Paschos Mandravelis

At this moment, thousands of farmers are committing multiple offenses. They are violating traffic laws (the circulation of agricultural vehicles is

With the exception of natural disasters, the “events” that the late British prime minister Harold Macmillan feared rarely occur suddenly. They are prepared quietly and slowly.

Are critics of the planned redesign of the area surrounding the National Archaeological Museum justified? Yes – but only to an extent.

This time, there were no deaths, nor a station manager who turned the wrong key. In fact – at the time of writing – we still do not know why the blackout occurred in Greek airspace, nor how normal communications in the Athens FIR were restored. All we have are the official half-statements from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA), which contradicted previous statements from the same agency.

Sure, some of the demands being made by Greece's protesting farmers are “outside the European framework,” as Deputy Prime Minister Kostis Hatzidakis recently commented. Some are even ludicrous. But then again, is merging a subsidy payment agency with the authority for public revenue “inside” any European framework? France has the Agence de Services et de Paiement, Italy has the Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura and the Netherlands, which we are supposed to be emulating, has the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland.

Populism may be one thing, but it comes in many different guises. It can be left-wing – a guise we are all too familiar with in Greece after having lived with it in 2010-2015 and paid such a heavy toll for it in the first half of 2015. It can also be right-wing, as is the case in the United States today and which is, alas, taking a toll on the entire world. But it can also come dressed in mourning, like the guise that we are seeing surface today.

Something good may yet emerge from developments on the American political scene. The presidency of Donald Trump may have the same effect on right-wing populism as the SYRIZA government had on left-wing populism in Greece: It may thoroughly discredit it.

We all know that the very last article (number 120) of the Greek Constitution states that “observance of the Constitution is entrusted to the patriotism of the Greeks.” Is there maybe some hidden provision that adds that “it is also left to the kindness of those in power”?

“OK – ‘Nikos Androulakis is inadequate, Alexis Tsipras is outdated, Maria Karystianou is pro-Russian,' and as for Sokratis Famellos and Gabriel Sakellaridis, there is nothing even worth discussing. What remains, then? Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “There is no alternative” (TINA), as Margaret Thatcher used to say.

We have said many times that corruption is inherent in human affairs. It is found even in divine matters, if we consider that one of Jesus' 12 disciples was bribed to betray him. So, if 8% of the holiest group in Christian history – the Apostles – turned out to be corrupt, what should we expect from the Kifissia Building Authority?