6 March 2006. A4 writes:

Could it be, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"?

6 March 2006. A3 writes:

A2 quite rightly states the fact that the meeting supposedly takes place on 1st March and the blackboard offers a menu for Pancake Tuesday. The eatery is obviously a morning coffee shop of some description going by the pancakes on offer from the previous morning, the decor and the newspapers beside the plant. A simple explanation for the queried dates would be that the meeting took place very early on Wed 1st March shortly after opening time and the staff may not have had a chance to erase/amend the board. I wouldn t call this 'unlikely'. Surely it's an almost daily occurrence in some establishments as they have more important preparations to make for the day ahead.

It is funny however that certain elements have been trying to discredit each of these individual's claims about military intelligence and collusion recently.

More interesting questions would be, who would have had prior knowledge that this meeting was taking place? (Because Joe Public wouldn't know these four people so it's not an opportunist photo). Who would have the skill or technological instrument required (not your average disposable camera) to capture such an exclusive picture without being noticed because surely all 4 are well briefed in counter intelligence? Who would benefit from releasing this picture into the public domain? Could it be the same people who have most to gain by labelling these people as 'Walter Mitty' characters?

Interesting topic and I'll be watching to see how many opinions are expressed on the issue.

Good points. These are all wizened operatives, any of them a candidate for tailing, the four of them in one place a magnet. Presume at least six to eight to eleven, the photographer and the personal and official watchers for each tri-party. And with British pervasive tv-surveillance, the meet and/or the in-gathering and disperal are on tape(s). But which of the on- and off-stage pros are backstabbing the others?

6 March 2006. A2 writes:

This might seem a little nit picky but your photo of Shayler, Machon, Ingram & Fulton shows them in a cafe with a board displaying food for Pancake Day which is Shrove Tuesday (28th of February) in the UK. Your caption says that it shows a meeting on Wednesday the 1st of March. I suppose that the board might not have been changed from the day before but this seems unlikely.

Good eye. And who took the photo? There's an empty space to the right of Machon, sitting rather close to Fulton. Where and what is the eatery? And who're the two gents eavesdropping behind the plant at left? Is the telephone a bug? Is everyone wearing a wire?

5 March 2006

A writes:

This photo was taken at a secret meeting on Wednesday [March 1] of this week. It is of former MI5 officers David Shayler and Annie Machon, with Martin Ingram and Kevin Fulton. I can confirm that the two former MI5 officers and former FRU handler Martin Ingram, along with Fulton [former British secret agent in Northern Ireland],  have agreed to give evidence at the public enquiry into collusion between the IRA, members of the Garda ( Irish Police ) and security forces into the murders of RUC officers Breen and Buchanan.

Judge Smithwick will be notified next week of this development.

[Machon and Shayler (back to camera) at left, Fulton and Ingram at right. Black strips in original photo.]