Let’s not fool ourselves. We may not bribe, but corruption is rife in Britain | George Monbiot

Allegations of a cover-up at Scotland Yard show that the British are as prone to malfeasance as any other nation

It just doesn't compute. Almost every day the news is filled with stories that look to me like corruption. Yet on Transparency International's corruption index Britain is ranked 14th out of 177 nations, suggesting that it's one of the best-run nations on Earth. Either all but 13 countries are spectacularly corrupt or there's something wrong with the index.

Yes, it's the index. The definitions of corruption on which it draws are narrow and selective. Common practices in the rich nations that could reasonably be labelled corrupt are excluded; common practices in the poor nations are emphasised.

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Relying on the World Bank to assess corruption is like asking Vlad the Impaler for an audit of human rights

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