"Ten-Thirty-Three" with the subtitle "The Inside Story of Britains Killing Machine in Northern Ireland" by Nicholas Davies was not well received by Irish Republicans and serious political observers of the Irish conflict , it's politics and tragic events .
Although it accepts and re-inforces the collusion model (up to a point) it tends to portray Nelson as the villain of the piece and his shadowy Force Research Unit (FRU) handlers as somewhat reluctant collusionists ! It is a somewhat thin thesis and tends to stretch the imagination of the more politically sophisticated!

Davies' commentary of supposed conversations between Nelson and his FRU handlers are unrealistic and condescending, for example , there are constant recurring highly unlikely 'tableaux' of 'morally outraged' handlers scolding Nelson for tricking them (yet again!) into giving him targetting packs aka Military Intelligence Source Reports (MISRS) that have led to the murder of yet more 'innocent' catholic civilians ! These unlikely scenarios are repeated throughout the book.

Davies stretches our imagination when he attempts to convince us that the FRU's prime motive for employing Nelson was to gain insight into the inner workings of the UDA/UFF because they had a 'shortage of intelligence' on Loyalist paramilitaries (which would be laughable if it was not so tragic !) And that Nelson's access to MISRs/ targetting packs was simply a reluctant pay off with the FRU supposedly operating under the misconception that the UDA merely wanted to amass this data to harmlessly keep accurate files on possible Republican sympathisers ! This is not a scenario that anyone concerned with the conflict in the North of Ireland will readily swallow uncritically . Tragically , all too many people in the North are only too well aware of how 'tongues can just be as lethal as guns' in a deeply divided society involved in a 'low intensity' , up close & personal near fratricidal conflict !

Davies in fairness , does provide all the pieces to the collusion 'jigsaw' but somehow manages to assemble them wrongly perhaps due to 'Officially restricted' methadology . Anyone who lived through the last 35 years knows that Brian Nelson, the FRU , other assorted 'spooks' & loyalist paramilitary murders were an intrinsic part of British Counter-insurgency policy in the North of Ireland . Where the old British 'trump-card' of "Diivide & Conquer" is concerned we have the dubious benefit of over 800 years of tragic precedents to hone our critical facilties on unfortunately . The Kitsonian "bible" of counter-insurgency was adhered to by the British state apparatus with all the zeal of a fundamentalist preacher !

Davies makes several 'howlers' regarding the sharp sectarian demography of the city of Belfast which in the not too distant past could have resulted in certain death for the unsuspecting hapless visitor and to a real extent still exists due to the ever increasing so-called 'peace-walls' (but thats another story!) He displays a chequored appreciation of the finer details of the Loyalist paramilitary group he is supposed to be writing about which even the least politically sophisticated citizen of the 6 county statelet would have little trouble correcting Davies on :
For instance, he states that Ian Catney (RIP) was murdered in the middle of the "Republican" Markets district when in reality Ian Catney was murdered in the Smithfield Market area , a completely different location & a much more dangerous territory due to it's proximity to the hardline Loyalist Brown Square & the nearby Shankill Road . He cites Brian Robinson , who was killed by the British Army undercover unit known as the 'Det' as a UDA comrade of Brian Nelson when he was in fact an Ulster Volunteer Force member on the return route from murdering a catholic civilian. To readers outside the North that may well be a moot point but not to the more critical Northern Ireland readership , where every death is consciously or perhaps subconsciously filed into respective folk memories . Those who have lived through the conflict (or the 'Troubles' as they are often referred to in establishment media) can without hesitation recite encyclopedic data relating to individual murders , bombings or shootings , that includes dates , times , the specific paramilitary group's involvement and other details . It can only be compared to how citizens of less troubled climes can instantly remember what exactly they were doing on '9/11' or the Kennedy Assasination , only in the North east of ireland that instant recall is multiplied over 3000 times !

In all fairness to Nicholas Davies and his book "Ten-Thirty-Three" I have read a lot , lot worse where non-fiction Irish Conflict related material is concerned . Like it's sister sub-genre known as 'Troubles Fiction' , there have been some utterly atrocious commentaries written on the conflict in 'Norn Iron' which i shant name and shame just yet ( those who are guilty of such literary 'crimes' face an unforgiving readership anyway !) Davies partial 'expose' of state sponsored murder pales in comparison to for example Paul Larkin's excellent book on "collusion" in the North of ireland "A Very British Jihad." Something also struck me when reading Davies' book , the writing style is very similar to that used in the crop of 'whistleblowing' accounts published in book form usually partly written by paid informants & intelligence service 'agent provacteurs' working inside the various Irish paramilitary groupings . This may possibly be partly due to the various government scrutiny 'committees' that any literary work may have to pass through when dealing with sources that fall within the remit of the ominous Official Secrets Act ?

In conclusion , I would reccomend that any reader who is interested in examining the subject of State-sponsored murder in Northern Ireland should have a copy of this book in their collection . There are more comprehensive accounts but Davies' book does have its place within the literary collusion 'wall' , it is by no means a 'keystone' in that construct but an integral 'brick' none the less. 6 out of 10 points for its contribution to the constantly unfolding nightmare of State sponsored terror in the North of ireland.

© Iskra, Belfast , 23/10/2009    http://iskras-blog.blogspot.com/