How did past societies clean up corruption? episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 9, 2026 · 5 MIN

How did past societies clean up corruption?

from History Behind the Headlines: Briefing · host History Extra

Fallout from the latest revelations relating to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continues to reverberate throughout the political world. In the UK, former prime minister Gordon Brown has called for the creation of an 'anti-corruption commission'. But how was sleaze and scandal tackled in previous centuries?    In this episode of HistoryExtra's series History Behind the Headlines: Briefing, Hannah Skoda from the University of Oxford considers some of the ways in which people set out to deal with corruption. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST  For further historical analysis of the latest breaking news, don't miss HistoryExtra's History Behind the Headlines podcast: https://play.megaphone.fm/vv4s-xn6tfmntfojkacmna And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, why not become a member of HistoryExtra for access to thousands of ad-free podcasts, hundreds of hours of video and a huge archive of articles from leading historians: https://www.historyextra.com/subscribe/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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How did past societies clean up corruption?

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