Phone hacking, blagging, the widespread use of covert surveillance, harassment, and the publication of private and confidential information all reflect, to varying extents, this cultural indifference.
The Mail on Sunday said Greymans used one of the corrupt PIs to blag the man's address, but there was no suggestion that the company or Clarkson knew anything illegal may have occurred.
His prime talent was an extraordinary ability to blag the details of mobile phones, in particular the Direct Dial Number (DDN) and PIN to the voicemails of pretty much anyone his paymasters in Wapping desired.
No discussion on sun loungers would be complete without a reference to the Germans, but I would like to point out that the Italians have more cheek than the Teutonic race when it comes to blagging the best spots.
The report says that the committee chairman, John Whittingdale, visited the ICO to inspect invoices obtained during its investigation into "blagging" – the practice of impersonating someone to obtain information from official databases.
The classic corner shop sit-com is being revived this Christmas, and I'll tell you this for free (which is less than Arkwright would have charged): if my nana even thinks about trying to blag the best seat on the sofa while it's on, she's being booted straight into a beanbag.
A lot of the best one-worders have been blagged (Suicide, the Clash, the Damned etc) and there are only so many band names that can be filched from the fields of literature (the Fall, Eyeless In Gaza...), football (Kaiser Chiefs), film (? and the Mysterians, Duran Duran, post-Verve band the Shining... although no one's yet called themselves the Raging Bulls, the Long Goodbyes, On Golden Pond).
He described how his travel details had been blagged from the DVLA driving database by convicted private investigator Steve Whittamore and were then passed on to The Mail on Sunday, which ran a story about Crow being given a scooter ride during a partial Tube closure.
John Witherow confirmed that the paper "blagged" information from the bank as part of an investigation in 2000 into the then-chancellor's purchase of a flat from a company owned by the late media baron Robert Maxwell.
