Friday 27 February 2015

The ignorant fixer?

Yesterday the printer in the office wasn't working. It had some problem. I didn't really understand what the problem was but I fixed it.
Today my bicycle had a problem. I didn't really understand what the problem was but I fixed it.
My PhD has had a problem for the past few weeks. I understand perfectly well what it is but I can't fix it.
Blessed ignorance!

Friday 20 February 2015

Democracy goes both ways

I've read quite a few comments in the last few weeks saying something like "how can the EU possibly refuse to respect the Greek people's decision of refusing austerity measures?" This, obviously, leads to: "EU is not respecting Democracy."
Now... To grant or no to grant a loan to one country inside the eurogroup is a decision taken by unanimity of its member states. All of them have democratic legitimacy and they may decide to use their taxpayers money in some other way. If they consider that the choices of the Greek government compromisse their taxpayers' money and will still not help Greece or the entire Eurozone, they have democratic legitimacy to say so.
They may be right or they may be wrong. But it's their choice to use their taxpayers' (and voters') money in the way they wish to. After all, a treaty is a commitment of two or more states and each state has to decide on whether they commit themselves or not. The Greek government, whose leaders have been very clear that they accept the EU only because at the moment they have no other choice, needs to consider that the other governments may also think that they accept to negotiate with them only because the Greeks elected them and they have no other choice.
My personal choice...? I would rather negotiate with the stuborn Schäuble than with his coleric and radical counterpart, Varoufakis.

Saturday 14 February 2015

Mist in Edinburgh

Today I went (for the third time) to the Castle of Edinburgh* to show it to my homonym friend from Aberdeen.** And what a perfect day to go. No, it wasn't clear blue sky allowing us to see all the way to Leith. Why speak of Leith if we couldn't even see Arthur's Seat? It was a perfect misty day... The sort of day that makes the city look intimate and in a way cosy. 



Find Carlton Hill. Impossible, right?

*Sponsored by my sister and my friend who left me two tickets in August. Thanks lassies!
** Author of these photos. Thanks lad!

Thursday 5 February 2015

Scotland in the UK

Some people have expressed to me their disappointment for my lack of comment on the report "Scotland in the United Kingdom: An enduring settlement". After all my campaign in this blog for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom, that would have been only fair. However the excess of academic duties (aka "the cursed thesis") have not allowed me to read the report and I don't want to just echo what the media says. Probably when I finally do read the report, nobody will be interested in it anymore.
So please don't wait for me. Go the site on the future of the UK and Scotland because they have some very good posts about it.

Wednesday 4 February 2015

Tuesday 3 February 2015

United we stand, divided we fall

Reading the British news, it seems that Tsipras' election opens a war between Germany and Greece. Not that Tsipras himself and Lady Euro (aka Merkel) and her loyal Gentlemen of the Eurochamber don't enjoy the idea of a battle going on. That's also good for local electorates. Remembering Churchill, as so many have done in the last few weeks, "the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." And a conversation with the German and Greek voters shows that they seem to enjoy this aggressive talk of their prime-ministers.
The problem is, an economic battle between Germany and Greece, like all battles, would just weaken both combatants. Yes, it would weaken Germany as well... It's already doing that. Besides, it's not like we're in the 1960s and the European economy is growing and promising to grow even more. This is the XXI century! The entire EU struggles not to have its economy slump even harder.
What about the UK? British should understand that this is not a problem for Greece and Germany or even a problem of the Eurozone. This is a problem for the entire EU, including the UK. If the economies in the Eurozone slump, so does the British economy.
It's obvious that Greece has a very serious economic problem which the troika recipe of budget cutting is not helping. It's also obvious that Greece is not the only country in EU with economic problems and that it can't expect other countries to help when it passes an image of being a spendthrift. At last, it's also obvious that having the Greek economy go back to growth is in the best interest of all other EU countries.
After the obvious, the less obvious: what to do with these obvious conclusions?
I'm not going to give an answer because I don't have one. But I do know that whatever the solution is, it will need to be given by all member states of the EU.
United we stand... Hopefully!