What Next for Nick Pope?

Here’s the official website of Nick Pope: http://www.nickpope.net/ Also see the HPANWO Links column.

I was at a conference last year and the cheer went out: “WE WANT POPEY!... WE WANT POPEY!... WE WANT POPEY!” just before Nick Pope’s speech began. It struck me that this man has become an essential and elemental figure at any UFO-themed event, alternative or mainstream. He is one of the world’s best-known UFOlogists and is probably the most recurrent of speakers whom I encounter on the Conference Circuit. In a way, since the departure of J Allen Hynek, he’s probably the world’s only “official" UFOlogist. I’ve got to know him reasonably well and we usually have a good chat when we meet up. In his professional capacity he is very dapper and informative. Unlike many UFOlogists he wears a smart suit and has well-groomed hair; he looks and sounds every bit the Government agent that he was. With accusations of people being Government agents almost endemic and internecine in the Paranormal investigation community, Nick Pope is unique in actually being one, open and publicly. He spent 21 years in the Civil Service, including a stint during the Gulf War of 1990. His UFO work began in 1991 and ended in 1994, but these were three years which changed his life. He was initially a sceptic... even a Skeptic... when he took over the MoD UFO Desk, but after he had examined the evidence he changed his mind and concluded that UFO’s were indeed not man-made objects from this Earth. However he no longer works for the government. He has retired from the Ministry of Defence and now operates as a freelance journalist and media pundit. He gets called up by newspapers and TV stations across the globe to comment on anything UFO-related, on the rare occasions the media discusses UFO’s in anything other than a comedy/novelty story just before the weather forecast and traffic reports. His role in the media began while he was still in the Civil Service. Here’s an old speech he makes where he gives the audience the disclaimer that he is appearing at the conference, X-Con 2004, as a private individual and not in his official capacity: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3130636278818597541# He sometimes comments on the views of his colleagues at the Ministry; as I suspected many consider him something of a pariah! The MoD’s UFO investigation team has been running in one form or another since the 1940’s and tends to err away from the “believer” camp. Sadly in 2009 the UFO Desk, Secretariat AS-2a, was disbanded, much to Nick’s chagrin. In fact I only just got my own sighting report in time: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-ufo-sighting-281208.html Nick has told me to look out for it in the UFO files when they’re declassified. Nick takes a great interest in the ongoing project to declassify the confidential files collated by the UFO Desk over the 60 years it operated. This project is almost complete and you can download the declassified files from the National Archives by following the link on Nick’s site: http://www.nickpope.net/mod-ufo-files.htm . These files are massive PDF documents containing hundreds of thousands of reports. I recommend Nick’s highlights file because the vast majority contain little of interest; they take the stereotypical form of: “Man out walking dog at night on Cannock Chase, saw light in the sky” etc. Contrary to popular belief these are not “Top Secret” files, but merely confidential. They appear less closely guarded than the medical records at my hospital. If there are any Top Secret files out there then they won’t be included in the current UFO project. He’s also a fiction writer, like me, and has written a couple of novels inspired by his UFO research: http://www.nickpope.net/books.htm

For many years Nick Pope has become a household name, going under soubriquets like: “The Man from the Ministry” and “the Real (or Britain’s) Fox Mulder”. UFO experts usually achieve fame, of sorts, only within the limited social circles that people who are interested in UFO’s cruise. Names like Timothy Good, Stanton Friedman and Richard D Hall are ones many UFO-people I know are familiar with, but none of my Brother and Sister Porters have heard of them. However they all know the name Nick Pope! Some see this as ironic, and even suspicious. This is because Nick is renowned for being one of the most cautious UFOlogists in the business. He has gone out on a limb within Government circles by stating that UFO’s are not all weather balloons and marsh gas etc, but he totally rejects any notion that the Government knows more than it is saying. Roswell, Rendlesham Forest and Berwyn Mountains (See: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2011/01/ufo-down-by-andy-roberts.html ) are all incidents in which there is either a rational non-ET explanation, a mistake of some kind; or secrecy for other reasons, like weapons system details or the case being overlooked within declassification procedure etc. This has inevitably led to accusation of him being a disinformer, somebody still secretly working for the Government to quell public distrust or curiosity into their role in UFO incidents. I doubt very much that Nick is a knowing disinformer. He just doesn’t have the right personality; he’s not reserved enough, and he loves to party and let his hair down, like many Civil Service types are wont to do. When the cameras are off and the auditorium deserted, the suit and coiffure usually gets messed up as he props up the bar laughing, swearing and joking with the other speakers and delegates. There are individuals I do suspect of being paid shills, but they exhibit unusual behaviour in their private and social lives too. These individuals will remain nameless at this point, but I can confirm that Nick is not among them. However Nick’s sincere belief that the Government has been perhaps closed-minded and bureaucratic, but nevertheless open and honest about the information it has, that there is no “saucer in a hanger”, suits the agenda of those who might know that Britain does have a saucer in a hanger, or even aliens on ice at Porton Down. This could explain why he has become the media’s first port-of-call on occasions when UFO's cannot be kept off the front pages. If I were a man in Government who knew secret information about UFO’s and aliens then Nick Pope would be the last man on Earth I’d tell!

At the present time I’ve had an indication that Nick Pope’s career is about to take another new turn. This time he’s becoming interested in the very Conspiracy Theories that have so often been levelled at him. I’m a regular reader of the excellent journal UFO Matrix magazine, see: http://ufomatrix.com/ . Nick has a column in it and in the last issue he used it to give a report on the latest UFO Congress in Arizona (Sadly it’s moved from its traditional home in Laughlin, Nevada). In a comment related to Paul Hellyer’s speech he described how the speaker discussed “the banking system... There are many people in the Conspiracy Theory community who cover this subject... some are borderline racists who use the phrase ‘conspiracy of international bankers’ in an attempt to mask their anti-Semitism”. Oh dear! This is an old and very unoriginal line and I must say I’m disappointed to hear it come from Nick. I must concede that he is right in a few cases. There are Conspiracists who believe that what I call the Illuminati are Jews, and they’re hell-bent on exterminating white people, Neo-Nazis for example. But the problem with bringing up this subject is that it has a level of controversy that inevitably descends into hysteria and injustice. Anybody who talks about a global conspiracy, of any kind, is automatically branded anti-Semitic. If we protest our innocence then our accusers will claim that our denial is further proof of our guilt. We’ve seen this with Richard Warman and David Icke in Canada, see: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2912878405399014351# . If somebody accuses you of anti-Semitism then there is no defence; their case is unfalsifiable: In their eyes you are guilty no matter what you say, think or do. I cover this subject in more detail here: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-anti-semitic-are-you.html . Nick has also written about 9/11 and even debated 9/11 Truth Campaigners on TV, see: http://www.nickpope.net/911.htm . I’ve written to Nick to explain that I know that Jews are not the Illuminati "bad guys". But I do however worry about the way international finance behaves towards Planet Earth and the ordinary people who live here. As far as I'm concerned whether the bankers and Jews or Gentiles (And there are more of latter than the former in banking) is irrelevant. If anybody hears me talk about "International Bankers" they'll know that I mean it literally, not as code or a euphemism for "Jews". He’s acknowledged my email politely.

Nick’s interest in general Conspiracy Theories is increasing in pace; in September when he appears at the Weird 11 Conference, see: http://www.weirdwiltshire.co.uk/weird11_ufo_paranormal.htm . You can see that his talk is going to be entitled Lizards and Lies- the Truth about Conspiracy Theories. I’m going to that conference and I’ll be hearing that speech first hand, and I withhold judgment until I’ve seen it in its entirety; however the title Nick has given it, based on previous statements he’s made, makes me guess that it’s going to be a debunker. I’ll write another article afterwards assessing what Nick actually says, but if I disagree with him, which I suspect I will, I’ll do it politely and professionally.

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