In some countries every aspect of life is corrupt. The policeman has to be bribed not to impose a penalty for some minor misdemeanor, real or invented. To obtain a license to buy or sell the palms of numerous bureaucrats have to be smoothed by gifts. To get a plea heard in court officials must be induced to allow the case to be presented and the judge must be "helped" to favor the petitioner. Appointments and promotions have to be "bought" at all levels. Contracts must be won by giving a cut to those in a position to determine the winner. Political parties and politicians must be won over by donations and lavish entertainment.
In countries where honest men and women and a free press have been effective corruption is generally suppressed and when discovered exposed. But while a society from which corruption had been totally eradicated is the ideal, greed is such a prevalent human failing that such a society exists only in the utopia of our imagination.
British people generally believe that their society is one of the least corrupt, but there are no grounds for complacency. The police and the press should be among the main instruments preventing the spread of corruption, but the recent public inquiry into press standards has revealed worrying signs of corrupt relationships between the police and the media.