Interesting Facts

Burkina Faso translates as 'land of honest people'.   ("Burkina", can be translated as "men of integrity", while "Faso" means "fatherland". "Burkino Faso" is thus meant to be understood as "Land of upright people" or "Land of honest people" It is a landlocked country in west Africa. Around 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq miles) large. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north; Niger to the east; Benin to the southeast; Togo and Ghana to the south; and Ivory Coast to the southwest. Its capital is Ouagadougou. In 2010, its population was estimated at just under 15.75 million. It used to be called Upper Volta, but the  name was chosen by the government of Thomas Sankara, a thirty-three year old army officer who took control of the country in a 1983 coup.  Nowadays it's often referred to as simply Burkina.  Unfortunately it's recently been the source of many internet scam ema...

According to a survey by   YouGov, n early two-thirds of British voters (62 per cent) believe politicians lie "all the time. (This shows that voters aren' t that clever, as surely it's impossible for anyone to lie all the time.  It's a very depressing thought. “At length corruption, like a general flood (So long by watchful ministers withstood), Shall deluge all; and avarice, creeping on, Spread like a low-born mist, and blot the sun." Alexander Pope -  Moral Essays)

Fakelaki (Φακελάκι) is a Greek word that means "little envelope". (It usually describes a little brown envelope stuffed with cash, and used to bribe officials or other people to "expedite" service. According to Transparency International the average family in Greece pays £1,200 a year in fakelaki, which if true, is astounding to someone who has never bribed anyone to do anything (and wouldn't even know how to go about such a thing). Fakelake - it's such a harmless sounding word, kind of cute, or maybe a bit rude, but the real translation is corruption, a bribe, which is not cute at all.)

According to the mayor of Aguascalientes in Mexico, police in the city must keep family photos in their wallet as a preventative measure against corruption. (He hopes that the city's 1,600 policemen will feel "shame" when they abuse their power. Maybe when they open their wallet to put the money in it?)