A Greek tragedy

The great majority of us are going along our merry way ignoring the fact that an entire country quite close to us is imploding, creating a financial tsunami that is bound to hit our shores.

The elections in Greece were supposed to give legitimacy to a stable government that would have implemented the reforms required to save the country from financial ruin. However what actually happened was that a good number of voters, who clearly have not understood that they cannot have their cake and eat it, have given their vote to radical left-wing parties who have promised to "stand up" to the European Union.

The fiery Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, has now emerged as a king-maker, on the strength of his promise not to honour the agreement Greece made in exchange for funds to keep the country afloat. He claims he can keep the country in the Euro, while cocking a snook at the European Union and those very same countries who actually coughed up the cash that has kept Greece from total financial ruin.

Clearly, there is no way in hell that the European Union will continue funding Greece if the country does not hold up its end of the bargain. Tsipras must be seriously deluded if he believes that Greece's European neighbours will continue subsidising their profligate system.

The political system in Greece is now frozen, with talks between the parties failing miserably. The country will have to go to the polls again, with expectations being that Syriza will gain even more votes and take over the lead.  At the end of the day the only way forward will be for Greece to exit the European Union and abandon the euro - a scenario that many pundits have dubbed Drachmageddon.

Clearly, Drachmageddon is becoming less of a worst-case scenario and more of an inevitable disaster. The writing is on the wall and the Greeks are already acting to safeguard their life-savings. Last Monday it was apparent that a bank run had started, with Greeks withdrawing hundreds of millions of euros in order to protect their precious euro-denominated savings. The run has been slowly gaining ground - at the moment 0.75% of deposits are being withdrawn daily. At the end of March Greek banks held approximately 170 billion worth of deposits - of these, 800 million were withdrawn in the first three days of this week alone.

My feeling is that EU leaders are acting like ostriches, sticking their head in the sand. The fact that a Greek exit from the euro would be a disaster does not mean that it will not happen. It also does not mean that EU countries should keep throwing good money in an attempt to avoid the inevitable.

There is no doubt that kicking Greece out of the Euro will damage Europe's economy - however at this point we are damned if they are in and damned if they are out. Unfortunately, my feeling is that the only way forward is to amputate the gangrenous limb in order to save the rest of the body.

According to many economists, the damage is already too widely spread to contain - so the powers that be had better hurry up, before the situation gets worse and Greece pulls the rest of us down the plughole with it!

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What is it with the Maltese? The government gets many things wrong but why do we have to complain all the time - even when the initiatives taken are positive and should be lauded?

I am talking about the national vaccination campaign against cervical cancer, where girls who turn 12 will be inoculated against HPV, which is one of the main causes of cervical cancer.

In typical Maltese gemgem fashion the announcement resulted in a wave of criticism by a crowd of misogynists who seem to be living in some parallel universe where women who get an STD are all whores and deserve everything they get.

I will quote some of the comments that flooded the boards after the announcement was made:

"If young women wish to be promiscuous let them face the potential consequences without relying upon public funds. Surely it is for their parents to teach them about abstinence. Or, in the alternative, is there a covert policy amongst a minority to fill the world with those who adhere to certain persuasions."

"Women should not sleep around if they want to avoid cervical cancer. It is classified as an STD."

"I would not give my consent for my daughters be given this vaccination. It is like telling them its all right to be promiscuous."(sic)

"Simple I guess... if your girl wants to sleep around cough up the money and get her vaccinated. If you do not want to pay for the virus, tell your girl not sleep around. No need for rocket science i guess."(sic)

Well, there you have it. According to several Maltese men, women who are infected with HPV and subsequently get cervical cancer are promiscuous and do not deserve protection. It does not seem to enter their feeble little minds that a woman who has only had one partner and who has been faithful to him all her life can still get an STD if he is sleeping around.

Furthermore I do not understand their reasoning when it comes to women who have more than one sexual partner. Are they implying that a woman deserves to die if she sleeps around? Seriously?

I give up.