Coming soon to a UK hospital near you....

[Seth]

...75 years of socialist rule

Let's have a look at that assertion, shall we?

75 years ago Greece was a monarchy and its government leader was the fascist Metaxas until he died in 1941. Then the Italians tried to conquer it and failed. By May 1941 the Germans showed the Itis how to conquer the country but were driven out four years later. A monarchist government ruled until civil war broke out two years later. That war lasted for three years. The right wingers won, the communist leader was executed by firing squad and the militant anti communist, Field Marshall Alexander Papagos became Prime Minister, an office he held until he died in 1955. Despite increasing dissatisfaction and dissent the right clung to power until it looked like finally collapsing in 1967. That's when the right wing Colonels took over with a coup d'état, and they remained in control until 1974. Political parties were dissolved and several thousand suspected communist sympathisers were imprisoned or exiled.

In 1974 the Colonels finally lost the plot by taking Cyprus from Turkey. They lost the support of the rest of the military, elections were called and the monarchy was abolished by referendum. The two main contenders for government were New Democracy (ND), the centre-right party and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). ND won by a wide margin and remained in power until 1981.

Between 1981 and 2009 neither party could maintain a parliamentary majority for any appreciable length of tome, but ND was prevailed more often and for longer spans than PASOK. The governmental system became so unstable that ND and PASOK agreed to govern together as a grand coalition, pledging their parliamentary support for a government of national unity headed by former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos in 2009. That was also the year in which the Greek debt crisis came to a head, culminating with the socialist coalition Syriza winning government in February this year and finishing up holding the baby.

Thanks for the history lesson. I was wrong about 75 years. So let's say 1981 instead, which means 34 years, during which time it's clearly evident that socialist policy became ingrained in the government pension system to the point that Greece cannot pay its bills, which is the point.

[Seth]

It's lovely when Seth is this wrong, isn't it?

Not really. I find wrongness borne of boundless arrogance and misplaced self assuredness in combination with massive ignorance and overwhelming prejudice really depressing rather than lovely.

As if that were not enough, I agree with Jim's prognosis that Seth will attempt to worm his way out of having been shown to be wrong yet again. At best he'll concede that he may not have been factually completely right and immediately follow that up by saying something like "but my point still stands".

Well, Greece is on the brink of default because the SOCIALIST Prime Minister refuses to do what is necessary to meet it's obligations, so I'd say my point still stands.

I enjoyed the detailed lesson in Greek politics that emerged from the discussion however, something that would not have occurred without my commentary. Therefore, my purpose for participating here was well served.