Flickr/World Economic Forum. Some rights reserved.
The idea that British institutions are fair and democratic is one of the foundation stones of our self-written national mythology. Historically, we have constructed corruption as something that is exclusively a problem in developing or economically ‘primitive’ societies, rather than our own. Yet the almost daily reporting of all manner of corruption cases in our most prominent and powerful institutions is beginning to unravel the idea that the British establishment is predicated on civilized values of ‘fairness’, ‘openness’ and ‘transparency’. A seemingly endless conveyor belt of cases has shown no signs of slowing down. Indeed, if anything, it has accelerated.
In the corporate sector, Tesco’s investigation by the Groceries Code Adjudicator comes on top of current investigations by the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Reporting Council. The Mirror group is now being investigated by Scotland Yard after allegations about bribery and phone hacking that may yet exceed the depth of the News International scandal. HSBC are embroiled in yet another financial scandal, this time involving a tax avoidance scheme. Even the Bank of England is under investigation.
