According to the unspoken consensus of TV news bulletins, the country is divided into two groups: a minority of profiteers and the broader public evidently victimized by the former. Even so, we can see that there is something rather illogical about it all. Successful profiteers also require…

There is an unwritten contract in our everyday life that dictates a certain sense of responsibility opposite our fellow citizens: that, for example, a motorist will apply the brakes when a pedestrian is crossing the road, or that a resident of a third-floor apartment will not throw a heavy…

State television broadcast a very interesting documentary on Sunday about the private ambulance firms operating here now. Some businessmen have decided to exploit the gaps left in the market by the National First Aid Center (EKAB) by transferring patients in specially equipped vehicles for 60…

Those who doubt whether the government will actually make the fall deadline the government has set for implementing reforms in the education sector are quite on the mark. Even the title of the proposed changes, «Draft proposal for changes to the institutional framework for the infrastructure and…

If someone wants to understand the afflictions of our education system, one need only look at the example of the Open University. Greece’s Open University is a recently established institution which may not have the history of other higher education institutions but, one presumes, it isn’t…

There is a photograph, taken during the students’ protests in France in March, with a very interesting detail. It shows a student addressing the crowds from an elevated podium. But the background of the photo is not at all reminiscent of a university environment, certainly not as we know it in…

There are many obstacles for Turkey to overcome as it heads toward European Union accession. Cyprus is just one of these problems. But this problem is not Turkey’s invasion and occupation of Cyprus, something which seems so long ago that it is rarely discussed at length in modern Cypriot politics…

The truth is that if the guards at Korydallos prison had fired at the convict Vassilis Palaiocostas and another inmate as they made their escape aboard a helicopter and the craft’s fuel tank had been hit (a likely scenario, according to the president of the guards’ union), then those ranting on…

The conservatives’ stance on solving problems is quite simple – namely, that something should be done, but not now. It is based upon the hope that problems will eventually go away. Essentially, it seeks to avoid taking any risks. But risks exist around every corner. And the solution to any…

Back when Archbishop Christodoulos used to pay social visits to the country’s schools, he told a joke that is particularly relevant to educators today. «God visited a multiethnic agricultural community and granted each farmer a wish. The German asked for a horse, the Frenchman for a cow, the…

Speaking about Gulbeyaz Karahasan – Greek Muslim PASOK nominee for the Drama-Kavala-Xanthi prefecture in the October polls – Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis chose to emphasize one particular word: fear. According to reports, Psomiadis said: «In our country we are afraid to say we are…

There is a charming slogan favored by anarchists in Greece – «pensions at 18 and conscription at 100.» In view of the crisis that has been smoldering on many levels of the economy, it is quite likely that this slogan – or at least the first part of it – may soon have some bearing on reality. The…

From the time of British statesman Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, it has been common knowledge that in diplomacy there are no enemies and friends, only interests. This is a rule everywhere apart from Greece, if we trust opinion polls. According to a poll carried out by GPO during US…

The findings of recent opinion polls are truly paradoxical: The overwhelming majority of Greeks claim to accept the need for reforms while simultaneously rejecting any initiatives proposed by the government. Some regard these answers as hypocritical. Everyone claims to want reforms as long as…

There is a democratic paradox reflected in the communication deficit of the Centre-Left. Like democracy, which the more it deepens more players are involved in a more complex decision making process, the message of the Centre – Left has become so complex that it can easily be lost.

And the dialogue as a weapon…

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