Is the Merican political system a form of legalised bribery?

[Brian Peacock]

hermit is both inscrutable and incorruptible.

[Rum]

I was offered a bribe once. When I was a young social worker just out of Uni part of the job was writing court reports for young offenders.

This kid's father offered me five pounds of pork sausages to write a favourable report.

I'm saying no more about it but clearly it is proof of the current thinking here..

[laklak]

I'd have been all sorts of offended by 5 pounds of pork bangers. Now, 5 pounds of pork bangers and a pack of fags would be a different story, of course.

[Brian Peacock]

I was offered a sexual favour in lieu of a promotion once - they didn't really get how bribery is supposed to work did they? Anyway, I said I'd be happy to see a rise, but only in my wages thank you very much.

[pErvinalia]

I was offered a bribe once. When I was a young social worker just out of Uni part of the job was writing court reports for young offenders.

This kid's father offered me five pounds of pork sausages to write a favourable report.

I'm saying no more about it but clearly it is proof of the current thinking here..

five monetary pounds, or five pounds by weight? It's important, you know?

[Svartalf]

at any rate the bribe was ridiculously low... unless Rum was planning to host a large barbecue, most of the 5lbs of sausage would have rotted and been lost before he could eat them.

[Rum]

I was offered a bribe once. When I was a young social worker just out of Uni part of the job was writing court reports for young offenders.

This kid's father offered me five pounds of pork sausages to write a favourable report.

I'm saying no more about it but clearly it is proof of the current thinking here..

five monetary pounds, or five pounds by weight? It's important, you know?

The guy had just started a business making sausages with flavouring in them, a bit like today's crisps. Cheese and tomato flavour and the like. They never caught on thank goodness.

It was pounds as in weight. And I was incorruptible! The kid's offences were minor league in any case as I recall.

[Rum]

Corruption isn't always about money of course. Sometimes cronyism and power in the hands of petty ideologues with a sense that they can and should have inappropriate influence can be equally corroding.

My experience with the sausages reminds me that I went for an interview at around the same time in one of the South Wales counties. At the time South Wales was infamous for the way local councils were run. Coal was the primary industry of Welsh Valleys and at the time was in decline. But the local councils were all run by miners and union organisers and leaders - often retired and on 'expenses'. They were all heavy duty Labour - mostly on the far left and there was a general feeling that they were in each others pockets, doing each other favours and so on.

Anyway I went for a social work interview. This particular county had decided to introduce a Youth Offendig service (i.e. Probation for under 18s), which interested me at the time.

I duly went for the interview and was surprised that the panel consisted solely of Labour Councillors - four or five of them and one social work manager. This was highly unusual to begin with. What was more I later discovered that the social work manager was not allowed any questions (nor did he).

After the interview I had a bit of time with the local social work team as one did in those days. One of them told me a story about how things worked locally.

He had turned up to do an interview for a court report, just as described in my earlier post. The kid in question had dome some car thefts so it was pretty serious stuff and potentially might have meant a custodial sentence.

When he arrived at the house the father of the kid handed him a note. The note was from the head of the local council and it said that on no account was the report to recommend a custodial sentence.

I'm not sure what they guy recommended but he probably felt his job was at stake.

I was offered the job incidentally, but I turned it down.

[mistermack]

When he arrived at the house the father of the kid handed him a note. The note was from the head of the local council and it said that on no account was the report to recommend a custodial sentence.

I'm not sure what they guy recommended but he probably felt his job was at stake.

Sounds a bit iffy. If you're abusing your position in that way, would you put it in writing? The evidence would be there for a case of perverting the course of justice.

I'd have tried a bit of blackmail. I hate that kind of corruption.

[Rum]

When he arrived at the house the father of the kid handed him a note. The note was from the head of the local council and it said that on no account was the report to recommend a custodial sentence.

I'm not sure what they guy recommended but he probably felt his job was at stake.

Sounds a bit iffy. If you're abusing your position in that way, would you put it in writing? The evidence would be there for a case of perverting the course of justice.

I'd have tried a bit of blackmail. I hate that kind of corruption.

I have no idea if the story was true of course but it fits the picture of what South Wales was like at the time.