Yep. It's just blatant with this government. And it's not just the universities. They're doing it with schools. They're doing with the NHS. Councils even.
Politicians as a whole are known for lies, deciet and corruption. It's not limited to one specific party nor country. The visibility of corruption may change, but its presence never will.
There is a giant pile of contracts that have been scrutinised that very clearly show the absolutely incestuous nature of procurement since covid and long before too. It isn't "all politicians", it is conservative politicians in the last eleven years.
The Good Law Project is a great example of the kind of organisation that investigates this. The Guardian does good work here too. I'm surprised to say it, but even Labour are making noise about it in Parliament. This is historically unusual and a sign of the return of the Old Boys' network. It is a bad sign for democracy.
"even Labour..." - of course Labour make a noise about it, that's their job. The opposition obviously criticise at any opportunity. Your faith in organisations (the Good Law Project, The Guardian, undoubtedly big left government too) is misplaced given that they're composed of individuals, and small groups within will sieze opportunity. The Guardian journalists show plenty of bias. Clearly the tories are dodgy, but no effort is required to spot the large fly in the anti-tory ointment: Tony Blair - weapons of mass destruction, net worth up to £100m. The narrative of the left being morally superior is absurd. Politicians are low, and I look forward to tech based governance without them. /optimism
* drown them in documentation paperwork for the little money they get
* give money to private companies for free and without transparency
Corruption.