More pond scum cleaned up

It's good to see yet another 'eminent' politician has been exposed as a crook. So it's goodbye, Bertie Ahern, another follower in the inglorious pickpocket Irish tradition of Charles Haughey. No doubt Ahern will get kicked up into the Crime Commission, in Brussels, but at least it's good to see he has suffered a thoroughly excellent public shaming, thus throwing all politicians into their rightful dock of constant suspicion. But here's the rub! Have you noticed that the smaller a country is (in terms of population), the more crooked the politicians seem to be?

You would have thought that "bigger" crooks would go after "bigger" countries, where there are more resources to pelf and greater powers to sell or otherwise corrupt. But it always seems to be the Australias, the Canadas, and the Irelands, where there is a greater chance of an individual tax slave rubbing shoulders with a politician, who seem more inflicted with these rats, rather than the larger "Anglo" states, such as America and Britain?

For instance, Scottish politics is full of liars, rogues, and ne'er-do-wells, whereas Scottish politicians in British Westminster politics, though equally likely to be liars, rogues, or ne'er-do-wells, seem to appear in court a lot less often.

Is this because the bigger the state, the more democracy can rein in the constant urge of politicians to reward themselves for all of their hard work in serving the rest of us?

Or is it because in bigger countries the politicians find it easier to hide their graft through greater power, lesser contact with individual tax payers, a more supine press eager to feast on juicier world news fed to them by a more influential government, and the easier opportunities to hide smaller percentages of "skim" taken off greater amounts of tax?

I'm stumped? The answer to this conundrum is simply too hard to fathom!