Downtown Athens Is An "Expanding" Time Bomb That Is Ready To Explode - Says Greek Gov't

Minister of Public Order Nikos Dendias on Thursday described downtown Athens as an expanding time bomb. The Minister said the situation is intolerable. "It makes no sense to me to remain on as Minister of Public Order and witness this (time) bomb constantly expand" said Dendias, adding that he can not sit around any longer and watch "city centers being taken over one after the other".

After visiting the areas of visits Omonia, Kipseli and Agio Panteleimona where thousands of illegal immigrants are Dendias was horrified to witness a real tragedy in the making. The incredible influx of illegal immigrants over the past few years, especially after 2009, has literally transformed the historical city of Athens which was once home to Socrates and Plato into a rubbish bin. Entire neighborhoods have transformed into a "no-man's land," where prostitution -especially from Nigerian girls-, and general lawlessness is rampant.

Most of the immigrants that enter Greece illegally end up at the center of Athens, and in no time resort to crime in order to survive, while many also do it to maintain their drug habits.

This has literally terrified residents throughout the city and the surrounding areas who have now added more pad locks on their doors, steel bars on their windows or have invested in expensive alarm systems in order to feel safe. But this has not decreased crime, and this year alone we are already witnessing an explosion. Most robberies are made on private homes, because many people, especially the elderly, have lost faith in Greek banks and are keeping large amounts of money in their homes. Most of the criminals even use Kalashnikov guns in these robberies and in some cases blind killings have been reported as well.

But this is just image of how the downtown area has transformed into the "expanding bomb" Dendias was talking about. In other areas of downtown there are illegal casinos with slot machines, Albanian clubs (that also offer the company of women) and there are illegal brothels everywhere. Most of the people roaming the streets are involved in car-jacking, the buying and selling of stolen merchandise, human trafficking, weapons, narcotics and God knows what else!

"We have a security problem and we can not operate as we did five years ago," noted Dendias and he referred to the problem of immigration and the efforts that are being made ​​by the Greek government on the issue of the Dublin Treaty which he expressed the hope would not close.

According to Wikipedia - The Dublin Regulation (Regulation 2003/343/CE; sometimes the Dublin II Regulation; previously the Dublin Convention) is a European Union (EU) law that determines the EU Member State responsible to examine an application for asylum seekers seeking international protection under the Geneva Convention and the EU Qualification Directive, within the European Union. It is the cornerstone of the Dublin System, which consists of the Dublin Regulation and the EURODAC Regulation, which establishes a Europe-wide fingerprinting database for unauthorised entrants to the EU. The Dublin Regulation aims to “determine rapidly the Member State responsible [for an asylum claim]”[1] and provides for the transfer of an asylum seeker to that Member State. Usually, the responsible Member State will be the state through which the asylum seeker first entered the EU.
The Dublin Regulation was adopted in 2003, ostensibly replacing the Dublin Convention. The Dublin Convention was signed in Dublin, Ireland on 15 June 1990, and first came into force on 1 September 1997 for the first twelve signatories (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom), on 1 October 1997 for Austria and Sweden, and on 1 January 1998 for Finland. Recently, the treaty has been extended to some countries outside the Union, such as Norway and Iceland. Switzerland has become a signatory to the Regulation and on 5 June 2005 voted by 54.6% to ratify it; it came into effect on 12 December 2008. - George Papandreou had signed this treaty on behalf of Greece under the Simitis government.

Since then the European Commission has proposed amendments to the Dublin Regulation, creating an opportunity for reform of the Dublin System, and this is what we believe Dendias was referring to.

One other solution he added would be to continue to build the wire fence at the Evros boarder, and the next step after this would be to increase the amount of detention centers around the country. At the same time Dendias said that given this situation and society's demands on the police and fired department, there could be no further cuts in the salaries of policemen and firemen.

On the contrary, he announced a streamlining in other areas, noting characteristically that checks would be made into why the police spend 36 million euros a year in fuel, 19 million euros a year in rents and 13 million euros a year for the maintenance of its 13,768 vehicles. He announced that a committee of senior officers would be set up that will also examine the issue of guarding targets and individuals, for which 3,500 policemen are assigned. (Some parts of this article were used from a Greek report on protothema)

Editor's Note - Let us hope that the statements by Dendias, or any Dendias, is not more political mumbo-jumbo... but will soon be supported with action.

Magistrate Rejects Petition By Vicky Stamatis For Psychiatric Evaluation

An examining magistrate investigating the money-laundering case against former PASOK minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos rejected a petition filed by the latter's wife requesting to undergo psychiatric evaluation. Both Tsohatzopoulos and his wife, Vicky Stamati, are jailed pending trial. According to the magistrate's decision, there are no reasons requiring the psychiatric evaluation of Stamati. (Is he sure...???) Tsohatzopoulos' wife maintains in her petition that her mental and physical health has deteriorated since her incarceration, stressing that her self-declared hunger strike and, mostly, her absence from her young child, have had a very negative effect on her health.

Editor's Note - We don't blame poor Vicky she is living in a jail cell with two Roma (gypsy) women, its a far cry from her 2,500 curtain tassels, and 30,000 couch. There... there now Vicky....  Think of it this way... if you are nice to your room mates you will get free coffee and tarot readings!

HERE IS AN EXCLUSIVE -AND EXAGGERATED- REPORT FROM MARKOS SEFERLIS AS MRS. STAMATI TO GOSSIP QUEEN TATIANA STEFANIDOU ON HER SHOW "MILA"

TRAGEDY - Motorcyclist Injures Cyclist, Then Crashes Into Mother & Twins In Downtown Athens

A 21-year-old permanent non-commissioned Hellenic Navy officer surrendered to police authorities on Thursday after seriously injuring a cyclist and several minutes later a helpless mother and her seven-year-old twins. The mother was taking her children to a primary school in the area at the time, which also operates in July for some special courses and was crossing the street when the motorbike fell on the family after illegally crossing a red light.

According to police reports, the accident occurred at the intersection of Patission and Troias streets in downtown Athens. Right after the accident, the man fled the scene but later on he turned himself in. He told authorities that he was rushing to give blood to a relative at a local hospital, but this in no way justifies what he did.

The cyclist that was injured at the beginning is fine, but the mother and two twins were very seriously hurt.

Eyewitnesses said that the children were literally thrown several feet in the air when the collision occurred. Paramedics were called to the scene immediately, and the mother was rushed to the Evangelismos Hospital, while the children were transferred to the Aglaia Kyriakou Hospital. The boy is in critical condition and is suffering from multiple fractures to his jaw, face, hands and feet. Unfortunately he has lost a lot of blood. His twin sister is in better shape. She did not suffer from any serious fractures, nonetheless she too will remain in intensive care.

There are no reports on the condition of the mother.

On Friday it was reported that the seven-year old boy is still in critical condition and has lost too much blood. A crowd of Greek soldiers (frogmen) arrived at the Aglaia Kyriakou Hospital early in the morning to give blood for the young boy.

21st century Italy and the remanence of its indigenous heritage

Contributed To Hellasfrappe by Ioannis Pavlos Fidanakis

ethniki-epanastasi

“I am from Sicily, in other words from Magna Graecia and there still exists a lot of Greece in Sicily…I am of the same Hellenic heritage, even if from another place. Yes, don’t be surprised. My family name is Pirangellos. The Pirandello is the phonetic alteration of it, Pirangello-Pirandello…”   Luigi Pirandello to Kostas Ouranis --“Nea Estia” No. 191, December 1934, Kostas Ouranis Foundation, Athens, Greece www.idrimaurani.gr/

The Risorgimento, known to English Speakers as the Italian Unification, was a movement, which some argue was simply a Tuscan colonization of the Apennine Peninsula, resulting in the creation of the modern nation-state of Italy. However, what many fail to realize is that the Risorgimento also represents the final fall of the Frankokratia in the Hellenic World. For those that do not know what the Frankokratia was, it is a term used to refer to a period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204). When, Western European nobles occupied the Greek-Speaking Eastern Roman Empire, and established various Crusader states in its place. This was in part brought about with the signing of the Partitio terrarium imperii Romaniae [1] treaty after the sack of Constantinople.

Now I know what you must be asking yourself, just how could Southern Italy, or Magna Graecia as it was once called, be seen as a part of the Frankokratia? Well it is relatively easy. Many of these Western nobles were the same people that conquered Magna Graecia from the Eastern Roman Empire, and, therefore, in away Magna Graecia was also a part of the Frankokratia. In actuality, it was in Magna Graecia that the Frankokratia first began, and it was the last place in the Hellenic World to be freed from it. Now, rather than find itself under the Tourkokratia like the rest of the Hellenic World, Magna Graecia would eventually be integrated into the modern nation-state of Italy. This blessing of not being a part of the Ottoman Empire eventually led to a further detachment of this portion of the Hellenic ethnos from its ethnic kin inside the Tourkokratia.  As a result, those living in Magna Graecia did not suffer the same collective experiences of Islamic enslavement as the rest of the Hellenic ethnos, experiences that were an essential part of the 19th century National revival of the Greek national identity.

Magna Graecia’s integration into the Italian state, however, was not some welcomed event by the natives of the region. In fact, a long guerrilla war against the Northern Colonialist armies was waged throughout the South and in Sicily, which resulted in martial law for several years and in some cases brutal repression. In the end, the newly United “Italian” Kingdom would find Magna Graecia or the Mezzogiorno mostly de-Hellenized and in extreme poverty [2]. Despite attempts to stamp out the native Hellenic identity of the region, some pockets of Hellenic culture and language remained, due mostly to the continuous ‘traffic’ between the Mezzogiorno and the Aegean. All in all years of foreign misrule left the area with little industry, terrible roads, and a largely illiterate population.

At first, the Kingdom would open schools, upgraded hospitals, and organize various other types of public works projects. However, it would soon become apparent that the government heavily favored the northern regions. Heavy taxation and new economic measures imposed on the Mezzogiorno made life, in many cases, impossible. This combined with competition from the industrialized North led to the partial economy collapse of the Mezzogiorno and a mass wave of emigration, which was initially encouraged by the Italian government. It is due to this large exodus from the region that diaspora communities like those in the United States even exist. About 80% of those who immigrated to the United States from the Apennine Peninsula came from the Mezzogiorno, especially from Sicily, Campania, Abruzzo, and Calabria.

The remanence of the region’s Hellenic heritage

The remanence of Southern Italy’s Hellenic past is all around, from ancient Greek ruins to the triskelion and head of Medusa on the Sicilian flag. The best example of this heritage is the region’s own Modern Greek dialect, referred to by Greeks as Katoitaliotika or in English simply Southern Italian. Often called Griko, its origins are divided into two competing hypotheses. The first and most common claims the language’s roots go back to the 8th century BC, and thus, it represents the last living remnant of the native Hellenic elements of Magna Graecia. The second views the dialect as a Doric-influenced descendant of Byzantine Greek. Today’s remaining Greek-speaking communities survive in the regions of Calabria and Puglia, and have been recognized by the Italian parliament as an ethnic and linguistic minority, under the title “Minoranze linguistiche Grike dell’Etnia Griko-Calabrese e Salentina” (the Linguistic minority of the Griko-Calabrian and Salentinian ethnicity).

Amazingly, this aging linguistic minority is not the only evidence of the region’s Hellenic heritage. Proof can still be found in the mere genetic makeup of the region’s indigenous population. How is this possible you may ask? Well, by identifying and studying haplogroups, which are groupings of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor due to having the same single nucleotide polymorphism mutation. There are three different ways to test for genetic ancestry. The first is the study of Y-Chromosomes (Y-DNA), which is passed along the patrilineal line (father to son). The next is the study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is passed along the matrilineal line (mother to offspring). The last is the study of autosomal (auDNA), which studies entire ancestry.

To get a better understanding of the genetic make-up of the region, let us briefly take a look at its Y-DNA and auDNA. Now many myths have been circulated over the years concerning the supposed roots of Southern Italians, specifically Sicilians. These types of myths are perpetrated by Northern Europeans obsessed with racist ideologies that wrongly believe in the bastardization of the Mediterranean and its indigenous people. If one takes the time to look at the region’s Y-DNA they understand that although Arab-Berber colonization did take occur in places like Sicily, it did not, however, lead to a significant alteration of the original ethnic composition of the island [3]. Also, neither did the region’s years under the Frankokratia, as neither the Lombards nor the Normans left any significant genetic impact [4] in Southern Italy. As we focus on Sicily for a moment. What is compelling is the fact that genetic tests have shown that approximately 37% of Sicilians are, in fact, direct descendants of the original Greek settlers of Magna Graecia [5] [6], and roughly 60% of haplotypes found on the island are also found across Southern Italy and Greece respectively [7]. This leads to a safe assumption that Sicilians and Greeks share a common genetic heritage.

Now if, we step back for a moment and take a look at the region’s auDNA we can clearly see that the Greek genetic legacy in Southern Italy is still detectible. As Greeks’ closest genetic neighbors are Italians [8].  It is thanks to the findings of genetic studies, such as those sited above and countless others that we are able to conclude that Southern Italians are little more than Latin-speaking Greeks, with a minor non-Greek admixture [9].

An Italo-Greek on Southern Italy and its Hellenic Dialect

In order to understand Southern Italy and its Hellenic heritage more, I decided to take the time to speaking with 23 year old Giuseppe Delfino from Reggio di Calabria. A city, which he told me, was once a stronghold of Greek Language and culture in Italy.  What made Giuseppe such a fascinating person to talk with about Southern Italy is the fact that he identifies himself as an Italo-Greek, since he holds Italian citizenship, but feels ethnically Greek. Something, which he states, has been proven by the genetic research that was conducted by Dr. Luigi Cavalli-Sforza which showed that the province of Reggio di Calabria has a strong affinity with Greece.

As Giuseppe states in more detail, “my family is Sicilian- and Italian-Speaking, however, Greek was spoken throughout Southern Calabria until the XV century, when it started to decline in favor of Reggio’s variant of Sicilian (Romance Language). I exactly come from a village called Catona, near Reggio, where the Greek language died out in XVII century, so I can consider myself as a Greek. A great number of Reggio’s surnames are of Greek origin; for example, my great-mother’s name is Angela IANNO’, but there are also surnames such as Romeo, Attina (from “kteni”), Monorchio (“monos orchis”) and others”. As our illuminating conversation continued I could not help, but ask Giuseppe about his thoughts on the Katoitaliotika language.

“I think the Griko language, (which in Italian is used to refer to the Greek language spoken in just Apulia, while in Calabria people use the term Greek-Calabrian or just Grecanic, although the latter is considered an offensive term) MUST be saved, because it is a part of our culture. It comes from Ancient Greek although many people still think that it came from Byzantium, but I disagree because linguistic proof shows it comes from Magna Graecia”, said Giuseppe. He would go on to mention, “The current situation of the Greek-speaking people is terrible, because the language is spoken only by 2,000 old people and the “latinized” people of Reggio have no interest in it, in fact, nobody speaks about it. I discovered my origins thanks to reading. I started studying on my own both Calabrian Greek and Modern Greek in 2005 thanks to books with audio”.

Giuseppe’s overview of the plight of the Greek-speaking population, despite its recognition as a protected ethno-linguistic minority, made me dare to ask him just why there was a lack of interest in the Katoitaliotika language. In which, Giuseppe replied, “Well, I think there is this lack because of the Italian Education system. Italy became a unified state in 1861, after centuries of division. Italian was just a written language until that point (except for the Tuscans), so that Italian government planned to teach Italian to the “dialect”-speaking population. There was no room for other languages, especially during Fascist rule (in Calabria, during that time; there was an expression “mi pari nu grecu”, which in English translates to “you look like a Greek”, meaning “you are a stupid”). The 1948 Italian Constitution recognized the protection of linguistic minorities (via art. 6), but this didn’t change the situation, because the goal of the Italian state is unification (during the “Risorgimento”, Massimo d’Azeglio said, “L’Italia e fatta, Restano da fare gli italiani”, which means “We have made Italy, now we must make Italians”), and; therefore, this law is seldom applied. There are structures who translate official local documents, but in schools minority languages are not taught”.

This led me to wonder just what response would locals have if an organization say in the United States began lobbying for their Linguistic Rights. To which he replied, “I think just the Greek-speaking minority would be pleased. I founded an Italo-Greek bilingual group on Facebook called, “Salviamo la lingua Greca di Calabria” (Greek: "Ας σώσουμε τα Ελληνικά της Καλαβρίας", English: "Let's save the Greek language of Calabria")”. This naturally sparked my curiosity towards what his position, as an Italo-Greek, was on the many different separatist parties in Southern Italy and what relationship, if any, they had with the Greek-speaking population and Hellenic heritage of the region.

Giuseppe’s response was quite informative, “The political parties, which want autonomy, have no relationship with the Greek-speaking population, because these parties want to restore the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. This Kingdom, although it had many different modifications (and for centuries was divided into the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily), was created by the Normans, who defeated the Byzantines in Southern Italy, and was one of the causes of the end of Hellenism in Southern Italy. The modern political parties want to recognize the cultural importance of the local minority cultures, but they have no ties with Hellenism”.

This all led me to my last question for Giuseppe. If, there were one message you could say to Greeks about Southern Italy and its Greek Speaking people what would it be? Also if, there were one thing you could say to Southern Italians about these issues what would that be? His answer was, “I would say to Greeks to help us. As for Southern Italians, I would tell (only the inhabitants of Calabria from Catanzaro to Reggio, Salento and Eastern Sicily “Val Demone”, don’t let this language die, because it’s an important element of our culture. However, I would like to launch this message to not only Greeks and former Greek-speaking Southern Italians, but to all who aim to keep alive linguistic minorities or cultures in general”.

Conclusion
In the end, Giuseppe’s words should resonate in the hearts and minds of all Greeks and Southern Italians. Southern Italy’s indigenous Hellenic culture must not be allowed to fade away into the history books. It must be preserved, not just for future generations of Italiotes and Siciliotes (the Hellenic peoples of Magna Graecia), but for all mankind. For humanity to lose any portion of its rich cultural history is a crime. So I leave you, the reader, with one straightforward question. What can you do, if anything, to help prevent this forgotten part of Greek and Southern Italian heritage and identity from disappearing?

Sources:

• [1] Alexander Kazhdan, ed. (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press
• [2] Smith, Dennis Mack (1997). Modern Italy; a Political History. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press
• [3]Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup I RevealsDistinct Domains of Prehistoric Gene Flow in Europe
• [4] Ornella Semino et al., "Origin, Diffusion, and Differentiation of Y-Chromosome Haplogroups E andJ: Inferences on the Neolithization of Europe and Later Migratory Events in theMediterranean Area," American Journal of Human Genetics 74:1023–1034, 2004
• [5] Capelli, C. et al., Y Chromosome genetic variation inthe Italian peninsula is clinical and supports an admixture model for theMesolithic-Neolithic  encounter.
• [6] Differential Greekand northern African migrations to Sicily are supported by genetic evidencefrom the Y Chromosome. European Journal of Human Genetics (2009)
• [7]Peopling of three Mediterranean islands (Corsica,Sardinia, and Sicily) inferred by Y-chromosome biallelic variability.
• [8]Pontikos, Dienekes. Greek autosomal DNA
• [9] Refinement of ancestry informative markers in Europeans (Tian et al. 2009)

Interview
Giuseppe Delfino, email interview, May 29, 2012

NATO Vessels At Piraeus Port

credit - To Ethnos

Three vessels of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) sailed into the port of Piraeus earlier in the week. More exactly, the frigates "BAYERN" (Germany), "GEDIZ" (Turkey) and "COURBET" (France) are on a courtesy visit to Greece in the context of the NATO member state's cooperation against piracy, with German commander of the SNMG2, Thorsten Kahler, aboard. The ships will set sail for the Mediterranean on July 13.

The SNMG2 is a NATO standing maritime Immediate Reaction Forces. Prior to 1 January 2005 it was known as Standing Naval Force Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED). SNMG2 is a multinational, integrated maritime force - made up of vessels from various allied nations, training and operating together as a single team - that is permanently available to NATO to perform a wide range of tasks, from participating in exercises to crisis response and real world operational missions. Usually the Force is employed in the Mediterranean area but, as required, will be available anywhere NATO requires it to deploy.

SNMG2 carries out a continuous programme of operational training and conducts port visits to know and get known in many ports in and out of the Mediterranean, in NATO and non-NATO nations. These include ports in nations that are part of the Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative programmes. (AMNA)

2012 OLYMPICS - Are We About To Get The Shambolympics?

The Slog has been in London talking to medical consultants and generally checking out what’s going on behind the scenes of the Olympic build-up. It has already received several tips in recent weeks about widespread evidence of shambolic organisation and general loss of plot when it comes to the Games, so I thought I’d take a look for myself, and make some enquiries.

Although it’s being billed as a Best of British opportunity, at just about every main arrivals point, EDF has bought dominant outdoor sites affirming its goal to make the London Games more brilliantly lit than any other. EDF is a French company, so it must be doing very well out of the venue if it can afford this kind of spend. It’s quite hard to spot truly British companies anywhere in the list of sponsors; but if you sell off the family silver, that’s what happens. In a decade or so, London will be chosen as the site for a global medical exhibition, and no doubt at that time the sponsors will mainly be American insurance groups.

As it is, the Slog met some medics who will be on call for neurological injuries to competitors in the various events. A couple of these medics told the blog that the folks asking for help seemed “rather hysterical” and “a bit headless”.

In the area of transport to the Olympics – that’s about the only really British bit – the overall impression given to somebody landing from abroad is of an infrastructure that is woefully insufficient to cope with a huge expected increase in visitors. In trying to renew and enlarge all the signage to do with the games, what the organizers have set off is a desire by all visitors even now to follow these routes and take a look at the Village. The result is that the Tubes, trains and buses are already packed to a degree at least 20% above normal. But all the posters and announcements consist of headlines (and the ubiquitous Boris himself) politely suggesting that, as it’s going to be a horrendous nightmare for Londoners, why don’t you, um, walk or, er, not come in at all? Not exactly practical or encouraging advice. “Don’t get caught out,” burbles the ebullient Mayor, as if the tube system might be about to freeze up completely.

In turn, road routes are being designated and tested to allow for unhindered VIP movement (“Boris’s mates” as some cynical observers suggest) and these activities too are already causing backlogs or backups around the South Circular in general, and throughout Blackheath in particular.

But much of the roads stuff is anecdotal: the hard evidence of running late (and headless chicken patch-and-make-do) is to be had among those professions temporarily benefiting from it. This is especially true of my old profession, media communications.

As a culture, four of our most pressing contemporary weaknesses are poor deadline discipline, an obsession with process, a fear of great big ideas, and poor interpretation of such data as might be collected. In the work now being done at the last minute by designers, copywriters, promotional experts, digital agencies, marketing advisers, and advertising suppliers, examples of all four syndromes abound.

“It’s a bit like the last weeks before the Millennium Dome opened,” said one senior agency manager, “in that there is panic and daft ideas, but no sense of direction or coordination. The satire about all this on the telly is, sadly, an understatement of the anarchic reality.”

“Everything is last-minute, half-baked and having money thrown at it,” said another, “As with most things like this, 90% of the overspend occurs in the last 10% of the build-up. It has more than a slight whiff of disaster about it.”

“Not much evidence of thought in the brief we were given,” said a design supplier, “and the more you thought about it, the more obvious it became it was a waste of time and money. They are spending and wasting money like water.”

The Slog was also informed that Roddy Doyle (handling the filmic recording and direction side) is at the end of his tether trying to deal with ignorant ‘management’ described as “far more interested in copyright and money deals than they are with documentary quality”. The whole idea of a documentary about the preparations has been ditched because of endless legal wrangles about who would own it, and fears among the more assiduous arse-coverers that such a record will merely present, for posterity and post mortems, clear evidence of the level of shambles involved.

The rehearsals for the opening theme – ‘Green and pleasant land’ – have been hampered by committee changes, poor audio, and the largely unpaid, amateur nature of the volunteers taking part. just the other night (July 10) saw another run-through; it didn’t allay many fears.

In May 2005, the previous web site of the Slog, Notbornyesterday, made itself very unpopular by saying no Olympic venue had ever really made money or obtained measurable investment benefit from hosting the Games; and the Slog predicted that the then £4.8bn would rapidly get out of control…especially as its patron was the financially incontinent boozer’s friend, Tessa Jowell. So it has proved. Later the blog suggested that the sailing Olympics off the south and south-west coasts would create chaos for anyone going by car. The Slog still believes that this will be the case, given that Nimby has, predictably, diluted most of the upgrading plans. The ‘train alternative’ route to the coasts is nowhere near capable of taking up the demand that will be created once the roads seize up.

It would be nice to think that Britain might turn a corner as a result of organizing the Olympic Games. But far more likely is an acceleration of our slide into insolvency…and a concerted effort by the political class to hide the real coast of putting on the event. The Slog supposes that it will be very wet, millions of visitors will go back with the impression of an overcrowded and disorganized Britain, but that it might be a blip of concocted pride for a few idiots to get a warm feeling about…untila few weeks later, when the tidal wave of euromeltdown rolls in.

We shall see.

Source - The Slog