The world from my window

It’s breakfast time in Fiskardo, Kefalonia. There’s been a massive thunder storm in the night and now it’s pouring with rain. And Alexis Tsipras has just been re-elected, with Syriza taking just over 35 per cent of the vote and its coalition partners, New Democracy, not far behind with 28 per cent. Nikos the waiter doesn’t think much of the result. But, then, it was a poor turnout for what, looking through European eyes, seemed a pretty crucial election. Only 56.5 per cent bothered to vote, the highest abstention rate in the history of Greek parliamentary elections following the fall of the dictatorship in 1974. According to greekreporter.com : Voting in Greece is mandatory by law, however, it is rarely enforced. This year’s low turnout rate potentially reflects that Greeks did not believe that their vote would make a difference, since any government would have to enact the policies of the new Greek bailout agreement that was singed in late August. In addition, this is the th...

Living in Greece for the past couple of months, I've been asked what the refugee situation is like here. Well, to be perfectly honest, apart from scenes of chaos I see on television and long threads of polemic discussion on social media sites, I'm probably as well informed or as ill informed as the next person. Corfu, you see, is in the Ionian Sea, on the west coast of the mainland, a long way from the Aegean, the place to which many of the refugees make their way from their homeland via an already circuitous route. The only thing I have heard about here is the work of a Corfu doctor who is taking donated supplies such as fleece blankets, nappies, wipes and baby food to the Macedonian border to give to the refugees gathered there. This is an unprecedented situation as hundreds and thousands of people try to make their way to countries who want them and where they feel safe. It's complicated, things aren't black or white, good or bad. The solution probably lies...