Thursday 31 May 2012

A Man's Hands by Andrew McCallum Crawford

My story, A Man's Hands, which received an Honourable Mention in the 2012 Spilling Ink Review Flash Fiction Prize, has just been published in Spilling Ink Review issue 8. Excellent magazine published in Glasgow, featuring writers from all over the world. Do have a look.

Monday 28 May 2012

Τα τρία πιθανά σενάρια για την επόμενη ημέρα - υπάρχει λύση πουθενά;

Saturday 26 May 2012

Greece - General Election, 17th June, 2012. It's time the Greeks got their heads out of the sand.

Greece's European partners have been circling the wagons for a few days now, so the shock at British Home Secretary Theresa May's racist pronouncement on curtailing immigration wasn't as great as it might have been. However, in the developing Greek crisis, it is clear that the only country without a contingency plan is Greece.

The causes of the current mess are many and various. There's a lot of talk about corrupt politicians and banks being out of control, but the Greeks also have to shoulder some of he blame. So much for how we came to this pass. The problem is what happens now? What's the next step?

It is interesting to note May's comment that there is no evidence of increased migration at present...but it is difficult to say how it is going to develop in the coming weeks. She is referring, of course, to the forthcoming Greek general election, the second in a month, scheduled for 17th June. The Greeks are in a dilemma. Should they vote for the old guard, for New Democracy and Pasok, whose MPs have filled their pockets over the last 25 years with European money, or take a chance on Alexis Tsipras and his anti-austerity party, Syriza?

New Democracy / Pasok are selling the lie that they can renegotiate the bailout agreement when they know very well that they can't. They will impose more austerity and more taxes. The point here is that the average Greek has got nothing more to give. Salaries in some sectors have been cut to €400 a month, with more cuts on the way.

In Greece, in May, 2012, there is no minimum wage.

But New Democracy / Pasok are telling voters to suck it up, that everything will be all right.

Clearly, it won't.

Syriza, meanwhile, are flying the proud Greek flag. They say, quite rightly, that Greeks have had enough. However, Tsipras wants to tear up the bailout agreement. He believes that even if he does this the country will stay in the Euro because it would cost the EU too much to show Greece the door. And this is now the mindset of many Greeks - 'they wouldn't dare kick us out'.

It is time the Greeks, whatever their political persuasion, got their heads out of the sand.

The EU is preparing to cut Greece loose, but no Greek politican - not one - has a contingency plan if this happens. They promise 'hope', when in fact all they do is shout each other down, daily, on television 'discussion' programmes.

The politicians in Athens bark at each other like rabid dogs as the wagons of their European partners circle even more tightly. They want the Greeks out. The UK is the first to announce publicly that they want them to stay out.