The Two Big Election Issues The Politicians Aren’t Addressing
The tragedy unfolding off the Libya coast, where hundreds are dying every day as they try to get to Europe is impossible to solve.
We can’t say it’s an Italian problem and put our heads in the sand, as most politicians seem to be doing. Especially, as it seems most of the migrants want to get to Northern Europe and often the UK, where the jobs are.
Suppose we just said that none of these migrants would be let into the UK, as probably the Ukippers would say. How long would it be before the rest of Europe applied policies to get us to accept our fair share?
If on the other hand, we took a selective number, then this would signal to those organising the trade, that there was a good chance you may get residence in the UK.
I haven’t a clue what you do! And neither have the politicians!
I do have some sympathy though for the migrants as three hundred years ago, my two closest male lines; one Jewish and one Huguenot, were welcomed in this country, after escaping from persecution. One was probably a tailor and the other was an engraver, so all they brought was their brains and skills. I don’t know about the Huguenot, but the Jew was probably single and converted to Christianity within a few years, so he could find a lady and get married. My two close female lines are both internal migrants from Devon and Northants. London has always been a magnet for migrants, so nothing has changed.
There is also the problem of Greece going bust, which could happen before our General Election.
It could be argued that it is nothing to do with us, as we’re outside the Euro zone!
But then we have a strong economy and a country where there are a lot of Greeks.
Certainly, if I was a Greek engineer living in Athens with a cousin in London, my savings would have been long gone.
I do wonder how much of the Greek bailout money ended up safely invested outside of Greece.
So we may not lose money, but we are probably going to suffer some collateral damage. Especially, if the various financial institutions want their money back!
It will not be as serious a problem as the Libyan migrants, but where are the politicians heads on this one?
Deep in the sand!
Made In Greece
I actually bought something in Boots in Eastfield, that was made in Greece.
It was some T/Gel shampoo.
Greece’s Final Bailout?
I don’t expect so!
But they got one yesterday, as the BBC reports.
Will we ever sort Greece out?
In some ways all we’re doing with Greece, is like giving an alcoholic a bottle of Scotch a day.
Until the Greeks change their habits and accept their lifestyle will have to change, we’ll have to keep bailing them out.
In some ways, the key to a country’s future is its education system. According to this report on the BBC, the UK system ranks sixth in the world. We could obviously do better, but on looking at the full table, Greece is ranked 34.
Greek Football Team Turns To Brothels For Sponsorship
I spotted this in one of the small articles in The Times yesterday. But the only place I can find it on the web is here on a New Zealand web site.
Here’s a couple of paragraphs.
Players on a cash-strapped Greek football team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos “Villa Erotica” and “Soula’s House of History,” two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country’s sports clubs facing ruin.
Other teams have also turned to unconventional financing. One has a deal with a local funeral home and others have wooed kebab shops, a jam factory and producers of Greece’s trademark feta cheese.
But the amateur Voukefalas club – whose players include pizza delivery guys, students, waiters and a bartender – has raised eyebrows with its flamboyant sponsorship choice.
Times are obviously hard in Greece.
A Night At The Athletics
I went to see the athletics at the Olympic Park last night.
It was a gold-less night, but at least others have repaired some of damage Gordon Brown did by selling off our gold reserves too cheaply.
The Park and stadium are magnificent and hopefully will remain so, unlike Athens, Montreal and Moscow, which are the only Olympic stadia, that I’ve visited. One of the lasting memories in my mind, will be the glorious flowers. In Athens, all that’s left is weeds.
In fact this post could be titled something like Trees, Flowers, Water and Steel with a Few Sporting Events Thrown In. Only the British and perhaps the Irish, Dutch, New Zealanders and a few others would say that the legacy for the Games needs to be another park. Especially in a city like London, which is already endowed with many large and magnificent parks.
On the other and there is nothing worse in life, than tending a garden. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them!
Greeks Vent Their Fury on Microsoft
The Greeks have tried to destroy Microsoft’s offices in Athens by fire according to this article in The Register.
It would appear no-one was hurt.
The Fake Sheikh Strikes Again
With the demise of the News of the World, the fake sheikh, Mazher Mahmood, seems to have struck again for its sister paper The Sunday Times. It’s reported here on the BBC.
The Sunday Times alleges, during a two-month investigation in which reporters posed as Middle Eastern ticket touts, it found corruption involving people representing 54 separate countries.
Note the Middle Eastern ticket touts!
Obviously, these tickets weren’t distributed correctly, but then that had nothing to do with the London organisers. Yet again, Olympic rules are framed to feather the nests of members of the Olympic family.
I haven’t received my Sunday Times yet, but it will be explosive reading. They do name some of the countries on their web site and the list contains the usual suspects. The BBC reports that the Greeks actually asked for more tickets, because they had siold so many. This is from the BBC report.
Accusations include an allegation a member of the Greek Olympics Committee said he had “persuaded” Lord Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, Locog, to give Greece more tickets on the pretext demand had outstripped supply.
So did the Germans fund all of these Greeks to come to London?
I hope LOCOG trace the tickets that went to these countries and withdraw them, so that suckers will pay thousands of pounds for a worthless piece of card. There’s a fat chance of that.
After all the BBC has already exposed someone from Ukraine in this report.
Bye! Bye! Russia
I can’t say I’m sorry to see the Russians go home!
What price now that the Greeks vote for no austerity tomorrow? They will be backing on two miracles in a week.
Do Either Poland or Greece Want To Win?
This has not been the greatest game of football and I would suspect, if Russia or the Czech republic get their act together, they’ll get some points from this pair.
After all, all we’ve had here is two sendings off, a missed penalty, another which should have been given , one goal each and very little else.
There’s just four minutes left, so on current form, I suspect it’ll be one goal each at the end.
An Historical Snippet From Gyles Brandreth
Gyles Brandreth can always be relied upon to add something of note to a discussion. He has just said that the Duke of Edinburgh‘s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, was at the Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving of Queen Victoria.
She stayed in Athens during the Second World War, and this snippet, shows an insight into her character.
During the fighting in Athens, to the dismay of the British, she insisted on walking the streets distributing rations to policemen and children in contravention of the curfew order. When told that she might have been shot by a stray bullet, she replied “they tell me that you don’t hear the shot that kills you and in any case I am deaf. So, why worry about that?”
So did the Duke get his forthright character from his mother?
The Anonymous Widower 