He made no secret that of his belief that Greece is going to exit the eurozone and that after that dramatic event, the whole eurozone is going to implode, as the currency collapses. Greenspan for years headed the Federal Reserve in the US and he’ s always sounded like someone talking a lot of common sense, especially at the moment.
Some financial sources reckon that Greece is going to run out of cash in a fortnight’ s time- then what? The German government, which is the real paymaster and controller of the EU and the eurozone, is totally at odds with the new Greek government and the chances of both sides reaching an acceptable agreement on Greece’ s debts seem remote.
There’ s an even greater crisis pending in Ukraine; it’ s unlikely that a peace deal can be reached today and that brings the situation in eastern Ukraine much closer to a full scale war. If the peace deal fails, it’s quite likely that the US and some western allies will start supplying Ukraine with armaments, which will bring the West and Russia into a head- on clash. Putin is being increasingly demonised in the West, especially in the US and the UK, a sure sign that war could be on its way. Stand by for the third world war! While all this is going on, the crafty Putin has opened another front, in Greece, thereby creating more rifts within the EU. There’s no doubt that Putin is a wily and devious operator and he runs rings round the West, which hasn’ t got the measure of him at all.
No wonder that David Cameron said the other day that a second financial crash is imminent, to match what happened in 2008. Add to all that the uncertainty over the forthcoming general election in the UK; that’ s just one more uncertainty adding to the general “up in the air” feeling at the moment. Pollsters are predicting that in Scotland, the SNP could practically wipe out the Labour Party, but funnily enough, they’ve been very quiet recently about the likely impact of UKIP. Maybe the drama on Radio 4 the other day was very prophetic. It was set four years in the future and was based on the fact that the UK had left the EU and as a result, found itself with a land frontier to be defended. That land frontier of course separates the two parts of Ireland and the usual Irish complications set in. It was an interesting piece, in contrast to so much of Radio 4’s schedule these days. One recent programme was talking about boreholes- in truth, much of Radio 4 could be labelled a “boring hole”.
But talking about the media. I mentioned last week that the new Observer website is shambolic, so last Sunday, for the first time in ages, I bought the printed version of the paper and it was actually quite good, with plenty to read in it.
While all these nerve- tingling world events have been going on, the Irish government’ s response has been to launch plans for minimum pricing on alcohol, which would mean €8. 80 as the minimum price of a bottle of wine. In many quarters, the plan has been laughed out of court; surely, in these hard pressed times, we need cheaper not dearer alcohol?! Also in Dublin the other day, a noted Dutch artist, Jan de Fouw, died. In the 1950s and early 1960s, a whole horde of Dutch artists and designers made their homes in Dublin and they certainly added to the gaiety of the nation, as well as having a wonderfully professional approach to their work. But some of those Dutch designers were really way out in their personal behaviour and secretly, a lot of people enjoyed being shocked by such Bohemian behaviour.
In France, they’ve found an equal diversion from the real news. The city of Paris is thinking of installing a Danish invention, outdoor loos for women. These urinals come in three forms. The first is called Pollee Shy, for inhibited women, while the second is called Pollee Topless for women prepared to be a bit more daring, while the third version is called Pollee Naked. This version gives bystanders a full view of what’ s happening. So if the plan comes to fruition, the streets of Paris could become the subject of even more controversy. In the meantime, the D8 television channel in France has launched a new style reality show called Adam and Eve. Contestants will meet up on the show and then when they go for a date, it will be in the nude.
Fortunately for the participants, the show will be filmed on a warm and sunny Polynesian atoll, rather than in France. Contestants’ genitals will be pixellated, but breasts and bottoms will be on full show. It’ s the most daring reality show to date in France, but the concept isn’t French- it has been taken from a similar show in the Netherlands, which presumably is even less prudish, knowing the Dutch.
While all this has been going on, some interesting financial transactions have happened in France. Last year, the hoard of rare cars collected over 50 years ago by a man who built up a fortune in the transport business, Roger Baillon, was found stashed away on a farm in western France. The other day, the whole lot was sold by auction in Paris, fetching just over €25 million. The top price, of €16. 23 million, was paid for a 1961 Ferrari sports car once owned by the actor Alain Delon. No wonder that the collection has been described as the biggest ever barn find.
Valuables of a different kind are in the legal limelight at the moment. Pierre Guennec was a handyman who did work for Picasso at the end of the great artist’ s life, including at his last house in Mougins in the south of France- Picasso died in 1973. But Guennec and his wife Jacqueline had a hoard of 271 works by Picasso stashed in their garage. They claim that Picasso had willingly donated the items, whereas members of Picasso’ s family claim they were stolen. The court verdict is equally awaited.
Another legal decision this week has also created much interest. Just over 20 years ago, two mothers gave birth to a daughter each; subsequently both children developed jaundice and were sent to a clinic in Cannes. Once they had recovered, each child was given back to its parents. But it turned out that the wrong child was given to the wrong parents. The’ wrong’ girls were brought up by their ‘wrong’ families, but early attempts for the biological families to keep in touch didn’t work out. Now damages of €1. 8million have been awarded, but the clinic in Cannes has long since closed down. Another interesting court case came up a few days ago in nearby Monaco. There, a young Frenchman called Noel Foti, who worked as a masseur and physiotherapist at the Princess Grace hospital in Monaco, turned out to have got the job by false pretences, since his diploma was forged. He has been sent to prison for a year and ordered to pay €50, 000 in damages.
Also on money matters, staff working at the new Bordeaux hotel and restaurant of Joel Robuchon, one of the French super star chefs, have revealed what they say went on at La Grande Maison in that western city. They say they had to work 15 hours shifts, with no breaks, were often insulted and to add to their sense of injustice, were forced to drink salt water. It all sounds very unedifying, adding to the growing belief in France that many of the country’ s top rated culinary establishments just aren’t the full shilling and certainly not worth the money they charge.
Then there’ s the case of a baker in the town of Saint- Paul- les- Dax in south- western France. Stéphane Cazenave’ s bakery is renowned for its baguettes; in fact last year his baguettes were described as the best in France. But it turned out that he had been running his bakery seven days a week when he should have been closed for at least 24 hours in a week. Now the law has caught up with him, he says that he won’ t be able to keep all his staff, adding for good measure “ working shouldn’ t be a crime in France”.
Added to France’ s notorious employment regulations comes news that Nice has more CCTV surveillance than any other city in France; the 1, 000 th CCTV camera has just been installed this week. Surveillance against terrorism in France is now organised at 830 locations nationwide, places all considered at high risk of attack. But at least, in the aftermath of the recent attacks in France, the Socialist party managed to hang on to a parliamentary seat in the byelection in Doubs, on the border with France and Switzerland. The UMP party, headed by Sarkozy, split on whether or not its members should support the Front National candidate and in the second round of voting last Sunday, the Socialists actually managed to win.
But someone is managing to add to their fortune. The singer Johnny Hallyday has owned a vast chalet in Gstaad in Switzerland since 2006. It has nine living rooms in all, covering 320 square metres, in an idyllic setting. But in 2013, Hallyday changed his fiscal residence from Switzerland to Los Angeles, so he’s now put his Swiss chalet on the market, for the equivalent of €9. 4 million. But who knows; it turns out that most people in France are keen for France to bid for the summer Olympics in 2024; if this happened, and Paris won, it will be another wealth creating opportunity, quite apart from the vast sums needed to build all the stadia.