2320 days ago
Today was the day that my books, a few pieces of furniture and wall hangings as well as four Belfast sinks were meant to arrive at the Greek Hovel after a van journey from Bristol, via Bulgaria. Much to my surprise the Bulgarian chap in London called yesterday and said to expect delivery this afternoon.
2772 days ago
On my new machine, the blood sugar reading this morning was 195, up from 146 the prior day. What on earth had I done wrong? I ate sensibly, I took good exercise and I only had one ouzo. It must have been the ouzo. I cursed myself. I reckon that reading is up in the high ten points old scale. Type 2 diabetes is a real bastard,
2776 days ago
I have remarked many times before on Paddy Leigh Fermor's good Greek bad Greek thesis. 99% of Greeks are generous, honest, good folks. The other 1% are such complete and utter bastards that their actions serve as a stark reminder of how incredibly good their fellow countrymen are. The lying traitor of a PM, Alex Tsipras is firmly among the 1%. So too, are more than a few taxi drivers in Athens.
2982 days ago
It is a bit off the radar screens of the mainstream media right now but life in Greece grows ever more miserable. Nothing works. The poor are getting poorer and hope has just gone. But of course PM Alex Tspiras, a man reminiscent of Tony Blair in all the worst ways, will accept none of the blame.
3086 days ago
There is no sitting on the fence from German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble. He has stated explicitly today that if the UK leaves the EU as a result of Brexit we would have no access to the single market, not even limited access like Switzerland or Norway. Does this mean that for we Brexit Tommies "ze war is over". Nope, sorry Wolfgang but whatever you say, The Great Escape is still very much on.
You see we all know
3380 days ago
I landed in Greece on Tuesday. Within 48 hours the loathsome Blair like lying snake of a PM Alex Tsipras had quit, barring a miracle we will have a second General Election in 2015 on September 20th.
The miracle is if either the second largest party New Democracy (Angela Merkel obeying Euro loons nominally conservative old style crooks) or the 3rd largest party Golden Dawn (Nazis, but sound on the Euro) can form a new Government. They can’t. So we go to the polls in a few weeks.
I have warned you many times that Syriza
3419 days ago
#Thisisacoup is trending on twitter. Greece is now ruled by the EU. Democracy means nothing. The package agreed by Alex Ephilates Tsipras will destroy hope and add to misery in Greece. There is no debt relief. The problems of Greece, for the country, its people, my friends and neighbours, are not solved but the Euro is saved (for now). For Greece, my father and I are agreed (for once), we shed a tear. The Euro may have rallied but Greece is not fixed. Just fucked. Comment and analysis on what happens next.
3420 days ago
To recap: 61% of Greeks voted Oxi (no) to a nasty bailout package last Sunday. Treacherous PM Alex "Ephialtes" Tsipras then ignored their wishes and proposed an even worse deal which 79% of Greeks oppose, according to a poll out today. And in Brussels just now it appears that Greece has agreed to an even worse package than the second Ephialtes deal which it will start implementing next week in order to get a bailout. But even this most brutal of rogerings and abject humiliations for Greece may not save it.
German leader Angela Merkel wants Greece out of the Euro for five years.
3421 days ago
61% of the people in the country that invented democracy last Sunday voted to reject an austerity deal. Five days later, the new Ephialtes, PM Alex Tsipras strong-armed the Parliament to allow him to propose an even worse deal. But it is this weekend when Greece really needs to lube up as the Germans and the Troika prepare for the final humiliating shafting.
For it is clear that as EU finance ministers meet that many of them (the Dutch, Latvians and especially the Krauts) as well as the Troika seen the new Tsipras capitulation (ooops I meant plan) only as a basis for negotiations. That is to say they want even more concessions.
3421 days ago
Last night there was no riot. Greece is capitulating but Europe is pretending that all is well. There will be another can kick on Sunday dressed up as a solution and thus no Grexit. Alex Tsipras has – as the Communists and I predicted – sold out his people but if Europe thinks it has resolved the Greek issues it is kidding itself as I explain.
3421 days ago
In the Greek Parliament the MPs are - as at 7.45 - still debating the proposal of Alex Tsipras to betray his people by suggesting a deal with the banksters that is worse than the one 61% voted Oxi to last week. As I noted earlier, the communist KKE party warned that Tsipras would sell out if he got an Oxi vote, I agreed with its analysis and it looks as if we will be vindicated. And so beneath Syntagma Square the commies are starting to gather.
3421 days ago
Last Sunday 61% of Greeks voted Oxi! In a referendum on the bailout proposals being offered to the Greeks by the banksters. They said no to a scorched earth policy of austerity without debt relief that will see more people leave, the population age, basic services crumble further and many facing no escape from abject poverty. Today, just five days later, PM Alex Tsipras, hero of the Oxi campaign, has proposed that Greece accept terms that are – if anything – worse. And there is still no debt relief on the table.
3424 days ago
I cannot imagine that the neo-commie Alex Tsipras thought that his biggest fan in the EU was UKIP leader Nigel Farage and poor Tsipras looked a little uncomfortable as Nigel lavished him with praise in the European parliament today. Tsipras does not wish to leave the Euro but Greece needs him to "lead it out with pride" as Farage rightly said.
3426 days ago
Greece voted overwhelmingly Oxi yet this morning finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has quit claiming that the banksters had made it clear that they did not wish to negotiate with him personally. Is this the start of the Syriza sell-out?
I see that Eurosceptics in Britain like Farage continue to see the Oxi vote as a vote against the Euro. It is not. Most Greeks and most Oxi voters including Prime Minister Alex Tsipras want to stay in the Euro and think that the referendum merely strengthens their mandate and their hand.
3427 days ago
I am horrified to see today’s Mail on Sunday spout complete lies about Greece. It saddens me that this paper pays folks like Liz Jones to write sensationalist crap.
We were both (apparently) at the same mass rally in Syntagma Square on Friday. I encountered nothing but calm and peace and a duck among the 50,000 crowd. I did not feel threatened for a second. Liz Jones reports Police firing stun grenades and seems to have got into a bit of a state. There might be the odd hothead everywhere but the Oxi rally was call, determined and dignified.
Liz reports that the Oxi camp want to turn their backs on the Euro and EU. I wish. The Oxi camp want to say in the Euro but believe they can do that without austerity and with debt relief. I do not think Liz has been listening to anyone here.
Liz and her colleagues report that shops are running out of food. Sorry but, overwhelmingly, that is not true. That PM Alex Tspiras
3431 days ago
Well that is it. The referendum in Greece is now certain to go ahead on Sunday says PM Alex Tsipras. If Greece of all nations can organise a campaign and vote in a week why can't we do the same in Briatin and spare us all the misery of a 4 week liefest that is the General Election?
But with the vote a certainty and Tsipras campaigning hard for Greeks to show pride and vote Oxi (no) I have booked all my tickets and will land at Athens airport by 9.30 AM in Friday and should be set up to start blogging by noon. I plan to spend Saturday shooting some poverty porn and polling day in and around Syntagma Square looking for riot porn and - I hope - a massive Oxi victory party.
So over the weekend there should be non stop blogging - as I promised earlier here - on ShareProphets.com
Enjoy!
3431 days ago
Stocks are soaring across Europe on reports that Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras has blinked, has caved and surrendered to the banksters. Is his name indeed set to join those on Traitors Wall that starts with Ephialtes and includes most thieves, sorry Greek politicians, of the past forty years? The FT reports this morning that Tsipras has written to the banksters agreeing, essentially, to all their demands in return for more money which can then be used to repay existing debts as they fall due. This, if true, is madness and treachery.
3435 days ago
High drama tonight as Greek PM Alex Tspiras has called a referendum for July 5: should Greece accept the misery of the latest proposals from the banksters or go bust? Events will move rapidly during the next eight days - we may well see the banks shut down as soon as Monday. Already there are long lines outside ATMs in Athens. Is Tsipras right to call a vote? Yes. What should my neighbours in Greece vote? No! They should vote for default and I hope that Tsipras will lead a campaign for such a vote. July 5th could be freedom day, independence day, a glorious day for the Hellenic Republic. It is time for Greece to tell the EU and the banksters where to stick it.
3436 days ago
The German Fuhrer Frau Merkel last night told Greek PM Alex Tsipras to “shut up.” Monsieur Trichet of the ECB accuses mighty Hellas of “blackmail”. And worst of all, leaders of the three main Greek opposition parties have been invited to Brussels for talks – a coup is being planned in the birthpace of democracy.
I would not have voted for Syriza, the flaky lefty coalition party headed by Tsipras but Greeks did. They rejected the two “old parties” of corruption and deceit, New Democracy and Pasok, the latter almost being entirely wiped out. The other party invited to take part in the coup is a flaky bunch of wishy washy non-entities, Potami.
It now seems very clear that if Greece defaults
3440 days ago
Once again we are told that it is 1 minute to midnight for Greece. Where have we heard that before? So who blinks? It seems to be Greek PM Alex Tsipras who is set to cave into the banksters and impose even more misery on the poor folk of Greece.
