We welcomed Lewis Bush, photographer and author into Blackheath High School this week to deliver a Wollstonecraft Lecture entitled 'Shadows of the State'. Although the Cold War ended in 1991, its reverberations continue with Numbers Stations; shortwave radio broadcasts of coded messages believed to be intended for undercover agents.

While the height of their activity was during some of the tensest periods of the twentieth century, they continue to operate even today, transmitting their oblique messages to persons unknown. Lewis told us about his research into these Number Stations which he has recorded in his new photobook 'Shadows of the State', soon to be published. The atmosphere in the theatre was electric as Lewis explained about the difficulties of exploring the world of espionage, a world where certainty, paranoia and conspiracy collide.