Let he who be without sin cast the first stone.

It's all a question of degree, and where different ppl draw the line, from taking home an office pen, to receiving a million quid backhander.

Given a totally risk free opportunity of a big killing, I wonder just how many would be ruled by their concience, presuming of course that they have a one.

Maybe many of those whinging are simply green with envy ?

That sounds a bit like someone trying to defend the indefensible.

How loud would you scream if it were the workshy taking state money they weren't entitled to?

I'm not trying to defend anything, as I say it's all a question of degree and I doubt that many can say they haven't had a free bus ride or a handful of paper clips or whatever from work.
I read quite a bit about the fairly recent history of Spain, going back a hundred years or so, and it seems fairly obvious that corruption has been very much an accepted way of life for very much longer than just the last forty years or so and the recent property booms.
Much more so than back in the UK also.

I've never personally screamed about the workshy taking state money, however if the govt can bring in a system to improve things, then I'm all for it.

Yeah, but what springs to mind is putting their own house in order first.

As if.

I’ve often wondered why there is more corruption in one country than another. Is it something to do with their history, or religion? Looking at some of the more obviously corrupt places, is it something to do with the climate? Surely not?

Could it be the politics of a country – like communism as opposed to presbyterianism?

Maybe it’s the way taxes are collected? Who watches the collectors?

I don’t know the answer, but if I found a £50 note in the street and there was no one around I know exactly what I would do. And even if I was waterboarded, I wouldn’t give the answer on this thread.

Me I would pick that note up and Lo! A voice would come from Heaven saying "Bil, it's a late birthday present mate. Enjoy!"

And I would.

Yeah, it's theft by finding. Nice change from theft by politicians, eh?

Well I hope your son got back safely; things are milder now in many parts and the airports should be getting back to normal. The following link is a satellite picture of the snow on the UK last week

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/sh...wed-under.html

It's one thing to put a spin on expenses, concentrating on 88p bath plugs, when tens of thousands of pounds have been illegally claimed. Quite why you choose to do that I'm not sure, though I suspect you're unable to admit the UK isn't 100% perfect (no country is, but it doesn't stop the UK being a great place - London where I live has certain problems but is still a great magnet for tourists and workers the world over). But stating it was not yet scarves and hat weather, in the midst of the coldest start to UK winter recorded, and roads and airports closed, was potentially misleading and even dangerous to people flying back to the UK. At least you eventually admitted you'd seen reports of other parts of the UK suffering, and kudos for admitting your own son had been affected by the disruption. I'm well aware of micro and even macro-climates,so I'm not disputing you may have escaped much of the cold spell. But for the vast majority of folk flying back to the UK the weather and associated transport conditions were important considerations.

I prefer living in cities, but I acknowledge you're more likely to be ripped off or cheated in such places. Leave a postcard or a book or a cd by accident in a bar in Valencia or Madrid, and by the time you've remembered and gone back, it will already have "flown". The same in London or Manchester no doubt. However in a smaller city or town the greater the chance that your possessions will be kept safe for you. I remember leaving a couple of holiday gifts in a bar in Cuenca by accident - two minutes later we were shouted back in the street by a young lad who was concerned we were not going to leave the city with our mementos. And if you stay in smaller villages especially in central and northern Spain, it's extremely safe to leave your front door unlocked when you go out. Come to think of it I remember being able to do this in a Midlands town 40 years ago - not safe to do this now, although I think it still probably is the case in a lot of villages.

Nobody has denied that the majority of UK has been suffering badly, and I'd have thought it was more than obvious I was speaking of my area, and that area alone. Ditto with scarves etc, there are people here wearing them, but again speaking personally, I have yet to don all that clobber. I'm no roughy toughy, but equally I'm not an office wallah either, I'm well accustomed to being outdoors all the time, so perhaps I can stand the weather more than some others. Anyway, my son has just left to drive home, approx 100 miles, and still no problems showing here on the roads.

I say give them what they want... well the Tory ones anyway, Labour have had it all their own way for so long that its about time some others got a look in.

.....and the sad thing is, the only real thing done about it is, everything goes up in price for us all to pay for it

On a similar tone to this thread, has anybody ever wondered how long it will take before we become fully metric, and why the Uk has two systems of measurements, Notice that we measure petrol and fuel in Litres, (handy when there's a price rise don't you think?) yet other things such as beer are still in pints and roads are in miles.

Could it be it's all carefully worked out to confuse us and of course screw us for more cash?

We should demand one or the other system NOW.

Sorry for double posting but again... I enjoyed it.....

Pretty much sums it up for me.....

Funny enough i said that from the start about the hypocrisy of journalists. Having worked on Fleet St most of my life they've been filling their boots for years.

You wanna see the dodging of the story in Ireland cos they didnt want to highlight it going on here, in backhander central.