I retweeted a comment from an associate of mine from many years ago - chartered accountant Richard Morgan @richardDmorgan - yesterday. He said:
@RichardJMurphy. #OsitaMba. Whistleblower - on a par with snitch. New word needed for an honest person with moral compass & conscience.
He's right. Osita Mba - the HMRC 'whistleblower' clearly does not deserve that title. As Osita's wife said in response:
@RichardJMurphy hear hear! 'leak', 'mole' also negative words. Make it seem like underhand actions. shouldn't apply to#whistleblowers
She's right too.
But maybe it's just that I'm tired, but I can't think of a better term as yet.
Any suggestion?
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How about “Angle”
Shouldn’t we keep with the times and call them vuvuzelablowers?
Try Hero or Heroine.
Truth-teller…no need for any other designation.
“Truth-teller” is excellent!
To Bradleymann. As in, ‘I think Bradleymanning is essential in holding power to account,’ or ‘People are grateful to bradleymanning individuals.’ And when people are arrested and oppressed for bradleymanning, we should hold Ositambas (supportive protests) until they are released and restored to their positions.
This is an activity that the public benefit from and needs to be imbued with more nobility. hence “The public interest disclosure act” which the press soon reduced to the “whistleblowers charter”.
What about “people’s sentinel”.
Another possibility would be a “Ponting” after the former civil servant who was acquited for breaching the official secrets act and embarrasing Maggie over the sinking of the Belgrano. I was a fresh graduate trainee Inspector in the Revenue at the time and thought Clive was a hero. My more experienced colleagues hated his guts for leaking, but 12 good men and true were convinced he’d done the right thing. So has Osita Mba , I admire his courage in doing the right thing.
Phil,
Yes, I imagine the more experienced and thus the more senior one gets in the civil service the more averse one becomes to transparency and accountability. Whitehall clearly hates whistleblowers; think of Derek Pasquill, Cathy Gunner, Elizabeth Wilmhurst, not forgeting the unfortunate Dr Kelly.
Civil servants tend to send information in secret to the media under conditions of anonymity or simply by sending it off in the post just like, which implies some sort of admission of guilt. So when the damage is done, the Dept will conduct “a leak inquiry” which invarably ends up with the identification of the whistleblower who is then forced out. The peculiar thing about Mr Mba is that he identified himself both in his first petition to the NAO and his subsequent more detailed evidence to the PAC when the NAO fobbed him off. So he must have believed he has not broken the law and did not care whether HMRC found out or not. So the usual leak inquiry would appear to be unnnecessary because HMRC knows who did it. The issue now seems to be whether his claims are true and the activity in the PAC and the NAO and indeed HMRC indicate they are. This must be a tricky one for HMRC and Whitehall in general.
Tin opener What an incredible can of worms
When a crime has been commited the police appeal for witnesses. When someone refuses to fight in an immoral war they are labelled a conscientious objector. How about ‘conscientious witness’?
I admit that appeals to me, a lot
Call him nobel citizen of mother earth,
I seem to be out of line here. I also very much admire Osita Mba, not only for what he did for the clarity and presentation of his comprehensive evidence – a magnificent job.
But for me “whistle-blower” is perfect and not in the least derogatory. It’s what an honest referee does when the rules are not respected. Is he then a snitch? Not in my book. Or is it because tax cheats are secretly admired by many that whistle-blowing on them or those that turn a blind eye to them is regarded as snitching?
a Lund, after the detective of the same name…?
Exposer? Oh no that sounds sleazy.
The phrase ‘Whistleblowing’ apparently comes from when referees blow a whistle to stop play after a foul. It’s come to mean ‘snitching’ but in reality it means stopping foul play. I’m not sure you even need to disclose information that is sensitive to blow the whistle – just to put a stop to bad behaviour when you see it. Like ‘feminism’ – it’s a noble cause that became a dirty word through misuse.
So I think we should reclaim ‘whistleblowing’ rather than substituting it, and then we can all set about doing more of it! Snitching implies betraying someone – but really, who’s being betrayed in a system that obfuscates, hides and protects criminality whilst punishing people who are the real public servants? it’s not snitching, it’s whistleblowing…viva la whistle!
I’d be more worried about why anyone sees anything wrong with “whistleblower” & why they’d use the word ‘snitch’ .
To me, the use of snitch isn’t negative to the addressee but far more to the addressor, it is horribly suggestive of a public school “all good lads together” ethos. Personally, I’d be proud to ‘snitch’ in the right circumstances & if someone called me thatr it would reinforce my knowledge that I’d done the right thing.
Also from police “blowing the whistle” to alert others to lawbreaking: Which seems apt in this case.
You could do something with the idea of shining a light in dark places. can’t think of a catchy one right now though
good one, Nick. reminds me of Woodrow Wilson’s immortal words: “Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.”
Dear Richard Murphy.
“The true cost of FSA wilful blindness to corruption in UK banking sector” 30min audio interview with Ian Fraser
In both the US and EU countries, there are discussions about austerity measures that will impact the 99% but neither Congress or EU leaders and bank regulators seem willing to take measures to stop corruption or put any of the burden for problems in markets on the world’s richest 1% who are constantly speculating in the markets as they rely more on money to make money, than industry. At the end of today’s interview we hear clips from NPR and CNBC as the top tier of 1 Percenters defend themselves against an onslaught of support for The Protester, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2011. (length 1.5946 sec.)
Hang on,whistle blowing is a bit of a red herring. As a former one myself I know that it is not entirely a one way street of virtue. You are, in a sense, betraying your colleagues, and unless you are doing it as a last resort, one could question your motives. Whistle blowing is at its most valind where there are not strong independent mechanisms for complaint.
Those in power are, in the most part not afraid of whistle blowers, they can be isolated, but they do fear independent scutiny.
And there clearly weren’t such mechanisms here – since HMRC blocked information being given to parliament
How about “99%er”