For someone who loves train travel like myself, nothing is sadder than the cancelling of services and the ruination of railway stations. OSE, the National Greek Railways were the first victim of the Greek crisis and almost all but the most profitable of railway services were closed and went to dust. All international lines were […]
Greece: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Fix Hellas I know that “Fix Hellas” sounds like a cry of despair, but anyone who’s travelled to Greece before the early 1980s surely remembers ordering and drinking Fix Hellas, the only beer produced in Greece with a national distribution network. The country’s Soviet-style industry control system, import controls and a small domestic market ensured […]
Christopher Hitchens and the Elgin Marbles
I am not one of the giants of the literary establishment who regularly consorted with Christopher Hitchens, the great polemicist who died on December 15 after a two-year battle with cancer. I am just one of the lucky ones who met him fleetingly and were dazzled by his personality. Unlike many, I didn’t argue with […]