There were many who resented Margaret Thatcher when she said, “There is no such thing as society” – not that they would not resent her if she didn’t. Even today, many politicians (without belonging to the left) repeat the buzzword with a grimace of abhorrence for its quasi-social neoliberalism.
The truth is that the coronavirus, like all viruses, is transmitted at all hours of the day, all around the world – despite initial speculation or hope – regardless of the season. It is the height of summer and Greece has more cases per day than it had in the spring.
Liberal democracy is like a bizarre fruit that matures slowly and spoils easily. The main reason is a failure to fully understand its benefits.
Whenever we received our report card from school back in my day, the last thing we cared about was the conduct grade of “excellence” we all received. We never knew anyone who received a grade of “decent.”
If it weren’t for memories of some of the darker pages of the country’s history, settling Greece’s uninhabited islands with the refugees who land on our shores would not seem like such a bad idea.
Like it or not, the world is always changing and these changes are not always fair – whatever that might mean – or what we predicted or desired. The same can be said for the real estate market.
Forty-five years after the first assassination by November 17 urban guerrillas the Greek state finally got around to organizing an event to commemorate those who were slain by men who believed that they would change the world by killing people.
“The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously,” the American politician Hubert H. Humphrey said. Neither does it oblige one to offer a platform to the speaker in question, one might add.
SYRIZA’s transformation into a “progressive” political party has stirred a lot of skepticism and debate.
The notion of a black hole’s event horizon, the point at which light cannot escape the intense gravitational pull, has long inspired awe among physicists.
It was once said that “nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you only have one idea.” The idea touted (along with other snake-oil products) by Greek Solution leader Kyriakos Velopoulos before it was rehashed by several New Democracy deputies is that Greece move migrants and refugees to deserted islands of which, to quote ND MP Konstantinos Bogdanos, “there is a very large number.”
Public concern about the increase in migrant and refugee flows is perfectly understandable, even though we all know that the only thing the people landing on Greece’s shores want is to leave.
The biggest challenge facing Greece’s new government is without a doubt managing the ongoing migration and refugee crises, and for many reasons too.
Throughout the world, opposition parties oppose. They oppose policy, point out government errors, expose their rivals, put forward proposals etc. What the main opposition in Greece does, though, is threaten.
Ministerial ambitions are the Greek education system’s biggest problem. This is evident not just in the grandiose reforms they announce every so often in order to catch the headlines, but also the fact that they all want to accomplish something other than simply educating our children.