Extremists ready to take advantage in Troika-shackled Greece

You could have parked anywhere you liked in Athens a few weeks ago — the city’s parking police had all been fired.

Most university students were still on summer holidays because much of the administrative staff had been let go. A law was going through parliament to take away the six days’ annual leave and extra pay given to civil servants for using computers. Apparently many were getting the time off and the money despite government offices having very few computers — Dutch experts are helping to change that at the moment.

But the lights are still on in this most august of cities — the up-lighters in Syntagma Square pick out the stark lines of the parliament, the grass glistens in the evening dew, and the palm trees stand out in the city centre after dusk.