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This article addresses the propriety of President George Bush's, 24th December, 1992 pre‐trial pardon of former Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, an Iran/Contra defendant.

There is no more fascinating type of bedside book than the catalogue of a great private library. “Bedside book” I say: but that is hardly just, for I would willingly retire to a desert island (as all the best people appear to be prepared to do these days) with a comfortable handful of such records of greatness. These can conjure up visions for me as no other books can. I find the Abbotsford catalogue as spell‐binding as The Three Musketeers, and old Kirk‐patrick Sharpe's curious collections as intriguing as the adventures of young Waverley. Are there others who share my taste? I hope so, though I admit that it is not everyone's meat. Might I be pardoned for trying to suggest why I like this bye‐way? Bear with me while in the manner of Hill Burton I summon up a few of the famous bookmen of a former day. And pardon me again if it be found that they are all Scots.

The purpose of this paper is to explain why Singapore has succeeded in curbing corruption and to recommend three measures for enhancing South Korea’s anti-corruption strategy.

The paper compares the contextual differences between Singapore and South Korea before analysing Singapore’s effective anti-corruption strategy and identifying the weaknesses of South Korea’s anti-corruption strategy.

Singapore’s success in minimising corruption is the result of its government’s strong political will and the adequate budget, personnel and operational autonomy given to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau to enable it to enforce the anti-corruption laws impartially. To improve South Korea’s anti-corruption strategy, the Korea Anti-Corruption Agency should be established and adequately staffed and funded to investigate corruption cases. Those found guilty of corruption offences should be punished according to the law, without suspending their jail sentences or being pardoned by the president. Finally, the existing public outreach anti-corruption programmes should be evaluated to identify their weaknesses and improve their effectiveness.

This paper recommends three measures for South Korean policy-makers to improve their anti-corruption strategy by learning from Singapore’s success.

Comic genius and cosmic insight merged when Mel Brooks and Buck Henry pitted Kaos against Control in the 1960s spy send‐up Get Smart. Pardon me, is that your shoe ringing?

To ‘report’ on this year's Internepcon, 14–16 March, at the NEC, Birmingham, is going to prove more difficult than anticipated. The average journalist would report on such an event—whether as a eulogy or critique—from the standpoint of the visitor, having time to saunter up and down the aisles, amass briefcasefuls of press releases, sniff out the genuinely new products from those merely flaunting a ‘New’ label, interrogate the occasional exhibitor regarding impressions, etc. Well, I too had hoped to follow this format, anticipating the occasional lull in activity. However, as an exhibitor, I found little opportunity to ‘escape’ from the Circuit World stand—even on Wednesday when I had the assistance of a colleague to share ‘booth‐duty’ (pardon the Americanism). This surely speaks volumes for the increased success of this year's event. Numbers of visitors undoubtedly seemed to be higher than in recent years. Of course, we should compare like with like and check this year's attendance figures against the figures for the last combined Packaging and Production Show held in Brighton in 1985. Even that comparison is not entirely valid either, as this year saw for the first time the running of Semiconductor International concurrently with the combined Internepcon Show and under exactly the same roof in Hall 5.

The purpose of this article is to encourage organizations to recognize the potential risks of retaining counterproductive employees on their payrolls and the steps they should take to prevent and/or correct the situation should it exist within their organizations.

Literature examining a broader definition of the negligent retention doctrine, which includes employees who lack the qualifications for the positions they hold, those who are nonperformers, and/or those who exhibit toxic behaviours, and the consequences for retaining these counterproductive employees on the payroll. By using a multilayered approach, the article discusses the efforts organizations can use to identify potentially counterproductive employee behaviour and the steps the organizations should take to provide appropriate developmental strategies/programs to assist counterproductive employees, as well as, provide appropriate disciplinary action, as the situation dictates.

The review highlights the potential financial drain and performance threats counterproductive employees create for organizations; offers explanations as to why counterproductive employees are often allowed to stay on the payroll; and provides suggestions for preventing the selection of counterproductive employees, for providing appropriate developmental.

The article offers practical insights and suggestions to organizations that are interested in upholding their fiduciary responsibility to their stakeholders, while providing counterproductive employees opportunity to improve their performance/behaviours or to exit the organization.

The article expands the definition of the negligent retention doctrine to include the often-ignored financial and emotional dangers of retaining unfit or counterproductive employees on the payroll.

‘GIT OUT,’ he said, looking at me with an expression of not so much malevolence as positive fear. ‘I beg your pardon, old chap,’ I replied, ‘have I got your glass?’ ‘No, you ain't, but if you're one of them corroders git away from me; fair spoilt my Christmas last year, you lot did.’ ‘A corroder, what exactly do you mean? Look, have one on me and tell me all about it. Bitter, isn't it?’

Human trafficking (HT) is a local, national and international problem with a range of human rights, public health and policy implications. Victims of HT face atrocious abuses that negatively impact their health outcomes. When a state lacks protective laws, such as Safe Harbor laws, victims of HT tend to be seen as criminals. This paper aims to highlight the legal present gaps within Missouri’s anti-trafficking legislation and delineates recommendations for the legal protection of victims of HT and betterment of services needed for their reintegration and healing.

This case-study is based on a policy analysis of current Missouri’s HT laws. This analysis was conducted through examining current rankings systems created by nationally and internationally recognized non-governmental organizations as well as governmental reports. Additionally, other state’s best practice and law passage of Safe Harbor legislations were examined. The recommendations were based on human rights and public health frameworks.

Missouri is a state that has yet to upgrade its laws lately to reflect Safe Harbor laws. Constant upgrades and evaluations of current efforts are necessary to protect and address HT at the state and local levels. Public health and human rights principles can assist in the upgrading of current laws as well as other states’ best-practice and integration of protective legislation and diversion programs to both youth and adult victims of HT.

Laws are continually being updated at the state level; therefore, there might be some upgrades that have taken place after the analysis of this case study was conducted. Also, the findings and recommendations of this case study are limited to countries that are similar to the USA in terms of the state-level autonomy to pass laws independently from federal law.

If Safe Harbor laws are well designed, they have greater potential to protect, support and assist victims of HT in their process from victimization into survivorship as well as to paving the way for societal reintegration. The creation and enforcement of Safe Harbor laws is a way to ensure the decriminalization process. Additionally, this legal protection also ensures that the universal human rights of victims are protected. Consequently, these legal processes and updates could assist in creating healthier communities in the long run in the USA and around the world.

From a public health and human rights perspectives, communities in the USA and around the world cannot provide complete protection to victims of HT until their anti-trafficking laws reflect Safe Harbor laws.

This case study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is a unique analysis that dismantles the discrepancies of Missouri’s current HT laws. This work is valuable to those who create policies at the state level and advocate for the protection of victims and anti-trafficking efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate institutions of accountability in Zambia in order to understand how social networks may influence such institutions not to discharge their mandates as expected from time to time. The study equally seeks to explore how social networks may perpetuate corrupt activities and compromise the functioning of institutions of accountability.

The conceptual framework adopted in this study draws on insights from social network theory (SNT) and Bourdieu’s ideas of capital to devise a critical lens for investigating network activity and its influence on the functioning of institutions of accountability. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with respondents drawn from different institutions of accountability. Social network analysis was conducted through content analysis.

Research findings highlight the presence of networks of a corrupt nature operating within government structures and some institutions of accountability. Manifested in the form of systemic and familial archetypes, these networks appear to be championed and propelled by senior government officials like controlling officers and other actors of a political nature including ministers and presidents. Most of these corrupt activities are organised through brokerage mechanisms that interface internal and external networks.

Due to the clandestine nature of corruption activities, however, the study was unable to determine measures of centrality and density since these details were not forthcoming during interviews. Such information could only become available if willing individuals involved in corruption could be identified so that they explain who they conduct their corruption with together with the number of connections involved and the most influential individuals in those networks.

This study helps us to understand that activities of a corrupt nature are often undertaken through well-connected groups and networks that make it difficult for institutions of accountability to detect and untangle such activity. The study also suggests that accountants and other accountability actors may have forgotten that accounting is not just a technical discourse for enhancing one’s economic status but is an ethical profession as well. There is a great need to put institutions in place which should hold everyone, including the president and ministers, accountable to the Zambian people in the light of wrongdoing. Dismantling the corrupt network activities inferred from the data entails a complete top-down change in systems of politics, governance, wealth distribution and social values.

This study contributes towards filling the gap of undertaking accounting research of a critical nature focussed on African contexts (Rahaman, 2010). The paper is equally an attempt at providing empirical flesh to Laughlin’s (1991) framework on organisational transformations through complementing that framework with SNT. The study is also among the first to draw on the experiences and insights of actors working within institutions of accountability to highlight accountability challenges within an African context.