Ethics in the news

I caught 5 minutes of Radio 1 Newsbeat this lunchtime. Leaving aside for a minute how Radio 1 dumbs down the news, I was struck by the fact that both items I heard centred on ethics. The first item reported the case of a professional footballer who has been put on the sex offenders register after grooming two under-age girls on the internet. Astonishingly, Hearts is backing Craig Thomson and has refused to sack him, although drinks sponsor macb has already withdrawn its support for the club as a result of his conviction. I wonder what a footballer has to do these days to get fired?

The next story concerned allegations that insurance companies are selling to personal injury lawers the contact details of customers who have made claims, so that they can be offered "no win, no fee" legal services. Since the escalation of such claims has been cited as the main reason for a 30% hike in insurance costs in the last 12 months, this is a double deceit. The reporter claimed that the insurance companies were not breaking any laws by passing on the data to a third party, so I'm off to check the small print of my insurance policy to see where they hid the clause that says I waive my rights under the Data Protection Act when I enter into a contract with them.