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271·14 days agoI’m not British. There are many things that I admire about the United Kingdom.
This is the nation that produced Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, George Orwell, JK Rowling, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, David Attenborough. Led Zeppelin, Aldous Huxley, JRR Tolkien.
But the one thing that disturbs me is the unbelievable level of corruption.
In Britain, political parties can raise millions of pounds from one single individual. Private corporations, including foreign corporations, are allowed to give large amounts of money to political parties. Several members of the UK parliament currently work as consultants and lawyers for large corporations such as Thames Water or HSBC. This is all legal.
Compare this to France.
In France, no individual is allowed to give more than 7000 pounds to a political party. Corporations are banned from giving money to political parties. Members of parliament are all banned from having second-jobs. And if you break these rules, an independent agency (HATVP) has the power to criminally prosecute you.
Why did France pass these tough rules ? Huge corruption scandals
France had one President (Nicolas Sarkozy) sell access to his donors
When the French media revealed these scandals, the French political class was so embarrassed that it actually forced them to take action.
The British had similar corruption scandals.
David Cameron was caught selling access to Downing Street in exchange of money:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/mar/26/david-cameron-private-dinners-tory-donors
Boris Johnson was also caught selling access to Downing Street in exchange of money:
https://www.ft.com/content/8c6041ff-a223-43e9-9e45-53c3f7cf47f7
Yet the British political class did… absolutely nothing !!! No reform…
Similar scandals have led to completely different legislative outcomes.
In Britain, the rot runs deep.
On February 8th, 1943, Lepa was captured by the 7th SS Prinz Eugen Division.
She was interrogated, tortured and beaten for 3 days, but she refused to say anything.
On February 11th, they publically hanged her. She was 17 year-old.
A local photographer took several pictures. Here is another one:
https://i.ibb.co/wNLbpvBL/aaz.jpg
She was born in 1925, in the small city of Gašnica.
Today, the town built a bust in her memory:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Bista_Lepe_Radić_(Gašnica%2C_opština_Gradiška).jpg
https://seesrpska.com/en/kultura/ckud-lepa-radic-obiljezava-veliki-jubilej-15-12-2024