Greece
The joy of a Greek summer
Some jerk know-nothing writes in an unreadable American newspaper that Greece is back — Athens, actually. He would, he’s an…
Greece Notebook
I have come to Greece in search of sanity over Brexit. Ostensibly it is a symposium to discuss relations between…
High life
I’ve stayed far away from the new barbarians with their choppers, tank-like cars, home theatres on board, and fridge-shaped super…
Smokers are paying for your pension
Axa will no longer invest in the tobacco industry: the French insurance giant will sell €184 million of shares and…
What the people-smugglers of Istanbul make of the EU’s deal with Turkey
The Turkey-EU deal will do nothing to fix the migrant crisis. Just ask the people-smugglers in Istanbul
Athens today makes me long for an EU bigwig to strangle
Athens I am walking around downtown Athens watching as thousands of migrants field pitches from smugglers offering alternative routes…
Why the World Service is worth every penny
What makes the World Service so different from the rest of the BBC? I asked Mary Hockaday, the controller of…
Moral sainthood is a bore; sinners are much more fun
Gstaad I had the rather subversive idea of offering a six-figure sum to Oriel College, Oxford. On one condition: that…
The King of Greece tells it like it really was
Athens Viewed from Mars, this is a sunny, peaceful city. Up close, however, things ain’t what they used to be.…
It’ll be me vs Jean-Claude Juncker at the Judo World Championships
Gstaad Jeremy Clarke has wiped me out again, for a change. His accounts of the high jinks on board the…
Portrait of the week
Home Andrew Burnham described calls from Yvette Cooper, a rival candidate for the Labour leadership, for him to withdraw from…
Outdoor piano bars can be dangerous things — especially when one is under the influence
These are the languid, sensuous days of summer, and I’ve had another birthday, which is the bad news. But it’s…
Portrait of the week
Home The Metropolitan Police encouraged people to celebrate VJ Day despite reports in the Mail on Sunday (picked up from…
Mykonos has turned into hell (I still blame Jackie Kennedy)
The wind is maddening and constant, and gets stronger as the sun falls below the horizon. The streets are lined…
What Greece needs is less Europe and more entrepreneurship
Nestled under the Acropolis, snug and safe among the ancient ruins of a long-ago grandeur, Plaka is the only remaining…
I remember Nikkei’s journalistic values – and I’m not sure they’re much like the FT’s
It’s nearly 30 years since I worked in Japan, but I still have a few words of the language and…
Paul Mason's Postcapitalism is proof that the left is out of ideas
The left is always eager to be told that capitalism’s final crisis is upon us – and it is always disappointed
Lesbos: the tourist island where half Greece's migrants land
On a Greek beach, watching migrants’ dinghies arrive from Turkey
Portrait of the week
Home Parents would be able to have their children’s passports removed if they were suspected of planning to travel abroad…
Letters: The Assad option, and a pre-nup for Taki
Don’t write off Assad Sir: Ahmed Rashid refers to our ‘Arab allies’ supporting al-Qaeda (‘The plan to back al-Qaeda against…
How British universities spread misery around the world
From Greece to Kenya, the worst economic ideas come from alumni of British universities
The Greece I once knew is now just a myth
I think back to my Greek childhood and longing for the once cosiest and most romantic of cities overwhelms me.…
Portrait of the week
Home The government postponed a Commons vote on relaxing the Hunting Act in England and Wales after the Scottish National…
Some good came out of the negotiating chamber this week, but it concerned Iran rather than Greece
As an occasional lecturer on the abstruse topic of the efficacy of sanctions in conflict resolution, I find myself much…
Please come on holiday to poor, broken Greece. It needs you
At the weekend, I tried — and failed — to get some money out of an empty cashpoint near Omonia…
