Casper Pottle
@casperpottle.bsky.social
Bearded bibliophile. Libertarian Socialist. Birder.
George Blake's jailbreak. Ban the Bomb.
Bradford via North Wales and North London.
"The Useful Idiot of Bradford" - Alastair Stewart
George Blake's jailbreak. Ban the Bomb.
Bradford via North Wales and North London.
"The Useful Idiot of Bradford" - Alastair Stewart
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Protestors against America’s war in Vietnam, San Francisco, 1965, by Jim Marshall.
December 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Protestors against America’s war in Vietnam, San Francisco, 1965, by Jim Marshall.
"Pottle & Randle confirmed their responsibility for the crime & made impassioned speeches from the dock. The jury was clearly impressed & acquitted, knowing that it was delivering a perverse verdict, showing two fingers to a system that would behave in this way." www.theguardian.com/world/2001/j...
Perverting the course of justice?
They admitted it. The judge said they had no defence. But last week, two people who attempted to trash a nuclear submarine were acquitted. Marcel Berlins and Clare Dyer on why more and more juries are...
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:57 AM
"Pottle & Randle confirmed their responsibility for the crime & made impassioned speeches from the dock. The jury was clearly impressed & acquitted, knowing that it was delivering a perverse verdict, showing two fingers to a system that would behave in this way." www.theguardian.com/world/2001/j...
George Blake (1922-2020) – and our part in his escape
sentencingcrimeandjustice.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/g...
sentencingcrimeandjustice.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/g...
George Blake (1922-2020) – and our part in his escape
He lived to a great age and got a fine media send-off, despite having received one of the longest prison sentences in British legal history. When news of George Blake’s passing in Moscow at t…
sentencingcrimeandjustice.wordpress.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:44 AM
George Blake (1922-2020) – and our part in his escape
sentencingcrimeandjustice.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/g...
sentencingcrimeandjustice.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/g...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
This morning I have been thinking about the first Aldermaston march in April 1958. Here we see the first official outing for the famous CND symbol. Some good 1950s leftist fashions in evidence
youtu.be/0w98RGjsaS4?...
youtu.be/0w98RGjsaS4?...
Anti-Nuclear march in rural Berkshire, 1958
YouTube video by Contemporary Films
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 8:42 AM
This morning I have been thinking about the first Aldermaston march in April 1958. Here we see the first official outing for the famous CND symbol. Some good 1950s leftist fashions in evidence
youtu.be/0w98RGjsaS4?...
youtu.be/0w98RGjsaS4?...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Neighbours / March to Aldermaston
Archive film screening
#NormanMcLaren #LindsayAnderson
2.30pm Monday 3 November @macrobertarts.bsky.social
Part of our REMEMBERED exhibition programme:
archives.stir.ac.uk/2025/10/06/r...
@csdocufest.bsky.social @artatstirling.bsky.social #CultureOnStirCampus
Archive film screening
#NormanMcLaren #LindsayAnderson
2.30pm Monday 3 November @macrobertarts.bsky.social
Part of our REMEMBERED exhibition programme:
archives.stir.ac.uk/2025/10/06/r...
@csdocufest.bsky.social @artatstirling.bsky.social #CultureOnStirCampus
October 28, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Neighbours / March to Aldermaston
Archive film screening
#NormanMcLaren #LindsayAnderson
2.30pm Monday 3 November @macrobertarts.bsky.social
Part of our REMEMBERED exhibition programme:
archives.stir.ac.uk/2025/10/06/r...
@csdocufest.bsky.social @artatstirling.bsky.social #CultureOnStirCampus
Archive film screening
#NormanMcLaren #LindsayAnderson
2.30pm Monday 3 November @macrobertarts.bsky.social
Part of our REMEMBERED exhibition programme:
archives.stir.ac.uk/2025/10/06/r...
@csdocufest.bsky.social @artatstirling.bsky.social #CultureOnStirCampus
Reposted by Casper Pottle
#OtD 22 Oct 1966 the most notorious prisoner in England, Soviet double-agent George Blake was broken out of jail by left libertarian peace activists (who didn't support the USSR at all) in an amusing and very "DIY" fashion stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9519...
October 22, 2025 at 11:40 AM
#OtD 22 Oct 1966 the most notorious prisoner in England, Soviet double-agent George Blake was broken out of jail by left libertarian peace activists (who didn't support the USSR at all) in an amusing and very "DIY" fashion stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9519...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
#OnThisDay in London penal history, 1967: Terry Chandler, Del Foley and Michael Randle jailed for their part in occupying the Greek Embassy earlier that year, in protest at the military coup in Greece.
More on the occupation:
wp.me/p74yfw-Kn
More on the occupation:
wp.me/p74yfw-Kn
Today in London diplomatic history, 1967: the Greek Embassy occupied protesting military coup
On 28 April 1967, one week after the Colonels’ coup in Greece (which was to lead to a 7-year rightwing military dictatorship in the country), the Greek Embassy in London was occupied, by abou…
wp.me
October 4, 2025 at 7:46 AM
#OnThisDay in London penal history, 1967: Terry Chandler, Del Foley and Michael Randle jailed for their part in occupying the Greek Embassy earlier that year, in protest at the military coup in Greece.
More on the occupation:
wp.me/p74yfw-Kn
More on the occupation:
wp.me/p74yfw-Kn
Reposted by Casper Pottle
If you can find the documentaries of George Carey on British spies (Blake, Philby, and Burgess) they’re very well made. Excellent directorial style.
September 26, 2025 at 1:32 AM
If you can find the documentaries of George Carey on British spies (Blake, Philby, and Burgess) they’re very well made. Excellent directorial style.
Reposted by Casper Pottle
#OnThisDay in London policing history, 1961: Metropolitan Police ban a mass meeting of Committee of 100 peace activists, Many demonstrators are beaten up, 1300 nicked.
Useful summary of C100 here:
anticapitalistresistance.org/committee-of...
Useful summary of C100 here:
anticapitalistresistance.org/committee-of...
Committee of 100 – Direct Action in the 1960s
Phil Hearse remembers a previous wave of mass non-violent civil disobedience from the 1960s
anticapitalistresistance.org
September 17, 2025 at 8:27 AM
#OnThisDay in London policing history, 1961: Metropolitan Police ban a mass meeting of Committee of 100 peace activists, Many demonstrators are beaten up, 1300 nicked.
Useful summary of C100 here:
anticapitalistresistance.org/committee-of...
Useful summary of C100 here:
anticapitalistresistance.org/committee-of...
Ralph Schoenman: Unsung Hero of Progressive Thought and Action (RIP) Ralph Schoenman was a lifelong dedicated socialist author, activist, adventurer whose death was inexplicably ignored in the public media richardfalk.org/2023/09/30/r...
Ralph Schoenman: Unsung Hero of Progressive Thought and Action (RIP)
[Prefatory Note: The post that follows was presented ‘remarks’ at a memorial for Ralph Schoenman (1935-2023) arranged by Mya Shone, and a publication of the proceedings in a format being arranged b…
richardfalk.org
August 29, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Ralph Schoenman: Unsung Hero of Progressive Thought and Action (RIP) Ralph Schoenman was a lifelong dedicated socialist author, activist, adventurer whose death was inexplicably ignored in the public media richardfalk.org/2023/09/30/r...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
#OtD 21 Aug 1971 George Jackson, a member of the Black Panther Party, and five others were shot and killed by guards in the San Quentin State Prison in California, during a supposed escape attempt stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9352...
August 21, 2025 at 4:55 AM
#OtD 21 Aug 1971 George Jackson, a member of the Black Panther Party, and five others were shot and killed by guards in the San Quentin State Prison in California, during a supposed escape attempt stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9352...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Counter-culture newspaper International Times, 1972
August 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Counter-culture newspaper International Times, 1972
Reposted by Casper Pottle
We need more 60s counter-culture.
August 21, 2025 at 2:20 AM
We need more 60s counter-culture.
Reposted by Casper Pottle
David McKee’s splendid cover for July 5th 1967’s Punch, offering medal designs for the counter-culture’s adoption of old military uniforms. I just don’t know how satirical it was intended to be, but those medals are pure playful pop art & I’d love to hang a full set on my study wall.
August 12, 2025 at 6:48 PM
David McKee’s splendid cover for July 5th 1967’s Punch, offering medal designs for the counter-culture’s adoption of old military uniforms. I just don’t know how satirical it was intended to be, but those medals are pure playful pop art & I’d love to hang a full set on my study wall.
The ban on protesting genocide in Gaza is not the first time the British State has used "security" as a trojan horse to silence criticism. In 1961 members of the Committee of 100, the "Wethersfield Six", were silenced by the Official Secrets Act immaterialisms.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/i...
In 1961 political protestors were silenced under the Official Secrets Act – and forgotten – what will happen now the Terrorism Act is being touted in the same way?
The government says that security concerns are a sufficient justification for banning Palestine Action from protesting genocide in Gaza by deeming it a terrorist organisation. Not for the first tim…
immaterialisms.wordpress.com
August 12, 2025 at 7:44 AM
The ban on protesting genocide in Gaza is not the first time the British State has used "security" as a trojan horse to silence criticism. In 1961 members of the Committee of 100, the "Wethersfield Six", were silenced by the Official Secrets Act immaterialisms.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/i...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Britten was sufficiently prominent as a pacifist to be invited to join the "Committee of 100" set up to mount a campaign of civil disobedience, though he turned the invitation down. (Inter alia, as a gay man before decriminalisation, it would have been best not to antagonise the police.)
August 6, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Britten was sufficiently prominent as a pacifist to be invited to join the "Committee of 100" set up to mount a campaign of civil disobedience, though he turned the invitation down. (Inter alia, as a gay man before decriminalisation, it would have been best not to antagonise the police.)
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Today is the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and the start of the nuclear age. Britten and Pears, as pacifists, reacted strongly to the threat of nuclear war and were members of CND: here's Britten's invitation to take part in the 1960 Aldermaston march and rally.
August 6, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Today is the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and the start of the nuclear age. Britten and Pears, as pacifists, reacted strongly to the threat of nuclear war and were members of CND: here's Britten's invitation to take part in the 1960 Aldermaston march and rally.
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Direct action has a long history in Britain - from the DAC, the Committee for 100 & the Spies for Peace, to the Greenham Common Women - and that's only the peace campaigns. That's the history Palestine Action is part of - and it will continue no matter what the courts eventually decide.
July 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Direct action has a long history in Britain - from the DAC, the Committee for 100 & the Spies for Peace, to the Greenham Common Women - and that's only the peace campaigns. That's the history Palestine Action is part of - and it will continue no matter what the courts eventually decide.
Reposted by Casper Pottle
MIke Lesser –Freedom is a Career
Committee of 100, Spies for Peace & the theory of Monotropism? Respect.
Committee of 100, Spies for Peace & the theory of Monotropism? Respect.
Mike Lesser died ten years ago today.
He worked with Dinah Murray on the theory of Monotropism for years: developing ideas in conversation, coauthoring many several papers, and working on a mathematical model intended to capture its key features.
monotropism.org/mike-lesser/
He worked with Dinah Murray on the theory of Monotropism for years: developing ideas in conversation, coauthoring many several papers, and working on a mathematical model intended to capture its key features.
monotropism.org/mike-lesser/
Mike Lesser (1943-2015)
(Fergus Murray, 2023) Portrait of Mike Lesser by Nicola Lane / 1975-1976 / oil & egg tempera on linen / in the permanent collection of The People’s History Museum, Manchester.Photog…
monotropism.org
July 1, 2025 at 9:40 AM
MIke Lesser –Freedom is a Career
Committee of 100, Spies for Peace & the theory of Monotropism? Respect.
Committee of 100, Spies for Peace & the theory of Monotropism? Respect.
Reposted by Casper Pottle
A lot of people have attempted to justify the proscription of Palestine Action on the basis that protests on military property or which damage military equipment have always been understood as terrorism. This is nonsense.
Some examples from the last three decades. Thread🧵🔽
Some examples from the last three decades. Thread🧵🔽
July 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
A lot of people have attempted to justify the proscription of Palestine Action on the basis that protests on military property or which damage military equipment have always been understood as terrorism. This is nonsense.
Some examples from the last three decades. Thread🧵🔽
Some examples from the last three decades. Thread🧵🔽
Working for Rebel Verdicts – George Blake and Luigi Mangione tomasoflatharta.com/2025/01/05/w...
Working for Rebel Verdicts – George Blake and Luigi Mangione
Luigi Mangione and George Blake But what about the parallel to the case of George Blake? Two anti-war activists, Pat Pottle and Michael Randle, sprung Blake from a London jail in the 1960’s w…
tomasoflatharta.com
July 23, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Working for Rebel Verdicts – George Blake and Luigi Mangione tomasoflatharta.com/2025/01/05/w...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Saddened to learn of the death of Ernest Rodker. It was a joy to learn a bit of Rodker's life and politics through his influence on his friend & comrade Brian Barnes and some of their shared endeavours. Here he is clearing a park in front of Brian's first mural and in a quote from EP Thompson
May 20, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Saddened to learn of the death of Ernest Rodker. It was a joy to learn a bit of Rodker's life and politics through his influence on his friend & comrade Brian Barnes and some of their shared endeavours. Here he is clearing a park in front of Brian's first mural and in a quote from EP Thompson
Reposted by Casper Pottle
We made this in 2021. Written by Barnaby Kay (Hayward in Lovecraft), recorded on location in an old nuclear bunker in Essex (NB Broken Veil fans).
George Blake spied for Russia in the 60s and made a hilariously chaotic escape from “The Scrubs” to the USSR
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
George Blake spied for Russia in the 60s and made a hilariously chaotic escape from “The Scrubs” to the USSR
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Drama on 4 - Breaking Blake - BBC Sounds
Who sprung George Blake from Wormwood Scrubs? By Barnaby Kay.
www.bbc.co.uk
May 4, 2025 at 6:37 AM
We made this in 2021. Written by Barnaby Kay (Hayward in Lovecraft), recorded on location in an old nuclear bunker in Essex (NB Broken Veil fans).
George Blake spied for Russia in the 60s and made a hilariously chaotic escape from “The Scrubs” to the USSR
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
George Blake spied for Russia in the 60s and made a hilariously chaotic escape from “The Scrubs” to the USSR
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Reposted by Casper Pottle
Anti-nuclear protesters Aldermaston, Berkshire (1958)
Credit: Henry Grant
Credit: Henry Grant
April 10, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Anti-nuclear protesters Aldermaston, Berkshire (1958)
Credit: Henry Grant
Credit: Henry Grant