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Showing posts from June, 2011

What now? Papandreou survives confidence vote on handling of Greece debt crisis | World news | guardian.co.uk

Surviving the confidence vote is one thing, it is but a small part of the political process. The other one is in Habermas' beloved public sphere where Greeks hammer out other possibilities besides total compliance with rules imposed elsewhere... Papandreou survives confidence vote on handling of Greece debt crisis | World news | guardian.co.uk But that is the problem isn't it? Succesive Greek governments deceived the European Union and the Greek people into believing that their public finances were sufficiently sound to insert the country into the Eurozone, hiding sovereign debt and public deficits that, left unattended, spiralled out of control beyond manageability.  And the political (and the economic space) narrowed leaving out possibilities.  Truly sad, even more so when a centre-left government is in charge. It is interesting though how New Democracy (the Greek right) is simply calling for elections.  I wonder if they have thought of something the rest of us o...

Comment on: Ed Miliband offers cross-party talks on future of adult social care

Labour and opposition leader Ed Milliband is offering to sit down with the Tory-LibDem government in a serious national debate on adult social care. Check the link below... http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jun/07/ed-miliband-talks-future-social-care The offer of a political dialogue comes after a first attempt collapsed in early January 2010 after, then-Tory opposition leadership inundated public debate with, most unoriginal, demagoguery. Surely a reflection of Tory lack of fresh ideas and a willingness to borrow the worst concepts from conservatives and tea-partiers in the United States.  The business of government is serious. Let's see how the coalition fares, that is, if they're willing to sit down with the opposition. Kudos to Milliband for showing mettle.  But hey, tell me what you think...