We still intend to do the odd corruption story on this re-badged site, and there are a couple of rippers at present. The Corrupt Bastards Club, or Caucus, of the Alaskan political establishment should provide some great copy for the next few weeks at least. No doubt the FBI will go into deep cover after that while they sort out the mass of evidence from their raids this week, including a raid on the State's Capitol.
I'm sure the Repubs are cringing at the tie in with another 'culture of corruption' revelation, even if it is way off in mythical Alaska.
(A series of my original articles have now been reposted atThe other story that caught my eye was out of Britain where John Christensen, of the Tax Justice Network, criticised the ranking of the world's most corrupt nations compiled annually by Transparency International.
That is something I've be know to do myself in the past. Although I admire the efforts of TI the index is merely perception and tends to cloud the reality.
Christensen cuts through that, maintaining that: Britain is high on a list of the world's most corrupt countries, along with the United States and Switzerland, because of the refuge it offers to dirty money in tax havens such as the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man.
He says Britain deserves inclusion high on any list of corrupt countries because of its "pinstripe infrastructure" of financial advisers squirrelling away money offshore and because of its reluctance to close down its tax havens.
But the major point, to my mind, is a recognition that the rich western economies are essentially corrupt, regardless of perception.
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