Death in the Morning: How One Pensioner's Suicide Has Traumatised Greece
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Until Wednesday morning, Dimitris Christoulas, a respectable middle-class pensioner, was familiar only to the residents of the quiet Ampelokipous district of Athens where he had lived and worked hard for nearly 40 years.

All that changed at 8.45am, rush hour, when the 77-year-old former pharmacist and pillar of his shopkeeping community put a hand gun to his head and shot himself under a giant Cyprus tree on the central Syntagma Square.

He fell to the ground in front of the national parliament that many Greeks have come to blame for the corruption and mismanagement that has plunged their country into crisis, and lay there dead as shocked commuters looked on.

Yesterday, 24 hours after his suicide, the name Dimitris Christoulas is known to most in this troubled country.

"A martyr for Greece" declared the Eleftheros Typos newspaper. "Scream of desperation" said the headline in Avyi next to a picture of Edvard Munch's celebrated painting. Many press commentaries compared his death to the protest suicides that unleashed the Arab spring in Tunisia and across the Middle East last year.

To many – including neighbours in hi close community, he has become a hero.

"He did not rebel from his couch. He was a beautiful man, he will live on in history," said Pannayotta, a housewife in her late 50s, living on the same street as the pensioner.

The incendiary suicide note Mr Chritoulas left behind urging young Greeks to rise up has also struck a chord with millions of people who see their highly indebted nation's social fabric being torn apart by economic recession and externally imposed austerity measures.

"I cannot find any other form of struggle except a dignified end," he wrote. "I believe that young people with no future will one day take up and hang this country's traitors in arms in Syntagma Square just as the Italians hanged Mussolini in 1945." Read on and comment » | Bruno Waterfield | Athens | Thursday, April 05, 2012

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Violent Protests Erupt in Athens over Debt Suicide
Violent protests broke out in Athens last night after an elderly man committed suicide near to the country's Parliament building, claiming he was distraught at the prospect of "looking in the garbage to feed myself".

Read the article and comment here | Matthew Sparkes | Thursday, April 05, 2012
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Cuts and Tears: Greek Police Disperse Angry Mob in Athens Clashes
Greek riot police have used tear gas to disperse the crowd of raging rioters throwing petrol bombs and stones. Greece is at a standstill once again, with people venting their anger at more cuts, which the EU is demanding in return for vital funds.

Inside Story: UK March for an Alternative
In an event dubbed the march for the alternative, hundreds of thousands gathered in London - protesting against the coalition's planned spending cuts - the largest cut-backs since the Great Depression. Organised by the Trade Union Congress, the protests remained largely peaceful. However events were overshadowed by violence that later erupted. But as Europe is still struggling to avoid another financial crisis, would such measures have any impact? And what are the social and political implications?
 Inside Story, with presenter Ghida Fakhry, discusses with: Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley stockbrokers; Max Keiser, financial analyst and renowned banking critic [Wiki] and Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, a U.K.-based think tank dedicated to free market policies.

TUC Protest March: Anarchists on the Rampage in London
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Anarchists went on the rampage in central London as hundreds of thousands of people marched in protest at government cuts.



Police fought mobs of masked thugs who pelted officers with ammonia and fireworks loaded with coins.

The anti-capitalists started fires and smashed their way into banks, hotels and shops, bringing chaos to Britain’s busiest shopping street.

The violence began as Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, addressed a TUC rally of at least 250,000 peaceful protesters in Hyde Park who had marched from Westminster to demonstrate against government spending cuts.

As he spoke, an apparently co-ordinated attack began on shops and police in Oxford Street as a mob tried to storm into shops including Topshop, BHS and John Lewis.

MPs and retailers said the scenes damaged Britain’s reputation around the world. » | Patrick Sawer, and David Barrett | Saturday, March 26, 2011

My comment on this:

It would appear that this country is becoming ungovernable. But much of the blame for this lies with the people at the top, because they have forgotten one simple thing: fairness.

It’s all very well to talk about the ‘anti-capitalists,’ but we should ask ourselves why these people are ‘anti-capitalists.’ And I’m pretty sure they feel that the system is unfair.

And it is unfair. Very unfair, in fact, because the people that have the least are being asked to shoulder the greatest burden of the spending cuts, whilst the people at the top are not being asked to make any sacrifices at all. How can it be a fair society when bankers, for example, are being paid monopoly sums as bonuses when people at the bottom are barely scratching a living?

This is not the capitalism that I remember. It has always been so that the people at the top made a lot more money than the people at the bottom, but it is a question of degree. It is also a question about how much effort the people at the top have to make in order to earn those far bigger sums of money. Who, for example, would begrudge Bill Gates his fortune? He made his money by effort and ability and creativity. He has also made a very big contribution to the world in terms of technology. But bankers? What have they contributed? In what way have they made life better? And how much effort have they got to make to collect these vast sums of money?

It seems to me that bankers have a great deal to answer for. They have almost single-handedly destroyed the capitalist system (with the aid of the nincompoops in the Labour Party, of course – Blair, Brown et al.). But very importantly, thay have not been asked to join in and do their bit in these times of austerity. In short, the government expects the people who have the least to tighten their belts the most. Now that can’t be fair!

In my opinion, we cannot hope to understand the appalling behaviour of that anarchic mob yesterday in London without taking into consideration the points I have mentioned.

And by the way, it was Labour that fostered the benefits culture. Over the years they have given hand-outs to people who should not have been given them. The welfare state should never have been allowed to grow into the monster it has become. Alas it is human nature to be unwilling to give up that which was once a ‘right.’ In many ways, the welfare state, whilst a noble concept, has been allowed to become the scourge of the modern Western economy.

What we observed in London yesterday is the result of these failed policies: failed policies by Labour; failed policies by the Coalition to correct the unfairness.

I predict that the summer of 2011 will be long and hot! The heatwave has only just begun! – © Mark

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Central London Descends into Anarchy
Is the growing cleft between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' making the UK ungovernable?

SKY NEWS: London's Cuts March Tainted By Violence » | Sunday, March 27, 2011

MAIL ON SUNDAY: Police struggle to control hard-core anarchist rioters after 500,000-strong London march against government cuts ends in violence: Hooded anarchists attack London landmarks linked to luxury and wealth » | Daily Mail Reporter, Ian Gallagher and George Arbuthnott | Sunday, March 27, 2011

Austerity Protests Turn Violent in London
Mar 26 - Protests in London turn violent as thousands take to the streets opposing government austerity cuts. Deborah Lutterbeck reports

REUTERS: Rioters battle UK police after anti-cuts rally: Black-clad, masked youths battled riot police and attacked banks and luxury stores in central London on Saturday, overshadowing a protest by more than a quarter of a million Britons against government spending cuts. » | Stefano Ambrogi and Tim Castle | LONDON | Saturday, March 26, 2011

Anti-cuts March: Tens of Thousands at London Protest
BBC: More than 250,000 people have attended a march and rally in central London against public spending cuts.

Labour leader Ed Miliband addressed crowds in Hyde Park and the main march organised by the Trades Union Congress passed off peacefully.

But splinter groups have attacked shops and banks, and a stand-off with police is taking place in Piccadilly. There have been 16 arrests.

Ministers say the cuts are necessary to get the public finances in order.

In the largest public protest since the Iraq war rally in 2003, marchers from across the UK set off from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park, where Trades Union Congress general secretary Brendan Barber was first in a line of speakers.

"We are here to send a message to the government that we are strong and united," he said.

"We will fight the savage cuts and we will not let them destroy peoples' services, jobs and lives."

Mr Barber was followed by Mr Miliband, who said: "The Tories said I should not come and speak today. But I am proud to stand with you. There is an alternative."

The march began at 1200 GMT and it took more than four hours for the protesters to file past the Houses of Parliament on their way to the park. (+ video) » | Saturday, March 26, 2011

London: Massive Anti-cuts Protest, Anarchists Vow to Unleash Hell
MAIL ONLINE: Anarchist groups are threatening to ‘release all hell’ today at a trade unions march to be addressed by Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Police fear scores of violent anti-capitalist demonstrators could hijack the anti-cuts demonstration and cause chaos in London’s West End.

Up to 250,000 people are expected to join the march, with organisers saying it will be the largest since up to a million took to the streets in 2003 to oppose the war in Iraq.

Mr Miliband has hailed it as a ‘march of the mainstream’ and urged people to take to the streets to demand ‘an alternative, to save our services, to show the cuts are going too deep and too fast’.

The Labour leader is expected to address crowds in Hyde Park at the end of the rally. His appearance is risky, because he will be blamed by opponents if the event ends in violence. As Miliband prepares to address massive anti-cuts protest, anarchists vow: 'We'll unleash hell' » | Jack Doyle and James Chapman | Saturday, March 26, 2011

Anti-cuts Campaigners Plan to Turn Trafalgar Square into Tahrir Square
THE GUARDIAN: Student activists draw inspiration from Egypt protests and call for 24-hour occupation of London landmark

Campaigners against public service cuts are calling for a 24-hour occupation of Trafalgar Square – drawing inspiration from revolts in the Middle East – to coincide with Saturday's trade union protest in London.

Student activists who organised last year's demonstrations say there will be a rolling programme of sit-ins and protests on the day and have called on people to occupy the central London square turning "Trafalgar into Tahrir" – a reference to the gathering point in Cairo that was at the heart of the revolution in Egypt earlier this year.

"We want Trafalgar Square to become a focal point for the ongoing occupations, marches and sit-ins that will carry on throughout the weekend," said Michael Chessum from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts. "There are a lot of smaller scale demonstrations and actions planned and, just as we have seen in recent protests in the Middle East and north Africa, we want to create an ongoing organising hub."

Saturday's main demonstration has been organised by the TUC and is expected to see more than 200,000 people – including public sector workers, families and first-time protesters – take to the capital's streets to oppose government cuts.

This month the TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, promised a barrage of protests against the cuts, ranging from industrial strikes and "peaceful civil disobedience" to petitions by Tory voters in the shires.

The plan to occupy Trafalgar Square is the latest in a wave of proposed sit-ins, occupations and "people's assemblies" that activists have branded a "carnival of civil disobedience". Continue reading and comment » | Matthew Taylor | Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Pound Forecast to Tumble on 'Insane' Spending Cuts
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Britain's spending cuts have been branded as "absolutely insane" by one of the world's leading currency traders, who expects the pound to tumble beyond the low it has set this year.

"I think what Britain is doing is absolutely insane" John Taylor, the founder of the $8bn FXConcepts fund, told The Sunday Telegraph. "The Conservatives will lose their stomach for this."

Reducing Britain's £156bn budget deficit is the cornerstone of the government's plan for restoring the economy's health. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, told Parliament last week that the £81bn in spending cuts would pull "Britain back from the brink."

Although Mr Osborne's plan has won support from many economists, there remains concern that it will damage a recovery that is already showing signs of faltering.

"The last retail sales numbers were pretty ugly and then we have to go through the VAT hit," said Mr Taylor, who at 67 is one of the oldest operators in the foreign-exchange markets. The pound will fall below 1.40, possibly this year, he expects. Sterling reached 1.43, its weakest against the dollar this year in May.

The Bank of England has publicly welcomed sterling's decline since the financial crisis erupted in 2008, but the central bank is not alone. Having already yanked hard on monetary and fiscal levers, an increasing number of governments are eyeing a weaker currency as a way of securing their share of an uneven global recovery. >>> Richard Blackden in New York | Sunday, October 24, 2010

Since when do currency traders understand economics? – © Mark

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Liberal Democrat Conference: Nick Clegg Defends Coalition Cuts
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Nick Clegg has defended the coalition's policies amid criticism from activists over the impact of the impending spending cuts.

The Deputy Prime Minister denied that the Government "relished" having to impose tight budget reductions, but insisted there was "nothing fair" about forcing future generations to pay off the nation's debt.

He said the Government had restored the earnings link to pensioners and was reversing the "grotesque inequality" in the tax system.

But he was told the deep spending cuts to be outlined in next month's spending review would "disproportionately" affect the poorest in society.

Speaking to party members during a question-and-answer session at the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool, Mr Clegg said: "The fact of this deficit, which (Labour) created, you and I can't wish it away.

"You cannot build social justice on the sands of debt. It can't be done." >>> | Sunday, September 19, 2010

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King Warns Unions Accept Cuts or 'Fail Your Children'
THE TELEGRAPH: Meryn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, has urged the unions to accept public sector reforms and jobs cuts by warning that anything short of tackling the UK's record Budget deficit would “fail the next generation”.



Addressing the Trades Union Congress, he described the current deficit as “unsustainable” and, in an implicit defence of the Coalition's policy, argued that “the current plan ... to reduce the deficit steadily over five years [is] a more gradual fiscal tightening than in some other countries”.

“Vague promises would not have been enough,” he told the Manchester conference, where union leaders have described the Government as the “Demolition Coalition” and threatened civil disobedience in protest at the planned reforms.

“Market reaction to rising sovereign debt can turn quickly from benign to malign, as we saw in the euro area earlier this year. It is not sensible to risk a damaging rise in long-term interest rates that would make investment and the cost of mortgages more expensive,” Mr King said.

“The costs of this crisis will be with us for a generation. And we owe it to the next generation to seize this opportunity to put in place the reforms that will make another crisis much less likely and much less damaging.”

He stressed that reducing the Budget deficit, which is forecast to hit £149bn this year – the largest peacetime deficit in history and the biggest as a proportion of GDP in Europe, is one of a number of necessary reforms, and will require co-operation from the unions. >>> Philip Aldrick, Economics Editor | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Benefit Claimants to Have Payments Cut
THE TELEGRAPH: Benefits claimants will have their payments cut as ministers seek a further £4 billion in welfare cuts.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that the Government will go further than previously announced in trying to bring down the cost of Britain’s social security system.

The promise of new welfare cuts has caused strain in the Coalition, with some Liberal Democrat MPs protesting against the move.

Mr Osborne said the welfare system had grown out of control and allowed some people to make the “lifestyle choice” of claiming benefits for their entire life instead of working.

Reforms being drawn up by the Coalition will give welfare claimants “a strong incentive” to get a job.

Welfare now costs £192 billion a year, almost a third of all government spending. An estimated 5 million people of working age are now economically inactive and receiving benefits.

In the Budget in June, Mr Osborne announced that benefits cuts will save £11 billion a year by the end of the Parliament.

In a BBC interview, he signalled that ministers will now seek deeper cuts, reducing welfare spending by another £4 billion. >>> James Kirkup and Andrew Porter | Thursday, September 09, 2010

Britain Begins to Feel the Pain of Austerity Cuts
THE NEW YORK TIMES: LONDON — Last month, the British government abolished the U.K. Film Council, the Health Protection Agency and dozens of other groups that regulate, advise and distribute money in the arts, health care, industry and other areas.

It seemed shockingly abrupt, a mass execution without appeal. But it was just a tiny taste of what is to come.

Like a shipwrecked sailor on a starvation diet, the new British coalition government is preparing to shrink down to its bare bones as it cuts expenditures by $130 billion over the next five years and drastically scales back its responsibilities. The result, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a research group, will be “the longest, deepest sustained period of cuts to public services spending” since World War II.

Until recently, the cuts were just election talking points, inchoate warnings of a new age of austerity. But now the pain has begun. And as the government begins its abrupt retrenchment, the implications, complications and confusions in the process are beginning to emerge. >>> Sarah Lyall | Monday, August 09, 2010

Is the BBC Losing Its Grip?
THE TELEGRAPH: With its stars being picked off by rival broadcasters and looming cuts to pay and pensions, the mood at the BBC is said to be 'sulphurous'. Neil Midgley looks at the tensions pulling it apart.

Saturday July 17 will see the end of an era at the BBC – and one that the corporation will be glad to forget. Just before 1pm, Jonathan Ross will hang up his Radio 2 headphones for good – his three-year, £18 million deal finally at an end. Ross became a totem of almost everything the BBC's critics say is wrong with it: his massive pay packet, his foul-mouthed style and, fatally, his infamous harassment, with Russell Brand, of the actor Andrew Sachs on Brand's Radio 2 show. His exit should be the opportunity for a golden new dawn at Television Centre in White City: with the page turned and lessons learned, the BBC could and should be ready to show itself not only leaner and meaner, but with higher editorial standards and a greater commitment to the public service broadcasting ideals for which it was founded in the days of John Reith.

Yet when Sir Michael Lyons, the chairman of the BBC Trust, stood up to give an agenda-setting speech at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer consumer group last week, he did not give a confident performance. Though he gathered headlines in the following day's papers with his demand for the BBC's top-earning on-screen stars to be publicly listed, he had in fact dithered over the text of the speech almost until he delivered it. He even added a crucial caveat – that individual presenters' salaries need not be disclosed – while he was on his feet. Often stumbling over his words, he looked and sounded weary and unsure.

Today, Sir Michael will be on his feet again, next to director-general Mark Thompson at the presentation of the BBC's annual report. One Tory MP recently described the pair – with some frustration, given Sir Michael's role as regulator of Thompson's output – as being "like Romulus and Remus, they appear everywhere as a double act". But tensions between those who run the BBC, led by Thompson, and the supervisory Trust, led by Sir Michael, have never been higher. According to one senior source, the executive and the trust are now in "almost open warfare", with the trust's most recent demands about "talent pay" disclosure only hardening the resentment felt at Television Centre towards the trust. The source added that if Sir Michael had gone further and asked for presenters' actual salaries to be disclosed, the pair might have publicly fallen out there and then. Thompson has since ruled out publishing the salary details of the BBC's stars. >>> Neil Midgley | Monday, July 05, 2010

Cameron Orders Ministers to Draw Up 40 Per Cent Spending Cuts – the Biggest in History
Doomsday savings: Prime Minister David Cameron is preparing departments for cuts of up to 40 per cent. Photograph: Mail On Sunday
MAIL ON SUNDAY: David Cameron is ready to approve the biggest public-spending cuts in the history of the developed world in a dramatic bid to cut ­Britain’s soaring national debt.

He has ordered Cabinet Ministers to draw up ‘Doomsday’ savings of up to a staggering 40 per cent which could see vast parts of the public ­services shut down and tens of thousands of policemen, teachers, town hall workers and other civil servants lose their jobs.

The proposed cutbacks are even more extreme than emergency reductions used in other countries such as Canada and Ireland and are double the amount of the Geddes cuts imposed after the First World War when Britain faced bankruptcy from government debt and waste.

Mr Cameron’s shock initiative is a massive personal and political gamble.

There were gasps at a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday when Ministers were informed of the package.

It could provoke a wave of crippling strikes – and may well threaten Mr Cameron’s alliance with Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. Many Lib Dem MPs, already unhappy with the VAT rise and cuts in benefits, are likely to rebel against the draconian new measures.

However, if it works, it could result in a ­second Election victory for the Prime Minister. Continue reading and comment >>> Simon Walters | Sunday, July 04, 2010

Greek Police Clash with Protesters over Austerity Reforms
Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades. Photograph: The Times
THE TIMES: Masked youths fought running battles with police in Athens today as violence broke out during the country’s fifth general strike this year.

Riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of protesters who threw chunks of marble and set rubbish bins on fire.

Ferry passengers at Greece’s main port of Piraeus had to run a gauntlet of protesters who succeeded in blockading some departures to Aegean islands and there were marches in other major cities.

The strike was timed to coincide with the start of a parliamentary debate on reforms designed to make it easier for companies to sack employees and raise the retirement age.

Greece has had to agree to sweeping austerity measures in return for help to meet its sovereign debts.

The country avoided bankruptcy last month only after receiving the first instalment of a 110 billion euro emergency loan package from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF). >>> David Charter, Europe Correspondent | Tuesday, June 29, 2010

La rigueur met les LibDems en position difficile
Le ministre des Finances conservateur, George Osborne, a annoncé des mesures drastiques. Photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Le plan d'austérité présenté par le chef du gouvernement britannique fragilise sa coalition.

La politique de rigueur mise en place par le gouvernement de David Cameron provoque déjà des tensions au sein de la coalition organisée avec les libéraux-démocrates de Nick Clegg. Plusieurs députés LibDems protestent ouvertement contre les hausses d'impôts annoncées la semaine dernière par le ministre des Finances conservateur, George Osborne. Quatre d'entre eux sont même allés à l'encontre des consignes de leur parti, en proposant un amendement au budget qui rendrait inapplicable la hausse de la TVA de 17,5 % à 20 %, qui devrait avoir lieu en début d'année prochaine. Ces élus s'inquiètent de l'impact de la hausse de la TVA sur les foyers les plus modestes, et auraient préféré que les nouveaux impôts soient plus «progressistes », en faisant porter la facture sur les plus riches.

Le petit parti libéral-démocrate n'a décroché que 55 députés sur 650 sièges lors des dernières législatives, mais il est devenu un partenaire indispensable pour les conservateurs de David Cameron qui, avec 306 élus, étaient restés en deçà du seuil de la majorité absolue. Pendant toute la campagne, et lors des négociations de coalition avec les tories, le groupe de Nick Clegg a avancé un programme fiscal progressiste, insistant sur la nécessité de rendre les impôts «plus justes », en allégeant le fardeau des revenus modestes. La semaine dernière, le groupe d'analyse Institute for Fiscal Studies a commenté que la hausse de la TVA allait avoir un impact plus sensible pour les plus pauvres et a qualifié le budget de «plutôt réactionnaire ». >>> Par Cyrille Vanlerberghe | Mardi 29 Juin 2010

Cameron Risks Conflict with US Over Pace of Spending Cuts
David Cameron arrives in Toronto where he will attend the G8 and G20 summits. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: David Cameron will risk a trans-Atlantic rift over his Budget today by insisting that Britain is right to slash spending despite American warnings that deep cuts could derail the global recovery.

Tim Geithner, President Obama’s Treasury Secretary, said it was paramount for European leaders to concentrate on growth, and that they could not rely on America to drive the recovery.

His comments reflect concern in Washington that European governments - Germany in particular - have cut their budgets too hard and too fast, and that the risk to growth could drag the world economy back towards recession.

Mr Cameron, who holds face-to-face talks with Mr Obama tomorrow in Toronto, will insist that he had no choice because the Greek crisis showed the dangers to governments of failing to deal with vast debts.

“For countries with big fiscal deficits, that path to recovery requires us to deal decisively with the deficit problem,” said the Prime Minister’s official spokesman.

“It is perfectly consistent to have strong position on fiscal consolidation and be pro growth.” Read on and comment >>> Roland Watson, Toronto | Friday, June 25, 2010

Analysis: VAT and Cuts Spell Trouble for Clegg
THE TIMES: Ministers from both sides of the coalition were quick to talk up the Lib Dem Budget wins, including the £1,000 increase in the starting rate of income tax and the £150 one-off payment for poor families.

But the Lib Dems could be forgiven for a tinge of self loathing every time this is described as a “progressive” budget, as they weigh the concessions made to them against the package of horrors they must now defend.

The pictures of Nick Clegg standing in front of the anti-Tory “VAT bombshell” posters last night were gruesome enough. The Treasury graphs showing the increased burden felt by the poorest in society are even worse.

But the real challenge for the Deputy Prime Minister, and Danny Alexander, the hastily appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is that a sizeable number of Lib Dems disagree with the single biggest decision underpinning yesterday’s statement - the scale and speed of the cuts.

George Osborne revealed yesterday he wants to extinguish the structural deficit and be in surplus by the end of the Parliament with a combination of £8billion tax rises, £32billion spending cuts and £11billion welfare cuts by 2014.

The Chancellor called this “unavoidable” action needed to calm the market. But Lib Dems - and some in the markets - dispute this. The markets worry the scale of the action make tip Britain back into recession. Lib Dems point out many other countries maintain their AAA rating without paying off “every last penny” of the structural debt - money which could go to help the most vulnerable in society. Read on and comment >>> Analysis, Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent | Wednesday, June 2010