Controlling the monsters in our midst - Banks and responsibility

THE politicians who, in 2010, when Ireland and Greece faced a nuclear-winter economic collapse that was averted only by the intervention of the EU and IMF, decided that our best interests lay in accepting the reality of our situation and that working with the troika offered the best prospect of restoring some sort of stability to our economy have been vindicated.

Despite persistent goading from Greek and Spanish protesters, our politicians and trade unions did not take the bait; they played a long, hard game and today the fruits of that patient, difficult policy are evident. While the Greeks rioted and protested over even the slightest attempt at ending practices that, if they were not corrupt were indistinguishable from corruption, we accepted measures that had a profound impact on most people’s quality of life.

Today, Greece is again on the verge of collapse and is so desperate that some Greeks have suggested turning their back on the EU and asking Vladimir Putin’s Russia for the financial support they need to sustain even the most basic social functions. There can hardly be a starker example of desperate delusion in modern European history.