Well with the people I know and meet, Papandreou is a dirty word these days. People always stress the different generations of the family who became Prime Ministers, and almost spit when they mention Giorgios. I always hear him refered to as weak and feeble.


This much is true. Political historians refer to Greece being urged to join the EU before it was truly ready, because it was felt that they couldn't have a democratic union without the home of democracy being at the table.


I must say, I have rarely come across a nation where defrauding the tax man is as common place, blatant and accepted as it is in Greece. I've yet to go to a petrol station where I haven't been offered a second receipt. In two weeks time, I'll be back at my OH's place, a quiet village next to Kifissia in northern Athens. The sheer opulence in Kifissia, even in times of austerity, is breathtaking. I've asked my OH's family why these spectacular houses have such high garden walls? Is it because of crime? Apparently it's to stop the tax man seeing that they have swimming pools because they would be taxed on them.


By equal measure, there's a camaraderie and generosity of spirit in Greece that I rarely see anywhere else, and hardly ever in the UK. We'll visit my OH's elderly aunts in Marousi and call at the minimarket at the end of their street with them because, when we buy three bottles of wine for the family lunch, the shop owner slips another bottle of wine and a fresh loaf into his aunt's shopping bag. He does things for all the elderly people in the area...a free loaf here, an extra piece of cheese there, so it's only right that we shop at his store to show our appreciation for caring for my OH's aunts.

Greece will survive. I fully expect Greece to remain in the EU. As for other financial issues, perhaps some people need to watch 'Margin Call' again to remind themselves of the mentality that was responsible for 2008.