Red Flagged

Who is this guy Chris Trotter?

THE NEARER YOU GET to the top of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service the less time you have. Which is all wrong when you think about it, because, ideally, you would want those at the top of an intelligence agency to have lots and lots of time. Time to think, time to talk, time to ask questions, and time to think about the answers. But you don’t have any of those luxuries. Why not? Because the world doesn’t stop, and it certainly doesn’t wait. So, nobody has time, and everybody is rushed off their feet.

Me especially, because I’ve been here the longest, which means I am the official keeper of the Service’s institutional memory. Sure, sure, computers can retrieve data in a millisecond, but they can’t tell you what to make of it, how much weight to give it, whether a name is just a name, or whether its attached to something it would be most unwise to discount, or ignore. Yes, yes, I know, at the rate its developing it will not be long before AI is able to deliver an unimpeachable “gut feeling” about everything. But, until that day arrives, mine will remain the official gut.

Which is why, amidst all the other things I was supposed to be doing, the Director asked me to take a look at an anomalous Red Flag. A junior staffer had routinely entered the name of a new Substacker who’d listed his major interests as Politics and History. Clever girl. Anybody who admits to a major interest in those two subjects should definitely be checked out. Politics and history reinforce each another in ways that make an old spook like me extremely nervous. Who was this Substacker? And, why had he raised a Red Flag?

Every time I step out of the lift onto the floor where the junior staffers work I wonder if I’ve pressed the wrong button. Honestly, the place has the feel of an insurance company. Lots and lots of cubicles, lots and lots of computers, lots and lots of harsh neon lighting. I asked the nearest person where I might find Rachel, and was directed to the second-to-last cubicle on the left. Predictably, she was looking at her phone. And quite right, too! There’s no intelligence agency on the planet that generates information faster than social media. As always, “X” marks the spot.

“I hear you’re in need of assistance with a Red Flag. Some suspect Substacker?”

“Oh, yes Sir, thanks for coming down. I’ll just pull up the file.”

When I saw the face I couldn’t suppress a chuckle.

“Good God! Chris Trotter! This red flag has got to be very old indeed.”

“It is Sir, I checked. Chris Trotter was originally flagged 44 years ago, in 1981.”

“Editor of the Otago student newspaper, ‘Critic’, and a ‘face’ in the Dunedin Anti-Springbok Tour protests. Arrested, and subsequently acquitted, for Obstructing A Carriageway. Ended up marrying the HART Regional Organiser, if I remember rightly. Howard Broad, who became Police Commissioner under Helen Clark, used to follow the two of them around Dunedin in the early hours of the morning. Trotter went on to become a trade union activist, hung around with a confirmed member of the Socialist Unity Party for a while, but never made it to the Soviet Union. Eventually, he joined the Labour Party – rose quite high, I think.”

“Yes, Sir. He was elected to the New Zealand Council of the Labour Party in 1987. Resigned in protest at the party’s adoption of free-market economic policies. Was instrumental in the formation of Jim Anderton’s NewLabour Party in May 1989. Close associate of the union firebrand Matt McCarten – who later became the chief enforcer of Anderton’s Alliance.”

“Matt McCarten. Not an easy man to forget. But didn’t Trotter move away from party politics and into the news media?”

“That’s right, Sir. The Editor of the National Business Review gave him a weekly column. One of many he’s had in the mainstream press. For years he wrote ‘From the Left’ for The Dominion. He was the chief political commentator for the Independent Business Weekly, and a columnist for The Press. For 14 years he put out his own little magazine, New Zealand Political Review, which featured some pretty heavy left-wing hitters. He still has a column, ‘Reckonings’, in the Otago Daily Times.”

“And he was all over radio and television. Sang “The Red Flag” live on TV3 the night Labour and the Alliance defeated Jenny Shipley’s turncoat government. A minor celebrity for a few years, he kept getting invited to Business Roundtable dinners. The Right never gave up on the idea of turning him.”

“Hardly surprising, Sir, given the sort of people he rubbed shoulders with.”

“Nah. Trotter’s not a right-winger. He’s one of those old-fashioned lefties marooned by the tides of history. He never signed on to the whole Identity Politics thing. I recall him being described as a ‘Marshmallow Marxist” – which was pretty apt. He’s an idealist, in love with the idea of revolution, but a good enough historian to deplore the reality.”

“He had a political history of New Zealand published in 2007.”

“’No Left Turn’. I read it. A pretty decent effort. Carl Stead and David Farrar both gave it glowing reviews.”

“And that’s the thing, Sir, isn’t it? Why is this guy still flagged? He writes for an investment website and the Law Association. Not the sort of person the Service generally regards as a threat to national security.”

“Probably not. But it’s Substack, Rachel. Hard to predict how he’ll go. Trotter’s a bit of a dinosaur, but he’s far from being the only one. When people like him sign up to Substack, it’s advisable to keep an eye on how well, or badly, they’re doing.”

“1981 was a long time ago, Sir. It’s a different world now. There’s not much call for Marxists – not even of the marshmallow variety.”

“That’s true. Then again, we didn’t reckon there was much call for a whole lot of mad, bad, and dangerous ideas. But, look who’s in the White House, Rachel. My gut tells me that old white guys should never be written-off. Let me know how Trotter goes.”

“You could always become a subscriber, Sir.”

“I could, Rachel, I could. But when would I ever get time to read it? Must dash. Keep the Red Flag flying.”