I have mentioned corruption this morning. If you are interested in the video linked in this piece from the International Bar Association is well worth watching.
The video cannot be embedded, so you have to go here to get it.
Medics, I know, share this view that this country has now been corrupted.
I am not at all sure that the political left, or Labour, does.
And nor have I seen it said by accountants or economists. I wish I knew why not.
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Hi Richard
I’m an accountant and I share the view
C’mon Richard.
Why so coy?
You know why?
These professions have been bought by the financial system.
As my soon to ‘qualify to be an accountant’ partner said to me the other day, ‘There’s a lot of money to be made out of those with a lot of money and who want to keep it’.
It’s ethical blindness in the pursuit of a cut. That’s all.
Not listed above, but it includes a contribution from Michael Howard too. I agree, the video is well worth watching.
The IBA usually campaigns against corruption, threats to lawyers, and more general threats to the rule of law, in places such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Belarus, and Hong Kong. Rather sobering that it now feels the need to highlight threats to the rule of law in the UK.
Quite so
Howard was a bit of a line voice, but still not agreeing with the government
Lawyers and doctors have long-established professional standards and codes of conduct. Accountants are held to much lower standards. I don’t think academics have any ethical standards at all, and certainly no professional body. Politicians appeal to the box office, sorry ballot box, for support, rather than any independent standards. Professional politician is a term of abuse. That’s it, really.
I watched this video in full, thank you for posting it. Whereas I agree with the proposition that there is prima facie evidence the COVID procurement process is corrupt, I did not hear anything in the video that supported your headline claim that “lawyers understand that this country is corrupt”.
What I heard was a well argued discussion that this country is based on democracy and the rule of law. The internal market bill violates that rule. In particular UK government law officers, attorney general and lord chancellor are violating their oaths to uphold the rule of law by allowing the bill to come forward. The tree of liberty needs to be watered by the blood of martyrs from time to time and these persons should be doing the correct thing as their Scottish counterparts have done. Metaphorically of course. There are a series of checks and balances in place to stop this and they are in play. Let’s see how it turns out. I do not doubt the venal Johnson will bluster as far as he can.
Lord Neuberger made the important point that corruption once entrenched cannot easily be reversed but it seems to me that your headline is overdone if based purely on these comments.
Many will say that the U.K. has always been more corrupt than most places using manipulation of the rule of law to hide that fact. The treatment of Julian Assange, Alex Salmond and Craig Murray would certainly support that. Your argument would be stronger if you headlined these abuses to support your claims. The fact is that across the spectrum of our national life lazy and greedy politicians are tired of the encumbrance of the rule of law and free speech.
My interpretation follows David Neuberger quite closely, I think
Plus Jessica Simor