clearer management lines, cut staffing and admin costs. Taxpayers are paying more and getting less – this must change. Yet again, Nigel Farage abandons British values, pushing for an insurance-based system that would undermine our NHS – one of our greatest national institutions. Now is not the time for division or ideology. Britain needs leadership with decency, fairness with responsibility. Britain does not flinch in the face of challenges. And today, neither does this Labour government. That is why, once again, Britain will stand strong.
Ya Libnan
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Israel targets a senior member of Hezbollah's Armament and Weapons Transfer Unit (4400) in Qusayr
The Israeli army spokesman announced that an air force plane, under the direction of the Intelligence Corps, carried out a precise strike on a senior member of Hezbollah's Armament and Weapons Transfer Unit (4400) in the Qusayr area of Lebanon. The Israeli army spokesman noted that the member was targeted after he repeatedly violated the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, including his involvement in the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah during the war. He was targeted while he was planning to carry out additional transfers. He pointed out that Unit 4400 continues to carry out operations to transfer weapons to Hezbollah, which poses a threat to Israel's security as a serious breach of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, according to his claim. Unit 4400 is responsible for transporting and smuggling Iranian weapons into Lebanon through a tunnel about three kilometers long, which allowed weapons to be smuggled between Syria and Lebanon. The entrance to the tunnel on the Syrian side is in a mountainous area about 15 kilometers west of Al Qusayr and El Debaa airport (southwest of the city of Homs). The opening of the tunnel on the Lebanese side is in Marah al-Zakba, about 12 kilometers north of Hermel in the northeast of the Bekaa. On the Syrian side and on the Lebanese side of the tunnel there are buildings that were apparently used for temporary storage of the weapons that passed through it. The Iranians and Hezbollah are concentrating great efforts to transfer weapons to Lebanon through the corridor routes, with an emphasis on the land route. One of the main geographical anchors for arms transfers to Hezbollah in Lebanon is the area southwest of the city of Homs. Source : El Nashra in Arabic, News Agencies
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
My family escaped from the Nazis, but I know it's time for Germany to escape the shadow of its past
My grandfather served four years in the trenches of Belgium and France fighting the 'Tommies', as he would have called them. Although a cavalry officer, he didn't spend much of his time during the First World War on a horse. Grateful as a Jew to escape his German homeland twenty years after the war's end, it was still a shock to him the first time he saw my father, born Heinz Ludwig Merlaender, in British uniform. Like most German Jews, the family were interned at the outbreak of war on the Isle of Man, but as soon as my father could join up he did, first in the Pioneer Corps (the distrusted German refugees could do little harm digging ditches), then in the Intelligence Corps (how could you waste the talents of the German speakers if you were going to occupy and administer the country?). My family's roots go back a long way in Germany. When the Nazis came to power all the boys in my father's class had to examine their origins and it was to father's great pride that as far back as he could go, they were all Germans. They came from small provincial places in the north like Dassel and Lemgo and moved to larger towns like Essen and Offenbach. They were deeply proud of their nation and its achievements. My great aunt studied at the Frankfurt Conservatory alongside Hindemith and under the tutorship of one of Robert Schumann's daughters. The men of the family did their duty in 1870 and 1914. Being Jewish was with each generation increasingly incidental, making them, in their own eyes, no less German than their Catholic and Protestant neighbours. Even after the horrors of the early years of Third Reich, from which most of my family escaped, they still remembered the positives. My maternal grandmother, cowering at home with two small children during the November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom, recalled a ring on the bell and when she opened the door a slit, the policeman shouting out to his colleagues 'Niemand zu Hause' (nobody home). My father spoke fondly of how his school mates supported him against Nazi teachers and how the whole school atmosphere was helped by a devoutly Catholic and quietly anti-Nazi headmaster. And the centrality of German culture, particularly music, was passed down. My paternal grandmother took me from an early age to concerts featuring Beethoven and Bach. When I started learning German with my father, we turned to volumes of Schiller he had received as a bar mitzvah present (far too difficult) and Schnitzler short stories (much more accessible). The political sentiments of patriotism and affiliation to the nation were unquestioningly transferred to Britain, the beloved land of refuge, but the culture of the old country was never forsaken. And the links continue. I took German nationality years before Brexit and each of my children has associated in their own way. My oldest and her Zurich-born husband are attempting to bring up their first child to speak German. My second studied German at University and spent a year in quiet, tidy, backwoods Fulda. My third on marriage changed his name back to the one which his grandfather was advised to abandon on going to fight in France in 1944, lest he be captured and treated as a traitor rather than as a prisoner of war. On Sunday, Germany will go to the polls in what might be the most momentous election since the foundation of the Federal Republic in 1949. Although a German citizen, I do not have a vote, never actually having lived in the country (but with characteristic national humility, an official at the embassy told me when I received my certificate of nationality that I could challenge that in the courts). In an extraordinarily short period of time, Germany has changed from being the engine of the European economy and the steady centre of the continent's political sanity to a land that seems to be falling apart. The railways, which ran with clockwork efficiency when I travelled extensively across the country twenty years ago, are now an embarrassment of delays and confusion. Expensive energy, Chinese competition and a resistance to technological innovation are rendering the German economy obsolete and threatening the prosperity achieved since the near-miraculous phoenix-like reconstruction after the Second World War. Leaders seem incapacitated, operating out of coalition mantels of ever-more clashing and incoherent political colours. But at the heart of the problem, it seems to me, lies a deep cultural malaise. My grandparents would be horrified at the shoddy, litter-strewn centres of German cities. They would be depressed to find out that, lacking confidence and pride, Germans have not been having enough children to replace themselves for more than half a century. They would find it deeply worrying that synagogues in Germany continue to be attacked and anti-Semitic slogans daubed on community buildings. They would be honest enough to see that the threat to Germany's small and vulnerable Jewish communities, remnants risen from the ashes, comes from a new direction. One friend told me of anti-Israel demonstrations at which Islamist participants shouted 'Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas' while their Left-wing allies shifted about uncomfortably but said nothing. The threat of a revival of anti-Semitism is Germany is real but it is far from the only problem Germany faces as it struggles to absorb the vast inflow of Middle Eastern immigrants it has received in the last decade. Germany must be ever-mindful of its past, and indeed its contrition for the Holocaust has been sincere, long lasting and exemplary. But it must also take responsibility for its future. It cannot do this if it is forever hobbled by a cultural guilt that prevents an honest and open discussion of what ails the country. It is not for me to tell German how to vote. But I hope they do so with an urgent desire to fix their country and an understanding that their history and culture should not just be a matter of shame but also pride which, despite it all, was instilled in me by my forebears. Paul Morland has been a senior member of St Antony's College, Oxford and an associate Research Fellow of Birkbeck, University of London Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
