Declassified UK January 2022

Posted: 31st January 2022

 

This is Matt this time, Declassified’s chief investigator.

Welcome to 2022 which should be a big year for Declassified. We have a number of big projects we are working on, including the Real Manchester Inquiry
into the relationship between UK foreign policy and the Manchester Arena bombing.

We caused a diplomatic incident this month between Argentina and Britain after Richard Norton-Taylor’s exclusive that the UK had deployed 31 nuclear weapons to the Falklands during the 1982 war.

The Argentine foreign ministry released a statement asking for clarification from the British government and said it would seek to take the issue to international venues. It is possible that the UK broke a treaty prohibiting the deployment of nuclear weapons in the region.

This follows British ambassadors in Venezuela and Bolivia being called in after Declassified articles on UK programmes in both those countries.

Our work this month

We have published a number of big stories this month. Anne Cadwalladr wrote two important pieces on Northern Ireland, one on the Supreme Court ruling that Northern Irish police acted illegally in failing to properly investigate the case of the so-called ‘Hooded Men’. The second looked into the ‘Miami Showband’ murders, where the killers have still not been held accountable.

Phil Miller looked into the British soldier who handled ‘Stakeknife’, a notorious IRA informer, and his tips to east African wildlife rangers who killed dozens of innocent Kenyans. Phil also broke the story of UK military support for Cameroon’s regime, Africa’s oldest dictatorship. New evidence revealed by Phil showed how British soldiers help its ruler, Paul Biya, keep control of Cameroon and train his forces accused of torture, executing children and burning buildings.

Mark Curtis and I crunched the numbers to find that the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the ‘CIA’s sidekick’ since its creation in 1983, had given £2.6m to British independent media and press freedom groups.

I also wrote about how the UK government is spending £103m from its aid budget to promote ‘economic development’ and ‘poverty reduction’ in official enemy China while its austerity policies in Britain helped force 600,000 children into poverty.

John McEvoy wrote the latest installment of a vital series into UK machinations in oil-rich Venezuela. This latest revelation provided further evidence that Britain’s attempt to remove Venezuela’s government is guided by an interest in the country’s vast oil resources.

Last week we published our first-ever annual report, for 2021, which has details of some of our achievements last year as well as transparency over our funding, our advisers, board etc. Thanks especially to those who have been supporting us as Members. Our achievements are shared with you.

Our major goals for 2022 are to keep doing what we’re doing, try to do more of it (funding permitting) and attempt to reach more people. We need to see independent media like Declassified be seen by many more people. A key aim is to diversify our funding streams and increase donations from the public.

If you’re not already a Member, please become one.