Having enjoyed many happy holidays on various Greek Islands, and having always been made to feel most welcome by the people there, I have been appalled by the latest events in what is fast becoming a Greek tragedy. The macro-economic situation is an absurdity ... whoever heard of creditors lending money so that the interest on the loans already made could be paid off. The billions of Euros lent to Greece have just as quickly left to pay off the German and other banks to save their shareholders from having to shoulder the burden of the ill-advised loans that were made in the first place.
And, as with all other situations, it is the poorest and the oldest who will suffer the most. And it was not they who borrowed the money. Greece, before very long, will suffer the pain of returning to the Third World and the shiny cars and mobile phones will be a long-distant memory for most of the population. The solution ... God alone knows.
Friends left and right have been popping out of the woodwork and it will be good to have a few days in the bubble. We travel to meet our friends Pete and Sylvi for a barbecue at a picnic site on Friday. The last time we did that I ended up with heat stroke, which is not very funny at all. Shade and plenty of water will be the order of the day. Interestingly their email to suggest this was entitled "Our Friends in the North", which was a drama series in the 1970s and a great favourite of mine. Through the magic of the little black box I was able to find the entire series to stream, and look forward to enjoying that again. The shady goings-on in the North-East of England, of John Poulson and T. Dan Smith et al, were part of my teen years and my late father was always getting telephone calls from Majorca from some shady character or other to discuss "finance".
Just typing this sitting in the shade outside Saddles in Polis, whilst Ann is at her hairdresser's, with a cool beer. Well, it would have been rude not to, wouldn't it?
Have really enjoyed reading your recent blogs Martin, truly well written and interesting. Wish I was there! What else can one say? :-)
ReplyDeleteGREECE
ReplyDeleteWell the eleventh hour settlement I predicted has not taken place although I still believe Tsipras is indulging in gamesmanship to save face. I tend to feel a bit sorry for the Greeks who have been led up the garden path by this inexperienced leader. Voted in on a bunch of promises with no substance behind them he seems intent on antagonising the very people he is negotiating with while arguing from a position of concentrated weakness.
His actions are a bit like a watered down version of Cyprus's former idiot President. Which leads me to ask why haven't the Troika or whatever they are called in Greece's case demanded a haircut as they did in Cyprus? Is stealing money held in trust for people any different in Greece?
The referendum situation is farcical. The question being asked requires a study of 2 technical documents to gain the knowledge to formulate the answer. This would be way beyond the capabilities of most citizens anywhere. To ease this problem Tsipras is recommending a "NO" vote and will resign if it is "YES". It is the most stupid referendum I have ever heard of and the game Tsipras is playing will cost the Greek people dearly.
I do sincerely hope the Cypriots who insist on flying the Greek flag over here and support Greece in so many ways will at last see sense in that Greece has never done anything for Cyprus and enosis with a country on it's knees is not desirable in any way.
While mentioning countries other than Greece I might suggest that the current Greek government which came to power by making absurd promises would be equivalent to UKIP coming to power in GB. Fortunately the GB voting system won't allow such an absurdity to happen!
So what do you think, is Tsipras leading Greece on a suicidal path?