Re: On LinuxToday... erm... today :)

["Ian Wright" <nospam [at] iw63.freeserve.co.uk>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen J. Turnbull <turnbull [at] sk.tsukuba.ac.jp>
To: <sheflug [at] vuw.ac.nz>
> You know, AFAIK the U.S. I.R.S. still permits companies to deduct
> outright bribes from taxable income as a "necessary and usual business
> expense" in some places (not the U.K., IIRC ;).
>
> Point being, a good businessman (and Perot is nothing if not a good
> businessman) covers all the contingencies; paying off bureaucrats
> doesn't prove anything about quality of product.

I wish I'd been aware of such possibilities when I worked there. The only
cases I know of where a council employee took a backhander (and I was in a
high enough position to hear about the inverstigation of such things) in
each case resulted in instant dismissal for the person concerned. A company
I dealt with was once foolish enough to try to send me a bottle of whisky
one christmas as I'd put a considerable amount of business their way that
year and that was intercepted and returned to them immediately with a curt
if not rude note pointing out that such 'presents' were not permitted! It
always annoyed me that when I worked in the private sector such gifts were
expected and even encouraged and that my opposite numbers in building
societies, engineering companies etc., would have lavish christmas
celebrations all provided from the gifts of happy clients. Having said that,
if public servants were allowed to behave as their equals in the private
sector, the quality of work would probably go up enormously as the biggest
problem in local government (apart from the politicians) is unrest and
apathy - a general state of depression.

Ian

--
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield  UK



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