Quo vadis?

Broken Britain vs. Greece on the brink

On the one hand, there is Greece: for two years now media have covered the crisis in Greece in an unsympathetic style, secretly blaming the South European lazy ethos for all the doom and gloom. If you watched the despicable "go Greek for a week" Channel 4 program, you know what I am talking about.

Recently however, the insightful coverage has prevailed and even more so it has uncovered the unbelievably harsh reality of living in Greece amidst this crisis.

The Guardian reports that HIV and malaria are having an eerie comeback in Greece due to the deteriorating health system.

It also reports that Athens children are too hungry to do sports.

If this is the picture of a lazy nation that got what it deserved, then I don't know what to say.

On a more positive note, global post reports on a rising grassroots movement in Greece that is aimed to tackle the failing system, and has brought some type of social synergy back to the Greek society.

It's easy to think that all of this is "far away", and does not concern us happy hard-working Northern Europeans. We pay our taxes, you say, we are not like the Greeks. But then, where did all of this come from?



Plan B protests and sings:

We've had it with you politicians
you bloody rich kids never listen
There's no such thing as broken Britain
we're just bloody broke in Britain
What needs fixing is the system
not shop windows down in Brixton
Riots on the television
you can't put us all in prison!

Oi! I said Oi!
What you looking at you little rich boy?
We're poor round here, run home and lock your door!
Don't come round here no more, you could get robbed for
real (yeah) because my manors ill
My manors ill
For real
Yeah you know my manors ill , my manors ill!

So, we really need to think about easy and shallow generalizations long and hard.
What did Greece do wrong? How can we fix it?
What did Britain do wrong? How can we fix that?

I have no answers. All I know is that this is one problem, not two and whoever thinks otherwise is simply fooling himself.

Classic

Just got a taxi to the airport (hallow Belgium) and I finally met the ultimate classic taxi-driver, Greek stylee here in Belfast.

He gave me an analysis of the financial crisis, complete with conspiracy theories about free masons and who controls the federal reserve bank in the states. It was awesome. He said people need to stop paying taxes and we need to bring those bastards down! He also said he lives in the country and grows his own vegetables because soon there will be a time when a potato will cost 100 pounds.

Priceless, I tell you!

And you know what, he could very well be right, I am not taking the piss, it's just that I haven't met such a stereotypical specimen of a taxi-driver since I lived in Greece.

And I had missed it greatly.

New old

Amazing song.
How can something so old sound so new?
Am I the only one who thinks that this sounds like a forgotten duet between Sting/Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush?

False dichotomy

My life's convictions have been shattered, suddenly on a Saturday night while watching Star Trek. I was sitting there, waiting to be bored and instead I was so so surprised that I was enjoying myself, so surprised indeed.

I was raised to believe that things are black and white in a certain way: people are either clever or stupid, not good or bad; books are either artistic or pop, not good or bad and so on and so forth. Now of course I listen to trashy music and watch shitty films and enjoy them, but I thought this was just my guilty pleasure. An old friend once told my that cheesy music is cathartic, and I believed him, but didn't ask why.

Still, I know in my bones that there is a difference between the entire current UK top 40 and "like a prayer". But how can I explain it, if my only tools are: posh vs. pop? And then it hit me that this is a false dichotomy. There is no such thing as deep vs. pop literature, everything in life is either GOOD or plain BAD.

Star trek is a pop movie, but it's a good movie.
The Carnage is not a pop movie, but it's a bad movie.

Madonna is pop but it's good pop (most of the times).
Vivaldi is not pop (well, maybe), but it's good music still.

This is the distinction in life: are you or are you not good in whatever you do? You lay the rules (of your genre), whatever they are and then you can follow them (in a good, inspired, or even profound way) or not.

If you don't follow the rules that you set, no matter how naive or simplistic they might be, then your (artistic or other) artifact will forever and always suck.

Over and out,
an enlightened Lady V

The new boring

La petite bourgeoisie, how boring really...

Don't we all know it, that the middle class sucks?

We educate ourselves to mask our working class roots.

We dress up nicely to hide our stumbled fingernails.

We speak politely to disguise our animal instincts.

Polanski's new movie, with its excellent cast and interesting (if somewhat far-fetched) script tells us, once again, what we knew all along: that people are animals, and middle class people are animals in disguise. Like the pigs walking on their back two feet and wearing clothes in the animal farm.

What I particularly disliked about the movie (apart from the fact that it was boring) was that it was so naively transparent. Its intentions were extremely clear from start to finish. This movie very simply wanted to tell us that politeness is skin deep, it disguises the true nature of man. But this was so banal, so common and so clear that I really could not even concentrate.

Quel dommage!

Gavin Hewitt@BBC

The President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has declared: "I think all Europe has now the eyes on Athens." Europe's leaders are waiting, drumming their fingers impatiently.

Yet Athens is a city of false deadlines. They are made and discarded casually. Yet again today there is an expectation that the leaders of the coalition will agree to a raft of austerity measures and so pave the way for a second Greek bailout.

The text of an agreement was finalised last night. It sets out where the extra spending cuts - amounting to 3bn euros - will fall.


Protesters see the culture of austerity as of German design
Lurking in the wings are the accountants of the troika: the IMF, the EU and the ECB. These officials are consulted at every turn; they determine whether the cuts, which will affect the lives of ordinary Greeks, will satisfy the creditors.

It is a horse trade between those who will shortly be accountable to the people at election time and those who will never have to face the voters.

The outline of a deal is clear. The largest spending cut of 1.1bn euros will most likely be in health care.

There is undoubtedly waste in the system but I visited a hospital near Piraeus two days ago that had a shortage of syringes, dressings and basic drugs. A doctor told me his salary had already been cut by 35% in the past two years and he expected a further 20% cut.

Local government funding will be reduced. There will be a 20% cut in the minimum wage but annual bonus holiday payments in the private sector may escape.

If a deal is done today - and expect some last minute haggling - it will be described as historic. The leaders of France and Germany will praise the responsibility of Greece's politicians.

In reality, like bailout mark 1, it will buy time. The spectre of a messy default in March will have been removed. There will be a huge sigh of relief in Brussels.

It is wise, however, to be cautious. Any agreement will still have to be voted on in the Greek parliament. Secondly there is the question of whether the deal will go far enough.

The IMF has insisted that Greece's debt to GDP ratio must fall to 120% of GDP by 2020. With private investors taking losses of up to 70% on their investments, Greece's debt mountain should be reduced by 100bn euros. Then there are the spending cuts.

But there might still be a shortfall - perhaps by as much as 15bn euros. Eurozone governments may be asked to fill that gap and some countries will baulk at reaching into their pockets yet again.

If all that is done - what are the prospects for the real economy in Greece? It is expected to shrink by 3% this year. Businesses are closing by the day - 65,000 have gone. Unemployment is close to 19%.

I spoke to a gold dealer. In just one store between 25 and 30 people a day come in to sell their jewellery. There are now scores of such places.

It is just one barometer of a country hurting. Greece is in recession while further cuts are being insisted on. There is a distinct possibility that the Greek economy will continue its decline upsetting all calculations. It will continue on international life support whilst money flows out of the country and the best and brightest head for Australia and Canada.

Much of the political class in Greece argue that the country has no alternative.

Either the people accept this deal or they will face the chaos of bankruptcy. A majority of Greeks accept that argument reluctantly. The risk, however, is that this deal ushers in ten years of austerity that will break Greek society.

Yesterday - in torrential rain - there was a protest against the new spending cuts. On the steps of the parliament they burned a German flag. Certainly in Greece - and perhaps in Italy and Spain too - the culture of austerity is seen as of German design.

If the bailout only delivers more pain then the blame will fall on Germany - as the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has hinted.

This week has witnessed an extraordinary sight - a German chancellor openly taking sides in a French election. She justifies this on the grounds that we are all European.

The President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy has defended her. "We have gone through such a huge crisis," he argues, that "we are looking to each other in a different way than before".

"What we are currently going through is... the Europeanisation of national political life," he added.

It is an interesting observation from an official always worth listening to although the voters - as far as I know - have expressed no interest or support for "the Europeanisation of national political life".

It underlines what some regard as the most dangerous legacy of the eurozone crisis - the sidelining of democracy at both a national and a European level.

Does she still got it?

You fucking bet she does!!!!


Madonna for president for ever (even if the new song sucks bit)....