05 August 2002

A superb summary in today's New York Times of the story that has dominated the Greek media for the last 5 weeks, the rolling up of the November 17 terrorist group, and which I should have been blogging much more energetically since I first alluded to it, some time ago. Steven Erlanger touches on all the significant aspects of the case, both criminal and political, such as how this group  managed to get away with brazen, public crimes for 27 years, and yet after the first crack appeared, the whole house of cards collapsed very quickly.  One reason, of course, is that after the British military attache, Brigadier Saunders, was murdered (in his car, in morning rush hour traffic, by a couple of gunmen on a motorcycle), Scotland Yard assigned a team to the case, and they have been patiently putting the jigsaw puzzle together for two years, and upgrading the competence of the Greek authorities.  Undoubtedly, significant diplomatic pressure was brought to bear also. Erlanger refers to one of the (to me) remarkable facts about this issue, and so many others in Greece: A recent national opinion poll showed that 31 percent of Greeks said they agreed with the political aims of November 17 and only 64.5 percent classified it as a terrorist group. This, after the jailed thugs have been shown to be common criminals, free of revolutionary ideology (with the exception of the leader, Yiotopoulos), who spent the proceeds of their bank robberies on a series of holiday homes. Perhaps it is no surprise given the outpouring of wild conspiracy theories that pour out from the endless talk shows on the number of private, tabloid-style TV stations here.  Greek TV is really someting else! Another fascinating aspect is the likely political outcome.  The PASOK government, whch has been way behind in the polls, seems to have recovered somewhat as a result of the apparent success of the investigation, but on the other hand, there have been insistent suggestions, going back years, and hinted at in this article, that there are strong links between the true ideological leaders on N17 and PASOK itself. We shall see; I tend to agree with those who say there is a lot more to be exposed in this story. More on this subject, and more links, later. 2:24:39 PM    comment []

And here's a marvellous good news story. Natalie Du Toit is apparently a media superstar in the UK.  She was on the front page of  The Times last Friday, with large underwater shot of her missing leg, and apparently she was interviewed by 15 international broadcast networks yesterday, and impressed all with her lucidity and charm.  She is a very brave and very friendly young lady, I have often seen her training at the Sports Science Institute in Newlands, and on occasion, have shared a pool with her.  She is extraordinary popular there, not without reason.  Well done, Natalie, and here's to Athens 2004! 1:47:08 PM    comment []

The Boks have returned from their tour down under, regretably without a win, although not disgraced in either encounter, with the all-white All Blacks in Wellington, and the creatine-enhanced Wallabies in Brisbane.  Rudolph Straeuli has been a revelation as coach, with some courageous selections and a young team playing with pace and flair, and scoring tries.  It seems he has been able to implement the things that Nick Mallett and especially Harry Viljoen only talked about, while the pundits expected him to revert to dour, safety first traditional Springbok rugby.  He seems to have strength in depth too, and if he can keep this team together for as long, say, as the Aussies have, they will be a force to be reckoned with.  As early as next year's World Cup?  Let's see. And how about last Saturday's bruising match between the All Blacks and Wallabies?  Those Aussies seem to specialise in last-minute come from behnd victories.  How many times have they done it?  Three times in three years against the All Blacks, apparently.  The Kiwis have now developed a quite uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It happened on New Zealand soil in 2000 when John Eales kicked a penalty as the final whistle blew. It happened again in 2001, with Toutai Kefu scoring the decisive try of the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe Cup just as the siren operator was reaching out to touch the button. (Gavin Rich, today). And we all remember Mortlock's injury time penalty in Durban that took the match away from the Boks in 2000, and sank Mallett's  Bok coaching career. Anyway, this result means there is a remote chance that the Boks could win the Trinations, if they beat both NZ and Australia with a  bonus point in each game.  That should have the smarmy Stuart Barnes and Dewi Morris on Sky Sports eating their words (Boks on odds of 40-1 on Sky web site). Bokke!     1:32:23 PM    comment []

With my urging, and probably all of his countrymen too, Ernie Els did it, and won the auld claret jug at Muirfield, although it has to be said, he didn't do it the easy way. 12:32:21 PM    comment []

Here's a cheerful little item, culled from "Spirits of the Age", in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph: Alex Ranson, 85, ended up in the same hospital ward as his wife in Stanhope, Co Durham, when he had a heart attack after he realised he had run her over . . . twice. - Daily Mail 12:24:53 PM    comment []

Time to start blogging again, after a two week hiatus.  Sorry to all my devoted readers, we had the connection-free break in Athens, and since then, too busy to get back to it.  I have quite a backlog of items I'd like to comment on, and I'll have to go through my browser history file to retrieve some of the backlog (weblog backlog, backblog?  what shall we call it?) 12:22:24 PM    comment []