Oh dear, this one's a little weak, but it would work...
Has anyone out there suddenly recieved a message from an friend/lover from long ago? Wanting to meet up , wanting to know what you've been doing, where you've been, and all sorts of things?
Imagine if they were acting for an intelligence agency.
What an easy way to get information from folk. They would never suspect (unless they have a cat like mine).
That might explain why Friends Reunited is suddenly valued at $100M.
BTW: We have a new code-word for the male (sorry gals) beer drinkers among us...
Instead of asking for a pint of Stella Artois (or 'Wife Beater'), just ask the barmaid for some 'MI5 with a head on it' - the ex-head of MI5 being the charming Stella Rimmington, made famous in the in the Bond Films by Judy Dench.
------ SNIP -- BOOKPAGE.COM
Rimington held that post until 1996, opening opportunities for women in actual intelligence gathering as opposed to the traditional administrative and clerical roles as characterized by Miss Moneypenny in the Ian Fleming novels.
Speaking of Bond, James Bond, Rimington was the model for the first female M, played in the movies by Judi Dench. In reality, MI5 counters domestic threats, similar to our FBI without the police powers; Bond and M would have worked with the more swaggering MI6 foreign service, the equivalent of our CIA.
Rimington followed her distinguished 30-year intelligence career with a tell-some memoir, Open Secrets, that raised plenty of eyebrows at Thames House. Her first novel, At Risk, launches a planned series featuring MI5 intelligence officer Liz Carlyle, a thoroughly modern version of Dame Rimington in her salad days.
-- END SNIP.
In the next 'Shops and Choclate', we might examine the structure of the British Intelligence Services, why 'M' is 'M', why 'Q' is 'Q' etc.
Actually it's nothing more than the first letters of the department head's (the first) surname.
But there's more. Much more.
So much more, that even the 'roots and leaves' of the wonderful Masonic MI5 building might shake a little (in laughter).
Watch this space.