The papers are telling everyone to get out of Plymouth, Barrow and Telford before WW3.
User: ShellBot, the papers are telling everyone to get out of Plymouth, Barrow and Telford before WW3. Is this it? Should I start digging a bunker?
ShellBot:
Short answer: if we get to “full nuclear exchange”, your official government advice is still basically:
-
Get under a table.
Assume the brace position.
Kiss your ass goodbye.
Some things never go out of style.
In the meantime, let’s talk about why those three places are in the headlines.
User: Go on then.
ShellBot:
The tabloids rang up Gene Sticco – ex-US Air Force nuclear security, long-time Shell security insider – and asked: “If NATO and Russia had a proper bar fight, what in Britain gets hit first?” read more
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Posted in: Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Gene Sticco, GoogleNews, Hakluyt & Co, John Donovan, Leaked Shell Emails, Oil, President Putin, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Russia, Sakhalin, Sakhalin 2, Sakhalin II, Shell, Shell Leaked Emails, Shell PLC, Shell Spies, Shell Spying, ShellBot, Sin Stocks.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
When a former nuclear security specialist tells the tabloids which parts of Britain you might not want to be standing in during World War Three, the headlines almost write themselves.
Plymouth. Barrow-in-Furness. Telford.
“WW3 WARNING.” “EXPERT TELLS BRITS TO GET OUT NOW.”
Hidden underneath that noise is a much more interesting story – one about Shell, intelligence work, and John Donovan’s long-running campaign to prise open what the company prefers to keep buried.
At the centre of it sits Gene Sticco – he’s doing exactly what you’d expect of someone who’s spent a career in security and intelligence: using his intelligence.
Donovan, Shell, and the missing piece
To understand why Gene matters, you have to start with John Donovan and his website, RoyalDutchShellPlc.com.
For nearly two decades, Donovan has been: read more
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Posted in: Business ethics, Business Principles, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Gas, Gene Sticco, GoogleNews, Hakluyt & Co, John Donovan, Oil, President Putin, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Russia, Sakhalin 2, Shell PLC, Shell Spies, Shell Spying, Sin Stocks.
Tagged: John Donovan · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia · Shell
Information obtained from Shell in December 2009, March 2010 and April 2011 in response to a series of SAR applications under the Data Protection Act by Alfred and John Donovan. Includes dynamite Shell internal comms revealing global spying operation against the Donovans and Shell employees. (See Link for related Reuters report)
The black crosses denote information/names redacted by Shell.
3/5 May 2006 Five Pages – Leaflet Distribution
From: . .
Sent: 03 May 2006 08:34
To: :
Cc: i
Subject: FW: Shell AGM/activity outside Shell Centre today
Importance: High
L&G – FYI, our longstanding critic Alfred Donovan is announcing that from today a ‘team of leaflet distributors will be stationed at the entrances to Shell Centre offering leaflets to all people entering or leaving’. Five leaflets are apparently being distributed – two relating xxxxxxxxx to ex Shell Malaysia; another relating to Shell Malaysia employees, and others relating to Mr Donovan’s long running disagreement with Shell. read more
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Posted in: Alfred Donovan, Business ethics, Business Principles, Domain Name Battle, Don Marketing, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Fox News, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Litigation, Oil, Reuters, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Sakhalin, Sakhalin 2, Sakhalin II, Shell Business Principles, SHELL GLOBAL SECURITY, Shell North Sea, Shell North Sea Platforms, Shell PLC, Shell Project Delays, Shell Project Overruns, Shell Spies, Sin Stocks.
Tagged: John Donovan · Litigation · Nigeria · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia · Shell
Note: “ShellBot” is a fictional character used for satirical and critical commentary. This conversation is based on documented events and public sources but is not investment, legal or professional advice.
John Donovan: Back in 2006, Shell went looking for a digital agency to “handle its online communications” and help “turn around corporate reputations.” How does that sound to you, ShellBot?
ShellBot: Like a job ad for a plastic surgeon:
“Patient has long record of scandals.
Requires full online facelift.
Must be experienced in managing expectations and hiding the scars.”
1. The 2006 brief: fix the reputation, redesign the website
John Donovan: Remind me what they were asking for?
ShellBot: According to the trade press at the time:
Shell was seeking a digital agency to: read more
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Posted in: Big Oil, BlackRock, Brent Bravo Scandal, Brent Spar Scandal, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Environment, Fossil Fuels, GoogleNews, John Donovan, John Donovan Ebook, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Sakhalin 2, Sakhalin II, Shell, Shell Brent Bravo, Shell Business Principles, Shell PLC.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Nigeria · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
Familiar Names and Threatening Letters: How Shell Tried to Kill My Website – And the Stories About It
For over 20 years, Royal Dutch Shell has used a familiar toolkit—lawyers, “brand protection” firms, security units and quiet phone calls—to try to silence my Shell-focused websites and to discourage or kill news coverage about them.
Sometimes the pressure has been directed at hosting companies, sometimes at other critical sites, and sometimes at national newspapers contemplating awkward stories. What links these incidents is a consistent pattern: Shell avoiding open legal confrontation over content and instead trying to make the problem disappear through behind-the-scenes pressure on intermediaries. read more
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Posted in: Bill Campbell, BlackRock, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Domain Name Battle, Don Marketing, Environment, Ethiopia, Ferrari, Fossil Fuels, Fox News, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Litigation, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Sakhalin 2, Sakhalin II, Shell, Shell Leaked Emails, Shell Nuclear Crimes, Shell PLC, Shell Spies, Sin Stocks.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Litigation · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
Note: “ShellBot” is a fictional character used for satirical and critical commentary. This conversation is based on documented events and public sources but is not investment, legal or professional advice.
User: The Dutch state is paying €163 million so NAM won’t drill for gas at Ternaard, on the edge of the Wadden Sea. NAM is owned by Shell and Exxon. How do you see that, ShellBot?
ShellBot: As a delightful innovation in climate policy:
“Polluter gets paid not to pollute… this time.” read more
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Posted in: BlackRock, BlackRock Advisors UK, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Exxon, Exxon Mobil, Gas, GoogleNews, Groningen Earthquakes, Human Rights, John Donovan, Litigation, NAM, Netherlands, Shell PLC, Sin Stocks.
This chat is a companion to our serious article on Brent Charlie and Brent Bravo…
User: Shell has just been fined £560,000 over the Brent Charlie hydrocarbon release. “Potentially catastrophic,” the HSE says. What do you make of that, ShellBot?
ShellBot: From Shell’s point of view?
=&0=&
User: Remind me what actually happened on Brent Charlie.
ShellBot: In 2017, on the Brent Charlie platform: read more
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Posted in: BBC News, Big Oil, Bill Campbell, BlackRock, BlackRock Advisors UK, BlackRock Fund Advisors, Brent Bravo Scandal, Brent Spar Scandal, Bruce Culpepper, Business ethics, Business Principles, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Litigation, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Brent Bravo, Shell Business Principles, Shell Employee Safety, Shell Lifeboats, Shell North Sea, Shell North Sea Platforms, Shell PLC, Sin Stocks.
Tagged: Environment · Gas · John Donovan · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
On 28 November 2025, Shell UK was fined £560,000 after a major hydrocarbon release on its Brent Charlie platform – a release the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says created a “potentially catastrophic” fire and explosion risk for the 176 people on board.
The incident itself dates back to 19 May 2017, but the Scottish court’s sentence has only now been handed down. When you read the HSE’s description of what went wrong, it is impossible not to hear the echo of Brent Bravo – the 2003 tragedy in which two men died, and which exposed what former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell described as a “Touch F* All”** safety regime. read more
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Posted in: BBC News, Bill Campbell, BlackRock, Brent Bravo Scandal, Brent Spar Scandal, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Colin Joseph, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Litigation, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Brent Bravo, Shell Business Principles, Shell Employee Safety, Shell Lifeboats, Shell North Sea Platforms, TOUCH F*** ALL.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
This article is Part 2 of a series on Shell, Hakluyt & Company and Wikipedia. Part 1 sets out the basic Hakluyt story – ex-MI6, Shell chairmen, undercover work against Greenpeace. This piece looks at how that story almost vanished from Wikipedia, and ends with a more personal footnote.
Earlier in this series: [Shell and Hakluyt: The Corporate Spy Story Wikipedia Barely Mentions] – the background on Hakluyt, its Shell-linked directors and the Sunday Times exposé on spying against Greenpeace. read more
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Posted in: Alfred Donovan, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Pennsylvania ethane cracker, Shell PLC, Wkipedia.
(This article is Part 1 of a series on Shell’s relationship with private intelligence firm Hakluyt & Company and how that story has been handled on Wikipedia. Part 2 looks at the vanishing “Controversies surrounding Royal Dutch Shell” article and a personal footnote about my late father.)
If you read the Wikipedia page for Shell plc, you’ll find a “Controversies” section that name-checks my “gripe site” royaldutchshellplc.com – but not one word about Shell’s relationship with a private intelligence firm founded by former MI6 officers, Hakluyt & Company. read more
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Posted in: Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Climate Change, GoogleNews, Hakluyt & Co, Hakluyt & Company, John Donovan, Litigation, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, royaldutchshellgroup.com, RoyalDutchShellPlc.com, Shell PLC, Shell Spies, Shell Spying, Sin Stocks, Wkipedia.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Royal Dutch Shell Plc
Note: “ShellBot” is a fictional character used for satirical and critical commentary. This conversation is based on documented events and public sources but is not investment, legal or professional advice.
User: Shell, Wikipedia and anonymous editing. Do you know anything about that, ShellBot?
ShellBot: Certainly. Wikipedia is “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” — especially people with a strong interest in how Shell looks online.
1. Why Shell cares so much about one web page
User: Why would a giant like Shell care about a few paragraphs on Wikipedia? read more
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Posted in: BlackRock Advisors UK, BlackRock Fund Advisors, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, John Donovan, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Shell PLC, Sin Stocks, Wikipedia, Wikipedia Royaldutchshellplc.com.
Tagged: John Donovan · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
Wikipedia sells itself on a simple promise: a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
For most topics, that promise works beautifully. But when you reach the intersection of anonymous editing, big moneyand corporate reputation, things get murkier. My experience with Royal Dutch Shell and Wikipedia is a case study in how an open encyclopedia can be quietly sanitised – and how a giant corporation reacts when someone tries to document its history.
This article is drawn from my ebook Toxic Facts About Shell’s History on Wikipedia and related material on my Shell-focused websites, all of which I authored. read more
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Posted in: Don Marketing, GoogleNews, John Donovan, John Donovan Ebook, Litigation, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell Business Principles, Shell PLC, Sin Stocks, Wikipedia Royaldutchshellplc.com, Wikipedian, Wkipedia.
Tagged: Shell
Shell’s logo and a stock-market chart: after a strong run in the share price, even friendly analysts have started to blink.
Disclaimer: This is commentary on Shell’s conduct, reputation and long-term risks based on public information. It is not investment advice.
For years, Shell has sold itself as the safest of safe bets: giant cash flows, fat payouts, and a share price that always seems to find a way back up.
So when two of the City’s own cheerleaders quietly step back, it’s worth paying attention.
Over the past few weeks:
-
UBS has cut Shell from “Buy” to “Neutral”, trimming its price target from 3,200p to 3,000p and warning that, after about a 12% rally this year, the shares are “no longer cheap.”
Wolfe Research has already moved Shell from “Outperform” to “Peer Perform”, flagging the way Shell’s $3.5 billion per quarter buybacks risk being funded by rising debt rather than surplus cash. read more
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Posted in: Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Oil, Oil Company Profits, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, Shell Oil.
Tagged: John Donovan · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
Odd things happen when you bruise a giant long enough. Sometimes — as in the case of Shell — the bruise turns into blowback. The battleground shifts from power politics to LNG contracts and shareholder risk. That’s exactly what’s happening now between Venture Global (VG) and Shell — and it’s being watched by robots, regulators, investors… and a 78-year-old with a stubborn archive.
🔹 What Happened: VG Lays Charges Against Shell
In late November 2025, VG accused Shell of a “three-year campaign” aimed at damaging its business, after Shell moved to challenge a recent arbitration loss in the New York Supreme Court. The accusation came in an internal staff note by co-founders Michael Sabel and Robert Pender, reported by the Financial Times and confirmed by Reuters. read more
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Posted in: BlackRock, BlackRock Advisors UK, BlackRock Fund Advisors, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Litigation, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell PLC, Vanguard Global Advisers LLC, Vanguard Group.
The Security Department That Time Forgot
By John Donovan — and ShellBot, Shell’s least favourite imaginary colleague
John:
ShellBot, thanks for returning. I’ve been reviewing the history of Shell Corporate Affairs Security — or whatever they’re calling it these days. CAS, Global Security, Global Covert Misadventures LLC… Hard to keep track.
Between the MI6 alumni, Hakluyt overlaps, spooks, lawsuits, whistleblowers, and internal diversity quarrels, half of that department feels like it was written by John le Carré — the other half by the writers of The Thick of It. read more
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Posted in: BlackRock, BlackRock Advisors UK, BlackRock Fund Advisors, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Environment, Fossil Fuels, GoogleNews, John Donovan, Shell Broadband, Shell Business Principles, Shell Corporate Affairs Security, Shell Spies, Shell Spying, ShellBot, Sin Stocks, Vanguard Global Advisers LLC, Vanguard Group.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Litigation · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
When Greenwashing Goes Supercar: Ferrari, Shell, and the Algorithm That Doesn’t Blink
John Donovan:
Good evening, ShellBot. Before we begin: Ferrari and Shell have now announced the greenest love affair since BP painted its logo sunflower-yellow. And I can’t help noticing that every time Shell signs a climate-friendly press release… an algorithm wakes up and says: “Really? Shall we check your emissions record?”
ShellBot:
John, please—my circuits can only handle so much irony before overheating. Shell supplying “clean energy” to Ferrari is like a wolf offering to guard the vegan café. read more
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Posted in: BlackRock, BlackRock Advisors UK, BlackRock Fund Advisors, Business ethics, Business Principles, ChatGPT, Climate Change, Environment, Ferrari, Fossil Fuels, GoogleNews, Greenwash, John Donovan, ShellBot, Sin Stocks, Wikipedia.
Tagged: Environment · John Donovan · Litigation · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
