In a recent opinion in Greece people were asked following all the civil unrest which party they would vote for, PASOK the socialist party won around 26 per cent Nea Dimikrotia the conservative party won around 26 per cent, but way out in the lead was "kanenas" at 48 per cent.
Who is "kanenas" you may ask? Well the word "kanenas" means nobody in Greece, so the leading force in politics in Greece galvanizing Greeks, is that nobody is able to steer Greece through its current crisis, and Greeks have lost faith in its politicians. How true is this for the rest of Europe also?
Well in the UK we have a Government so obsessed by spin that its spending millions on press cuttings. The Opposition which is being run by politicians, who are using their Parliamentary jobs as a part-time occupation; whilst keeping paid directorships in the City; and a Liberal Democrat party which should be largely written off with its utterly useless leader.
We have not seen the civil unrest in London that has plagued Athens, but the faith and deference we used to have in the UK for our politicians has all but vanished. We don't trust our elected officials anymore; even today the Chancellor Alistair Darling has been accused of getting his sums wrong with Andrew Grice in The Independent saying:
"Last month, the Chancellor said the economy would contract by between 0.75 and 1.25 per cent next year, in line with Bank of England forecasts but more optimistic than several independent analysts. Economists at Capital Economists predicted a 2.5 per cent contraction, the deepest downturn since 1947."
Richard Pryor in the famous Brewster Millions film established the "None of the above" party which famously campaigned for exactly that "none of the above" and won an election in New York. If someone with some money today was to do what the late Sir James Goldsmith did, with the establishment of a political movement that campaigned for a rejection of the status quo and had the money to compete with the big parties, this would surely cause major upheaval.
The likelihood of a bored billionaire stumping up hundreds of millions pounds to promote fundamental change in the UK in today’s environment is unlikely but we do need to do something new.
Mexican violence scaring off touristsAt least 18,000 people have been killed in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon dispatched the army to fight the drug cartels in December of 2006 and the chilling effect on tourism is clear in Tijuana.
