OKI DOKI

DESPITE BEING FORCED, AT GRAMMAR SCHOOL, into studying Latin for seven years, Greek for three and Sanskrit for two, I am unable to understand what on earth the population of Greece will be voting for today. The questions being posed defy intelligent attempts at understanding what the meaning of the referendum is, and then even those who vote "Yes" or "No" are not totally sure of what this decision will mean; it thus falls heavy on the limits of my tolerance to imagine that the Greeks will know what they are doing when they vote later on after they have managed to shuffle themselves out of their hovels, find and fix their dentures and go off to vote in their pyjamas and flip-flops.

IF INDEED IT MEANS ANYTHING AT ALL, now that we know that "noises off", as it is sometimes said in these circles, are 'pointing to' allowing Greece to carry on in the Eurozone even if they do not have Euro as their currency.

 

THIS IS THE MOST BIZARRE OF A SERIES of utterly bizarre 'deliberations' made by the unelected people who for some obscure reason are running Europe. As I write (03.03 GMT) I am watching a gentleman on television stating that the European Union will have to 'remove' the Greek government if the result of today's referendum does not go in the correct manner. This man is Dutch. I presume he was elected by someone at some stage in his lifetime, but I have no idea why he should be 'deliberating' on the present or future of Greece.

 

IT IS UNUSUAL FOR ME to watch the television channel Euronews, but I happened to be watching it this afternoon when the charmingly-named journalist Symela Touchtidou went about the streets of Athens chatting to people on these pressing issues.

 

SKY NEWS AND THE BBC were equally out and about, interviewing gentlemen in their late forties, defined as 'pensioners', who were sitting smoking at tables outside cafés drinking coffee and ouzo, bare-chested, complaining that the European Union had cheated them, and that the Germans should send them some more money.

PERHAPS I AM A BIT OF A SNOB, but I would like to think that a person who wants to be on television would prefer to be wearing a shirt, rather than resting a double chin on a fat beer belly, with the whole picture rubbed in oily sweat. No wonder they vote for people who promise never to wear a tie.