UK more corrupt than it thinks

The mypaper picked a very interesting article about how corrupt the UK is though it looks clean and good in public. The choice is timely, as it seeks to expose corrupt govts hiding under the veil of legality and decency through the use of camouflage and control of the media. I will just quote some of the pertinent verses by Peter Apps, a REUTERS Analysis, below. Read them and reflect a moment on their relevance to present day context.

‘Britons love to lecture the world about integrity and the rule of law, but the News of the World phone hacking scandal has laid bare a web of collusion between money, power, media and the police.

Behind the façade of probity, London offers a haven for oligarchs and despots, a place where foreign media magnates have bought access to and influence over the govt….

In fact, it points to a bigger problem in British society – overly cosy relationships among elites that are ethically dangerous, even when they do not involve outright criminality….

“It is ….often a more sophisticated form of high level political corruption. It may not be strictly illegal – or it may be more subtle – but that does not mean it is not very costly for society or the economy,” said Dr Kaufmann, a former director of the World Bank Institute….If unchecked, “elite capture” of political systems can become “privatization of public policy”….

Transparency International published a report earlier this month titled Britain: More Corrupt than You Think, showing that the majority of people believed corruption was worsening in the country….”The long term result is likely to be a further erosion in the credibility of the British establishment, particularly the media and the police, in the eyes of the citizens.”