Clean-billed Kiwis take top spot

I don’t usually blog on a Thursday, but I thought you might be as excited as I am about the Corruption Perceptions Index 2011 which was published at a minute past midnight.  (No I did not wait up, although extra temptation was there in the form of my chocolate Advent calendar which I have started today.)  My predictions (here – although perhaps best forgotten) were pretty poor.  The new holder of the top spot for squeaky-cleanliness in the arena of corruption is New Zealand, with the Danes and Finns gnashing their teeth in joint second place.  I was right about the other end of the chart – Somalia still taking the wooden spoon, along with new entrant North Korea.  The Bribery Act did the trick for the UK, which has clambered up four spots, but the US is still on the slide.  No mention of Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar – still not enough data available on which to base a ranking (and I’m still of the opinion that those places would do well to make sure there is enough data so that they can get what would almost certainly be a high ranking).  But for today, it’s the Kiwis we must praise.