Lobster is a magazine that is interested primarily in the influence of intelligence and security services on politics and world trade, what it calls "deep politics" or "parapolitics". It combines the examination of conspiracy theories and contemporary history. Lobster is edited and published in the United Kingdom and has appeared twice a year for years, at first in 16-page A5 format, then as an A4 magazine. Operating on a shoestring, its contributors include academics and others. Since 2009 it is distributed as a free downloadable PDF document.
According to the Hull Daily Mail, Lobster 'investigates government conspiracies, state espionage and the secret service.' In 1986 the magazine scooped mainstream media by uncovering the secret Clockwork Orange operation, implicated in trying to destabilise the British government. Colin Wallace, a former British Army Intelligence Corps officer in Northern Ireland, described how he had been instructed to smear leading UK politicians. Questions were asked in the House of Commons and an extended scandal ensued.
The current curator of the CIA Historical Intelligence Collection, Hayden B. Peake, notes that the editors of Lobster see it as "member of the international brotherhood of parapolitics mags," the other members being Geheim (Cologne, Germany), Intelligence Newsletter (Paris, France), and Covert Action Information Bulletin (US), and is "distinctive in its depth of coverage, its detailed documentation, and the absence of the rhetoric".
In 1989, Lobster published names of 1,500 citizens said to be working in intelligence. The magazine was denounced in the House of Commons. The editors replied that all published details could be found in local libraries. The magazine has also carried detailed analysis of fringe and pseudoscientific subjects such as UFOs and remote viewing.
History
Founding
In 1982, an American newsletter about the Kennedy assassination, Echoes of Conspiracy, put Robin Ramsay and Stephen Dorril in touch with each other because of their common interest in the JFK assassination story. A few months later, they decided to launch a magazine, and in September 1983, they published 150 copies of The Lobster priced at 50p. Ramsay later described himself and his associate: "Dorril is a Freudo-anarchist, with Situationist tendencies; and Ramsay is a premature anti-Militant member of the soft old left of the Labour Party".
The inaugural issue stated its aims as "a journal/newsletter about intelligence, parapolitics, state structures and so forth [..] there is no copyright on the material in The Lobster [..] we hope to break even at the present price of 50p, but we may not [..] should appear 6 times a year". From Issue 5 onwards, the cover dropped the definite article and became just "Lobster".
Publishing frequency Lobster dropped to four issues in 1984 and three issues in 1986 and 1987, before settling down as a bi-annual from 1988. The Lobster logo (see illustration), first appeared in issue 20 in November 1990 and was designed by Clive Gringras.
Format and costs
[[File:lobster-magazine-logo.svg|thumb|left|150px |Lobster'''s logo, designed by Clive Gringras]] The first 8 issues of Lobster are A5 paper size (148 × 210mm) format, growing to A4 (210 × 297mm) from Issue 9 in September 1985. The magazine was originally typewritten, reduced on a photocopier, pasted-up and printed on a Gestetner off-set litho duplicating machine. Around issue 17, the magazine was type-set on an Amstrad PCW using Wordstream and from Lobster 27, on an AppleMac with Claris Works. Lobster Issue 57 (Summer 2009) was the last hard copy issue. Issue 58 (Winter 2009/2010) was the first available without charge. The magazine is published from Ramsay's home in Hull.Lobster is published not-for-profit. The Independent on Sunday quoted Ramsay that the magazine ".. always broke even, as I would put the price up if it started losing money. The readers paid whatever I asked", which the newspaper commented "Sounds a fine business model". Robert McCrum in The Guardian quotes Ramsay as boasting that Lobster is "the only left-wing journal to pay for itself".