Some things in life are inherently sensible. The Queen is sensible in a posh way. The BBC is sensible in an often annoying way. And in the absence of alternative data, we use ‘sensible’ as a feeling to test things out. Is it sensible to park the car there? Where it says ‘ambulances only’? Or there, where I probably won’t get towed away? Is it sensible to run and jump onto that moving bus? Probably not but I’ll be late if I don’t.

So is it sensible to have a European Union? Yes, I reckon it is. Sounds right, feels right. Probably good for trade and other stuff. That was how we voted in our nation’s last referendum in the 1970s. We knew fuck all about it, but it felt the sensible thing to do. No-one gave us any true, impartial reference points, much as they’re not now. The ‘ins’ tell you its essential, the ‘outs’ tell you its a shitty place full of foreigners and Greeks bearing no gifts whatsoever; they can no longer afford them. No-one’s on the fence. And yet another referendum awaits us soon and we’re quite frankly unqualified to make that decision. That’s what we vote governments for; to make decisions about the future of our nation. Not to ‘ask the people’ every time they need to take 76p out of petty cash to buy some toilet paper.

Is it sensible to have a single currency across Europe? Definitely. As long as Britain remains out of that particular nasty. In fact its brilliant. I no longer have to keep little envelopes with 37.84 French Francs, mainly in centimes, and 14.62 Deutschmarks in another, and 586 million Italian Lire in another. All piddling little amounts that you ‘keep for next time’. Now we keep one envelope with Euros and that’s that. So the Euro’s great.

Except its not. And it doesn’t work, and really its the least sensible thing Europe ever did. It works fine in northern Europe, where the countries are rich, the workers work and the taxes get paid (I’ll even include Italy and Spain in that, which gives them way too much benefit of anyone’s doubt). But the further south you travel the worse it gets.

And you end up in Greece. Which is on the verge of such a total collapse that the Russians have sensed weakness and fragility and they’ve moved in for the kill, as they always do. Like vultures with armour-piercing shells and jack-boots. And promises of loans.

The Greeks are upset about what they call ‘austerity’. What we call ‘paying taxes, giving money to the government to provide services and pensions and stuff’. The Greeks have never been on board with this concept. They prefer to avoid taxes altogether, or pay some paltry, token gesture amount. Yet still want to retire at 50 on a full and rather excellent state pension.

Its not their fault. The Greek ‘man on the street’. Stavros. He’s been brought up on this culture which has served the last 15 generations of Stavri perfectly well. And now the nation has no money, it owes billions to everyone and there’s a rush on the banks which will produce the total collapse of the economy.

And I feel really sorry for the people of Greece. Because they’ve been screwed over by decades of terribly inefficient governance which has led them, blindly, down this terrible alley, which has Angela Merkel at one end and Vladimir Putin at the other.

Not a great place to be for the nation that invented democracy and the right-angled triangle.

Happy Sunday

A xxxx