Gerald Mars, a social anthropologist, has written several books on occupational crime and deviance including Cheats at Work and Workplace Crime. He is currently honorary professor at the Department of Anthropology at UCL and also works as an independent consultant. Here he talks to fellow academic Sean Carey about fiddling and fraud in the UK and elsewhere.

Why do people fiddle?

Most jobs as they are formally defined are relatively [...]

Everyone especially new US President, Barack Obama, is well aware that America's position as a global superpower depends heavily on its economic performance.

And figures last week which revealed national income dropped by an annual equivalent of six per cent in the previous quarter must be worrying not only to the US Treasury but also to the State Department.

By contrast, things are much better in China. The [...]

Veteran human rights and environmental campaigners, Pete Bouquet, 60, and Jon Castle, 57, part of the People's Navy, were arrested on their boat, Musichana, in the waters around Diego Garcia, the largest and southernmost island in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), on 8 March 2008. 

They were protesting about the forced exile by the British authorities of some 2000 people from the Chagos Archipelago between 1968 and 1971 [...]

What exactly is corporate social responsibility (CSR)?

In essence, CSR is a voluntary effort by companies to behave ethically partly in the hope that this will boost profits. For example, it can involve a range of things including philanthropy; putting policies in place which respect employees; and behaving well towards customers and suppliers. These sorts of things, so the thinking goes, will help companies deliver good returns over the long [...]

Vince Cable has attacked the "ruthless" treatment of a group of British citizens forcibly removed from their homes to clear the way for a US military base.

The Lib Dem shadow chancellor waded into the long runnning row about the treatment of the inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean ahead of the first meeting of a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

"Let’s not forget that this [...]

Dear foreign secretary,

I notice that you have been involved in a diplomatic wrangle with the Israeli government about the export of avocados, herbs and cosmetically enhancing Dead Sea mud from Jewish settlements in the West Bank which the UK considers illegal under international law.

You will have known this was coming.

What you may not have anticipated, however, was the argument put forward by Michael Freund writing [...]

On Wednesday around 30 Chagossians converged on parliament, to hear the law lords deliver their verdict on the government appeal against their right to return.

They had lived in the islands of the Chagos archipelago until the British authorities removed from their homes more than four decades ago, transporting them to Mauritius and the Seychelles in order to make way for the important US military base on the island [...]

It was 25 years ago and I was stood outside 25 Jean Baptiste Lamusse in Cassis, a slum area in Port Louis, the Mauritian capital.

I wanted to find out what had happened to the Chagossians, the descendants of African slaves and indentured Indian labourers, forced out of their home in the Chagos islands (part of the British Indian Ocean Territory) by the British authorities.

Between 1965 and [...]

I meet Olivier Bancoult, leader of the Chagos Refugee Group in Mauritius, in the lobby of the House of Lords ahead of the hearing to determine whether the Chagossians will be allowed home.

"A big day," I say by way of a greeting. "Yes, a big day and a good day. Today is my mother's 80th birthday," he replies with a smile. His mother, Rita Issou, sits on a [...]

Q. How would you assess the treatment of the Chagos islanders by successive British governments?

A. British politics on the Chagos issue have been embarrassing and shameful for more than forty years, with few concessions made and little room for real negotiations about the return of the islands to Mauritius. Robin Cook represented an exception to the generally indifferent and patronising attitude, but to no avail.

Q. Do you think [...]