To think that this country is utterly corrupt?

[bingbangbing]

After the Sabinsky scandal, I can't help but think this.

This government was elected on a pack of lies, I think we all know that there will not be 40 new hospitals etc

Even before Boris took over, we had Hancock giving speeches from the HQ of Babylon.

The attacks on the media are nothing short of dictatorial- the gov is going after the BBC and has made threatening noises towards C4.

We were one of the most respected governments- the mother of all parliaments, an old and stable country. Famous for reason and restraint.

What the fuck happened?

transparency and procedure isn't the same thing as corruption. I agree that it's not good at the moment, though.

rI think quite a lot of people believed the election promises.

Really? Whenever politicians are mentioned everyone shudders and calls them liars. They routinely top polls of the least trustworthy profession. Everyone knows the joke: how can you tell when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.
Whenever anyone says "but they promised X in their manifesto" the answer is invariably "they always lie in manifestos"

So why the heck would people suddenly believe in a shit ton of new hospitals/police officers/whatever it was they promised?

Or is it a collective case of amnesia coupled with the triumph of hope over experience?

I don't buy it.

The 13 years of overspending by

@Brefugee

Or is it a collective case of amnesia coupled with the triumph of hope over experience?

I think that sums it up really.

So why the heck would people suddenly believe in a shit ton of new hospitals/police officers/whatever it was they promised?

Same reason as they believed the NHS money on the side of the bus. Brexit has become like a religion and I’d love £1 for every time I heard “Get Brexit done” during the election campaign. People are sheep. Enough for you or shall I go on typing?

Stupid People always believe election promises.

If it's any consolation I'd say Ireland is more corrupt.

It's also not really beyond expectations for a country that is now (I think) the 5th most wealthy in the world, to consider how it built up that position and pay something back to the places it exploited to get there.

The UK is one of the few country to meet the international aid target... it spends billions in many of those countries.

Another way to look at it, is the last chapter in the fall of the British Empire.

When Northern Ireland and Scotland go, it'll be complete.

They will go.

Agree ^^

Don't agree that the UK is utterly corrupt though.

When Northern Ireland and Scotland go, it'll be complete.

Wales?
Cornwall?

I think corruption is the exploition of power for personal gain. No this country is not "utterly" corrupt in the sense that you need to bribe officials.

But I do believe we have an openly corrupt - in plain sight - prime minister. It is well known that he loves a huge infrastructure project and doesn't give a shit if they don't work. Look at the garden bridge in London - tens of millions spent on something that never got built. I am sure that that money was spread around Johnson's cronies. I am also sure he didn't do that for them out of the goodness of his heart. He'll have personally profited.

Look at the things we know he has hidden or refused to acknowledge: his relationship with the American IT lady (forgotten her name), report on Russian inference in the previous election, the continuous lying. Also how many kids does he have? I don't care - but I am fairly sure he has an injunction out preventing the press from saying. Which says loads about his attitude to transparency.

Apparently the UK have started in trade talks with one country that is apparently too sensitive for the public to know about it. And parliament will be able to do very little about it once anything has been agreed. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/18/britain-sovereignty-trade-deals-mps-boris-johnson

Yes. There probably has been corruption in the past and there is in other countries, but this country is being screwed over now. The people doing are so good at this that they have got a sufficient majority of people to vote against their own interests. It baffles me that people are so blase when it is right in front of us.

Oh, so this is just another of the endless anti-Tory/ anti-Brexit/ threads.

I suppose Labour members need something to keep them occupied since the leadership contest will take another two months. Two of the three remaining in the contest, interestingly women, have confirmed that self determination is essential and of course a trans person still intact (ie has a penis) who has been sent to prison for rape and sexual abuse should be placed in a women's prison. How any actual woman could vote for either of these two is difficult to understand. Maybe they wouldn't be so enthusiastic if it was their safe space the trans person was invading.

Not well travelled are you OP?

Some people would give anything to leave their truly corrupt countries and live here for the democracy, rights, health care, education etc etc etc

How any actual woman could vote for either of these two is difficult to understand

I completely agree. That doesn’t stop me being frightened of the Johnson government and its plans.

Some people would give anything to leave their truly corrupt countries and live here for the democracy, rights, health care, education etc etc etc

That’s like saying some women would give anything to leave their wife beating partner and live with a man who was emotionally abusive. The democracy, rights and healthcare are under threat.

I completely agree with you op.
All I can hope for is independence one day, up here

I agree OP. That’s why I’m getting involved with local politics. We need more ordinary people to step into politics to bring some honesty back.

You don’t know real corruption if you think the UK government is corrupt.

Wouldn't say utterly corrupt but definately a change.

I can understand some people think it is a country of morals and reason. And in the last 100 years it was definately a much improved civilisation with strives for standards for its people and good relations with other nations but looking back was it really?
Plundered the earth long before the nazis with no respect for other nations, exploited their countries for the empire.

Kind of looks like it's going back to rule Britannia and Britannia alone.

Can we please stop saying it’s all hunky dory because other places are worse? It’s not a race to the bottom.

Can we please stop saying it’s all hunky dory because other places are worse?

I don't think anyone is. We're just answering OP's question- AIBU to think that this country is utterly corrupt?

There have been numerous posts saying exactly that. Here’s one you seem to have missed.

Some people would give anything to leave their truly corrupt countries and live here for the democracy, rights, health care, education etc etc etc

Some people would give anything to leave their truly corrupt countries and live here for the democracy, rights, health care, education etc etc etc

That doesn't say everything is fine here, just that it's better than many places.

Both sad and strangely reassuring to see that others agree that something is going very wrong with this country.

Lots of whataboutery too though.

I think there's so many people who didn't want to vote tory but wanted Brexit, and therfore voted tory, who now can't admit we're fucked..

Far easier to compare us with a more corrupt country or pretend we're not worried than call out what's happening.

I think it’s inevitable that many people disagree with you, OP. Echoes of 1930s Germany.

Don't say that Alsohuman

That's chilling.