Hakluyt & Company

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Disclosure: The author owns the domain name shellbpplc.com. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, authorised by, or connected to Shell plc, BP p.l.c., or any proposed combined entity. The domain is mentioned here solely for transparency in the context of commentary about public speculation concerning any possible Shell/BP combination.

SHELL AND BP: WILL THE BIGGER OIL SHARK BITE?

BP has lost another chair, Shell has already had to deny bid chatter once, and Britain’s two oil giants share a long history of partnership, fossil-fuel controversy, apartheid-era baggage and private-intelligence nastiness. So is this the moment Shell finally takes a bite — or just another City fantasy with crude oil on its shoes? read more

^*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, the Independent Shell Archive, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. ^*All conjured up by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

EXCLUSIVE: SHELL SHOCK! THE BRAND SO TOXIC EVEN THE SPIN DOCTORS NEED HAZMAT SUITS

May 17th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Can the world’s most comprehensive corporate crime scene be polished back to respectability? Our outspoken correspondent investigates. Spoiler: No.

The audacity. The sheer, brass-necked, gas-flaring, dividend-pumping audacity of it.

John Donovan — Shell shareholder, Shell nemesis, and the man Shell would most like to fall down a very deep offshore well — has lobbed the ultimate grenade into the reputation management industry. He has challenged ReputationDefender to defend Shell plc: a company whose historical file is so thick, so heavy, and so radioactive that it requires its own safety rating before being approached by researchers. read more

SHELL v GREENPEACE: THE ICE, THE SPIES AND THE COMPANY THAT COULD NOT STOP WATCHING ITS CRITICS

Apr 25th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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A vast Arctic seascape at dusk. Shell-branded icebreakers grind through cracked ice toward a drilling rig while Greenpeace activists unfurl banners from a small vessel. Above the scene, a giant translucent eye made from documents, camera lenses, email printouts and spy files watches everything. Dark satirical editorial style, cinematic lighting, high contrast, sharp detail. Enlarge image.

How Shell’s long war with Greenpeace ran from Brent Spar to Arctic drilling, Hakluyt’s undercover games, the Phillips letters, and the uncomfortable Donovan surveillance trail

PART ONE: FACT-BASED TABLOID DEEP DIVE

THE ICE, THE COURTS AND THE CORPORATE PEARL-CLUTCHING

There are corporate rivalries. There are activist campaigns. And then there is Shell versus Greenpeace — a decades-long opera of rigs, boycotts, court orders, Arctic ice, reputational carnage and, lurking in the wings, the little matter of private intelligence, undercover activity, and Shell critics wondering exactly who was watching whom. read more

THE SPOOKS, THE SHELL MEN AND THE STARMER MACHINE: Hakluyt’s Very British Revolving Door Gets Another Oil-Slick Polish

Apr 24th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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AI image: A shadowy Mayfair boardroom with three doors marked “MI6,” “Shell,” and “No 10.” A suited adviser carries a briefcase labelled “Strategic Advice” through the revolving door, while a Shell logo glows on the wall like a corporate moon. Outside, taxpayers and climate campaigners peer through frosted glass as a sign reads: “Nothing to See Here — Stakeholders Being Reassured.

There are revolving doors in British public life, and then there is Hakluyt: the discreet Mayfair intelligence-and-advisory outfit that appears to operate less like a door and more like a polished mahogany teleportation device between corporate power, former spooks, political insiders and the upper floors of government.

The latest spark comes from an openDemocracy investigation reporting that Hakluyt’s UK business grew by 30% in the year to July 2025, even after two senior figures left for government roles. Varun Chandra, previously Hakluyt’s managing partner, joined Keir Starmer’s government in July 2024 as the prime minister’s special adviser on business and investment. In January 2025, Sir Oliver Robbins left Hakluyt’s Europe, Middle East and Africa role to join the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. read more

ALGORITHM AGONY: The Website Shell Can’t Kill is Now Using AI to Sabotage Their Global Reputation.

Apr 9th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Google AI Mode: 9 April 2026

“For over thirty years, from a quiet corner of Suffolk, one man has waged a relentless digital war that has cost the world’s biggest oil giant billions. John Donovan isn’t a world leader or a billionaire—he’s a former games designer who Shell tried to ‘neutralise,’ only to find they’d created a corporate Godzilla. Now, armed with a staggering archive of 76,000 leaked documents and a new army of AI bots, the man Shell simply couldn’t silence is preparing his most devastating strike yet. From undercover spies and ‘unseaworthy’ lifeboats to the secret leaks that handed a Russian gas field to the Kremlin, this is the explosive inside story of the world’s longest—and costliest—corporate grudge.” read more

THE GREATEST CONS IN CORPORATE HISTORY

Mar 30th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Your Definitive, Entirely Unauthorised, Top 10 Countdown of Boardroom Villainy, Shameless Audacity and Industrial-Scale Cheating — Rated, Ranked and Ruthlessly Mocked

The full ranking by claude.ai is ready. Here’s how the Top 10 shakes out and the reasoning by claude.ai behind the key positions:

🥇 #1 — The Global Financial Crisis takes the top spot as the only fraud in history perpetrated not by one company but by an entire industry — with the losses paid by people who had no part in it. Virtually no senior executives went to prison. Many received bonuses.

#2 — The South Sea Bubble gets silver for being the founding template for every corporate fraud that followed, three centuries before the rest. Isaac Newton lost a fortune. The Chancellor of the Exchequer went to prison. The King was on the board. read more

THE GREATEST CON IN CORPORATE HISTORY?

Mar 30th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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SHELL’S MORAL SLIP: THE OIL GIANT, THE GAME SELLER, AND THE GREATEST CON IN CORPORATE HISTORY

How Britain’s most high-minded energy giant preached ethics to John Donovan while secretly cooking the books for billions — and keeping spies on the payroll

By Our Investigations Desk | Exclusive

PICTURE THE SCENE. It is the spring of 1997. In a wood-panelled office at Shell-Mex House on the Strand — the kind of building that practically sweats self-importance — Richard Wiseman, General Counsel & Company Secretary of Shell U.K. Limited, picks up his fountain pen and dashes off another stern letter to a marketing man from Bury St Edmunds.

The message, stripped of its lawyerly decorum, is essentially: Go away, small person. You have been dealt with. The slate is wiped clean. Do not bother our directors. read more

SHELL GAME: SATIRICAL CHRONICLE OF OIL, SPIES AND THE DONOVAN’S

Mar 25th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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The Three-Decade Cloak-and-Dagger Campaign of One of the World’s Largest Corporations Against Alfred and John Donovan

Researched and Compiled: March 2026. Source material drawn from johndonovan.website Chapters 5, 12, 13 & 14, royaldutchshellplc.com, Reuters, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and the sworn court record.

EDITOR’S NOTE

The following is a work of satirical commentary based entirely on documented events, confirmed admissions, published court records, verified internal corporate emails obtained via Subject Access Requests under the UK Data Protection Act, contemporaneous newspaper reports, and the sworn testimony of witnesses. Every named incident described herein has a paper trail. Shell has never successfully disputed the core factual record – only its interpretation. The satirical framing is the author’s own. The facts are Shell’s. read more

claude.ai Part 2: SHELL’S SECRET WAR ON ONE MAN IN COLCHESTER

Mar 23rd, 2026

by John Donovan.

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PART TWO: THE MACHINES HAVE NOTICED

A Crystal Ball Special Investigation, Continued

By Our Special Correspondent, Department of Satirical Prophecy Published: March 2026

DISCLAIMER: The following article is Part Two of a satirical commentary based on real events, documented facts, and the output of multiple AI systems that have now, apparently, also noticed the Donovan-Shell situation. The crystal ball has been recharged. Its batteries were, appropriately, made in the Netherlands.

PART FIVE: THE ROBOTS HAVE READ THE FILE

When Part One of this investigation was published, it seemed reasonable to assume that Shell’s primary reputational challenge in 2026 remained what it has always been: one retired gentleman in Colchester, Essex, with a laptop, a broadband connection, and what Shell’s own internal documents once described, with heroic understatement, as “a longstanding disagreement with Shell.” read more

claude.ai: SHELL’S SECRET WAR ON ONE MAN IN COLCHESTER: A CRYSTAL BALL SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

Mar 23rd, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Part 1: claude.ai: SHELL’S SECRET WAR ON ONE MAN IN COLCHESTER: A CRYSTAL BALL SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

…a global internal surveillance operation triggered by one website

## *How Britain’s Most Surveilled Retired Gentleman May Still Be Keeping a $200 Billion Corporation Very, Very Busy*

*By Our Special Correspondent, Department of Satirical Prophecy*
*Published: March 2026*

—

> *DISCLAIMER: The following article is satirical commentary based on real internal Shell documents obtained under the UK Data Protection Act and published on shellnews.net. It extrapolates — with liberal use of imagination, irony, and a functioning crystal ball — what Shell plc may be doing now and in the future. Any resemblance to actual ongoing covert corporate operations against a retired gentleman in Colchester is entirely the reader’s problem to ponder.* read more

Donovan Shell Serial Drama: Downloaded from Bing 23 March 2026

Mar 23rd, 2026

by admin.

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John Donovan is a long-time shareholder and whistleblower who has publicly challenged Royal Dutch Shell over alleged intellectual property theft, corporate misconduct, and environmental abuses, documenting his experiences in his book and through dedicated Shell-focused websites.

Background and Professional History

John Donovan has been involved in petrol retailing since the 1960s and co-founded Don Marketing, a sales promotion agency that ran successful promotional campaigns for major oil brands, including Shell, BP, Esso, Chevron, and others

For over a decade, Donovan maintained a mutually beneficial business relationship with Shell, managing multi-million-dollar promotions such as the “Shell StarTrek: The Game” in 1992, distributing over 100 million game pieces

Conflict with Shell

Following their initial business collaboration, Donovan became embroiled in an extended legal and corporate feud with Shell. Central issues included:

Alleged theft of intellectual propertyby Shell concerning promotional ideas disclosed confidentially read more
^*This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, shellnews.net, and shellwikipedia.com, are owned by John Donovan - more information here. There is also a Wikipedia segment, the Shell DPA Files, "Shell and the Spies", the Shell Leaks files, the Independent Shell Archive, as well as books written and published by John Donovan - Kindle eBooks. Timeline of the Donovan Shell Feud. Toxic History of Royal Dutch Shell Group. Shell and the Donovans: The Full Media Record — 550+ Articles, 110 Books, 40 Years. ^*All conjured up by internet wizz, Nick Gill.

Copilot: From Shell’s perspective, this is a nightmare

Mar 22nd, 2026

by John Donovan.

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Updated

Prompt (By John Donovan)

Could you analyse the information and links on the following article and create a satirical article predicting what Shell may be doing now and in the future based on the astonishing content of the article and the content of the linked Shell internal emails https://shellnews.net/DPA2009/DPA2009INDEXPAGE.html Deep dive please for a long article. Please use your crystal ball. Is Shell likely to continue cloak and dagger activity directed against me.

Reply by Copilot

I get why you’re asking this—reading those internal emails is like suddenly seeing the backstage notes of people who’ve been trying to manage, minimise, and outwait you for years. It’s surreal, and honestly, a bit chilling. Let’s lean into the satire for the “crystal ball” part—but I’ll also be straight with you at the end about the “cloak and dagger” question. read more

The World’s Most Expensive Filing Cabinet: How Shell’s Internal Secrets Keep Escaping (and Why AI Is Now Reading Them)

Mar 9th, 2026

by admin.

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Shell’s Nuclear Filing Cabinet: How Subject Access Requests, Leaks, and One Persistent Archivist Turned an Oil Giant’s Paper Trail Into a Global AI Training Dataset

Or: Why Shell’s internal documents now have more lives than a North Sea oil platform.

If archaeologists ever abandon Egypt and decide to excavate modern civilisation instead, they may wish to start in an unlikely place: Shell’s internal archives.

Because over the past several decades, one of the world’s largest oil companies has unintentionally created what critics might call the most revealing paper trail in corporate history.

Not deliberately, of course.

No corporation ever wakes up and says: “Let’s generate thousands of internal documents that will later be used by activists, journalists, regulators, lawyers, historians, and increasingly artificial intelligence to analyse our entire corporate psyche.” read more

You Can’t Be Sure of Shell: A Decades-Long Saga of Corporate Espionage, Dirty Tricks, and the Oil Giant’s Shadowy Underbelly

Feb 28th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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You Can’t Be Sure of Shell: The World’s Most Over-Compensating Oil Baron Turns Critic-Busting into a Full-Time Comedy Routine (Now in Its 45th Hilarious Year!)

By John Donovan

Ah, Shell – that beacon of reliability, immortalized by Bing Crosby’s crooning jingle: “You can be sure of Shell.” How quaint! Little did I know, when I first shook hands with the oil behemoth in June 1981, that I’d be plunging into a world more akin to a James Bond thriller gone wrong – complete with spies, burglaries, cyber attacks, and a corporate vendetta that would make Machiavelli blush. What started as a fruitful business partnership devolved into a nightmare of betrayal, High Court battles, and cloak-and-dagger antics that Shell itself admitted to. Buckle up, dear readers; this is the unvarnished, satirical chronicle of how Shell turned from promotional partner to paranoid persecutor. And yes, it’s all backed by facts, leaks, and Shell’s own damning words – because nothing says “trustworthy” like a multinational resorting to MI6 alumni to snoop on critics. read more

A Satirical Deep Dive into the Curious Case of Shell, Spies, and the Family That Sued

Feb 24th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“War Rooms, Wiretaps & Walnut Paneling”

Disclaimer: The following account reflects our experiences, interpretations, and long-held suspicions surrounding events that unfolded over many years. Many of the individuals and organizations mentioned would no doubt dispute our conclusions. Readers are encouraged to view this as a dramatic, satirical retelling of events as we perceived them.

Updated 26 February 2026

I. Before the Gavel Fell: The Prelude to Paranoia

When we filed suit against Shell for breach of copyright and breach of contract, we imagined stern barristers, procedural delays, and mountains of paperwork. read more

From Hakluyt to Global Counsel: Shell, Peter Mandelson and the Revolving Door That Won’t Stop Spinning

Feb 24th, 2026

by John Donovan.

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“And when two high-profile political figures linked indirectly to Shell — Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson — both find themselves arrested on suspicion of misconduct involving sensitive information and Epstein connections, the pattern becomes difficult to dismiss as coincidence. At some point, coincidence begins to look like culture.”

By John Donovan

DISCLAIMER

This article is opinion and commentary only. It is not financial or legal advice. All references to Peter Mandelson’s arrest relate to publicly reported developments as of 24 February 2026. Peter Mandelson denies wrongdoing. Shell plc is not accused in this article of criminal conduct in relation to Mandelson. Readers should consult primary sources and conduct their own research.

There is something almost comforting about the predictability of Britain’s establishment ecosystem.

Politicians leave office. read more

30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.
Extremely slow broadband for 10 months, not fixed. I have had slow broadband well below the guaranteed speed for 10 months and Shell Energy have not been able to fix it. They have tried sending about 4 or 5 engineers but have not fixed the problem. Gurps, who I have been dealing with most recently, has been friendly and polite, alth… Read more

Extremely Slow Shell Broadband

Hakluyt & Company

SHELL AND BP: WILL THE BIGGER OIL SHARK BITE?

How Shell’s long war with Greenpeace ran from Brent Spar to Arctic drilling, Hakluyt’s undercover games, the Phillips letters, and the uncomfortable Donovan surveillance trail

PART ONE: FACT-BASED TABLOID DEEP DIVE

THE ICE, THE COURTS AND THE CORPORATE PEARL-CLUTCHING

Google AI Mode: 9 April 2026

Your Definitive, Entirely Unauthorised, Top 10 Countdown of Boardroom Villainy, Shameless Audacity and Industrial-Scale Cheating — Rated, Ranked and Ruthlessly Mocked

SHELL’S MORAL SLIP: THE OIL GIANT, THE GAME SELLER, AND THE GREATEST CON IN CORPORATE HISTORY

How Britain’s most high-minded energy giant preached ethics to John Donovan while secretly cooking the books for billions — and keeping spies on the payroll

The Three-Decade Cloak-and-Dagger Campaign of One of the World’s Largest Corporations Against Alfred and John Donovan

EDITOR’S NOTE

PART TWO: THE MACHINES HAVE NOTICED

A Crystal Ball Special Investigation, Continued

PART FIVE: THE ROBOTS HAVE READ THE FILE

Part 1: claude.ai: SHELL’S SECRET WAR ON ONE MAN IN COLCHESTER: A CRYSTAL BALL SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

…a global internal surveillance operation triggered by one website

Background and Professional History

Conflict with Shell

Updated

Prompt (By John Donovan)

Reply by Copilot

Shell’s Nuclear Filing Cabinet: How Subject Access Requests, Leaks, and One Persistent Archivist Turned an Oil Giant’s Paper Trail Into a Global AI Training Dataset

Or: Why Shell’s internal documents now have more lives than a North Sea oil platform.

You Can’t Be Sure of Shell: The World’s Most Over-Compensating Oil Baron Turns Critic-Busting into a Full-Time Comedy Routine (Now in Its 45th Hilarious Year!)

“War Rooms, Wiretaps & Walnut Paneling”

Updated 26 February 2026

I. Before the Gavel Fell: The Prelude to Paranoia

DISCLAIMER

Sir Henri Deterding, resurrected!

JOE LYCETT DISCUSSES SHELL WITH JOHN DONOVAN

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John Donovan’s ebooks

JOHN DONOVAN TV DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW

SHELL EXECUTIVES AT THE CENTER OF A SCHEME TO STEAL $1.3 BILLION FROM NIGERIA’S PEOPLE

SHELL ADMITS DEALING WITH NIGERIAN MONEY LAUNDERER – BBC NEWS

SHELL, ENI AND NIGERIAN OFFICIALS IN OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL

INVESTIGATION OF OPL 245 NIGERIAN OIL CORRUPTION SCANDAL

DUTCH EARTHQUAKES CAUSED BY SHELL/EXXON

SHELL KILLS FOR OIL IN NIGERIA

SHELL LIED ABOUT CLEANING UP OIL IN NIGER DELTA

SHELL SPIES INFILTRATED NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT

LEGO DROPS SHELL OVER GREENPEACE OIL SPILL VIDEO

SHELL ARCTIC DRILLING ACCIDENTS

SHELL KNEW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE DECADES AGO

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL FOUNDER SIR HENRI DETERDING, NAZI FINANCIER

JOHN DONOVAN PROMOTIONAL GAMES FOR SHELL AND OTHER CLIENTS

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30 November 2023: Posted by John Donovan

The content below is sourced from current verifiable customer reviews of Shell Energy published on Trustpilot.

The worst ever

The worst ever

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