corruption | Pandaemonium

HOBSON’S CHOICE IN FOOTBALL’S WARS

December 27, 2023 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the war to profit from football, was published in the Observer on 24 December 2023 under the headline “A culture of greed, riddled with inequality. Global football is a mirror of our age”. Nadine Dorries or Jacob Rees-Mogg? Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk? Uefa or the European Super League? Yes, sometimes life seems like a succession of Hobson’s choices. Last week the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Uefa, which oversees European football, and the game’s […]

Categories: Sport • Tags: corruption, david conn, david goldblatt, ecj, esl, fifa, football, horst dassler, joao havelenage, michel platini, qatar world cup, saudi arabia, sepp blatter, uefa

INEQUALITY AND THE POLITICS OF DIVISION

July 20, 2021 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the violence n South Africa, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the GB News debacle) It was published on 18 July 2021, under the headline “Gross inequality stoked the violence in South Africa. It’s a warning to us all”. “It feels qualitatively different this time.” There are few people I know in South Africa who don’t think this about the carnage now engulfing the nation. Violence was institutionalised during the years of apartheid. […]

Categories: International, Justice & Liberties • Tags: anc, apartheid, corruption, covid 19, economic freedom fighters, identity politics, inequality, jacob zuma, police killings, poverty, racism, sectarianism, south africa

THE POWER NOT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ONE’S POWER

June 29, 2021 by Kenan Malik

. This essay, on Grenfell and the culture of impunity, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 27 June 2021, under the headline “From Grenfell Tower to the Met police, shirking responsibility has become endemic”. Being accountable for one’s actions seems about as fashionable these days as a foreign holiday. It is telling that Dido Harding can oversee the debacle that was the test-and-trace programme and yet still be in the running to be the next boss of NHS England; that the […]

Categories: Britain, Justice & Liberties, Politics • Tags: accountability, corruption, cressida dick, dido harding, grenfell fire, grenfell tower, kctmo

GRENFELL, CORRUPTION AND THE HOLLOWED-OUT STATE

May 4, 2021 by Kenan Malik

. This essay, on the corruption revealed by the Grenfell Inquiry, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 2 May 2021, under the headline “Grenfell is still giving up its secrets and they retain the power to shock”. It is not just the broken promise, it is also the pitilessness of it. In February, Boris Johnson told parliament, in the wake of the cladding scandal, that “no leaseholder should have to pay for the unaffordable costs of fixing defects […]

Categories: Britain, Justice & Liberties, Politics • Tags: arconic, boris johnson, building research establishment, celotex, cladding scandal, corruption, cronyism, fire safety act, flammable cladding, free market, grenfell tower, hollowed-out state, kingspan, privatisation, regulation, sleaze, state regulation, the state

A PICTURE OF HOW POWER WORKS

November 24, 2020 by Kenan Malik

This essay, on the normalisation of corruption and incompetence, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the funding of the Biden transition.) It was published on 22 November 2020, under the headline “From Grenfell to PPE, absolute power still corrupts in high places”. A cladding manufacturer allegedly fakes results to win a contract for material it knows is a deathtrap. The government sets up a system to reward companies with whom ministers have links. Almost 90% of […]

Categories: Britain, Politics • Tags: chumocracy, corruption, deregulation, george orwell, grenfell tower, national audit office, windrush scandal