Domino

A French court is to investigate the new head of the IMF for abuse of authority as French finance minister.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14399227

Dick Dasterdly

Err, what's that saying now, about power and absolute power.......

HBG

Could any one of us safely look in the mirror and trust the face we see not to do what that powerful Frenchwoman is alleged to have done?

I have to put my hands up every time and say that I would. I don't have a moat, but if I did and could claim for someone to clean it, I would.

Like the rest of us, I raise my hands in horror and post my indignation on forums like this one when I hear of all those corruption stories, only to find the man in the mirror laughing at me next time I look.

Domino

Ah but by taking money for something you know you are not entitle is illegal then surely that is theft ? unless you are an MP when it is an accounting mistake

in this instance she would appear not to have profited just used her position to obtain the resolution of a financial dispute.

is it just the beginning of a series of stories that would blacken her name, bearing in mind the probity requirements the IMF have now put on the job.
if so started by whom?

at least you can laugh at yourself which is eminently better than having others laugh at you behind your back

HBG

Power corrupts, of course it does, and the plebs jump about complaining. I suspect that they mostly complain because their betters rightly get more bungs than they do.

On a political level that daft Dennis Skinner jumps up and down in parliament, barely able to articulate his missives, while his better, the smoothy Blair, smoothed his way into millionaire status.

It's worth a few comments to try and put the world right, before scuttling back under your stone in case they come after you.

Dick Dasterdly

Well two jags prescott and scargill did quite a bit of jumping about, weight permitting, and were hardly the most articulate guys in the world, but somehow I dont see them dying as paupers.

HBG

Two perfect examples of British political hypocrisy.

'The working class can kiss my arse.

I've got the foreman's job at last'.

I don't see too much wrong with it. If you crawl your way out of the gutter and manage to buy a Jag, surely buying another one is to be applauded.

I draw the line at Scargill, he was an enemy of our country.

Domino

AFAIK Prescott hasn't been caught with his fingers in the till, he had a few sticky moments when there was all the fuss about his NUS flat that his son was living in but to a great extent he did what we normally expect and kept fairly quiet. (was that Lady Pauline's doing ?). He also managed to weather his pants down moment for the same reason.

Scargill is effectively a communist, paid by the Russian mining union(s) big wacks of money which didnt end up where it was supposed to. Seems to think that bringing down a Tory government once wasnt enough so tried it again - failed miserable because Maggie wouldnt give way. He caused alot of good people great pain and they revered him, even now they dont think he did anything wrong over the compensation claims scandal. But he did -although all the heat is on the solicitors the NUM took monies from dead and dying men that they (NUM) werent entitled to.

Yes they have plenty stashed away but even after such a short time Prescott is "old news" and Scargill isnt even worth getting out of bed for.
Many people will probably say "Who?"

bil

Scargill a communist in the pay of Aliens.

Of course not. He was being paid off by the lizard men who were using Elvis as the go-between.

bil

The fact is that almost no-one can be trusted 100% where money is concerned. So, we accept this, and we write rules to try and keep people honest.

For this reason and that, these rules have loopholes, and those in the know, or in power exploit this to line their pockets. I see no reason why the rest of us shouldn't complain as long as we are not doing it to the same extent.

Remember.

You aren't an alcoholic as long as you don't drink more than your doctor.
You aren't a thief if you steal less than an MP.

Domino

dmu

hi from the France forum. All this business with Bernard Tapie, Crédit Lyonnais and Adidas happened years ago.
I'm fairly certain that those eligible to vote for the head of the IMF were aware of it before electing Mme Lagarde.

Dick Dasterdly

Yeh, but are such things considered to be of any real importance to the voters of France ?
The last Pres., Chirac seems to have had a dodgy record going way back long before he was first elected President.
I believe there are a few outstanding accusations against the present Pres. also.
Maybe the voters have much more important criteria to judge their leaders, such as personal popularity and the celeb factor ?

dmu

I'm not going to enter a discussion on French politics, esp. on a Spanish forum!

Dick Dasterdly

Where politicians are concerned I sometimes get the impression that for France,... read Spain.