Once upon a time, able - or at least suitable - undergraduates were recruited to the Secret Intelligence Service by a nudge and a wink from a deep undercover agent posing as a French tutor at their Oxbridge college. These days, SIS ('the organisation more commonly known as MI6') advertises its vacancies in the Economist. Wannabe 'operational officers' (the people more commonly known as spies), preselected for their faith in capital and the beneficence of markets are invited to visit www.mi6officers.co.uk. The website's nicely designed in fashionable shades of grey, and there's even a virtual BlackBerry on which you can explore the 'qualities' that Britain's spymasters are looking for ('We can't overstate the importance of a sense of personal integrity') in the people whose task it will be 'to protect the nation's security, stability and' - the clincher for Economist readers - 'prosperity'.

LRB 17 July 2008 | PDF Download