US politicians suffer scandal fall-out

The president of the United States, we are told, is "mad as hell" about the apparent collapse in corporate ethics.

Further down the pecking order, politicians are falling over themselves to seem stern and forbidding.

The current wave of economic puritanism may, cynics suggest, have much to do with Congressional elections, due in November, and a series of opinion polls showing public disapproval of white-collar crime.

But with links between politicians and big business famously close - particularly in the governing Republican party - ever more of those scandals are likely to spill over into the political arena.

As one campaigning website puts it, "Bush and his economic team promising to crack down on corporate America is like letting the fox guard the henhouse."

BBC News Online presents a basic guide to the fox's den.