Debating whether Greece should remain in the euro, while we still can

“I don’t want to hear your life story when you ask a question,” BBC presenter and debate moderator Zeinab Badawi warned the large audience at the Hellenic Cosmos theater in Athens on Tuesday night before the cameras started rolling for one of the most interesting discussions the city is likely to host this year. It was certainly not a night for personal tales. This was about the story of a country and its dramatic fall from grace and economic stability.

The subject of the debate – organized by Intelligence Squared – was whether Greece should remain in the euro or return to the drachma. What exquisite timing that the debate should take place on the same day the Eurogroup agreed on a new bailout for Greece, one which some think will be enough to keep the country in the single currency and others believe is bound to drive Greeks back to the drachma.

Dodging taxes or dodging the issue?

You know it’s August when journalists work themselves into a lather over a tax-dodging astrologist, as they did earlier this month. Granted, this particular Greek stargazer had allegedly hoarded some 4 million euros away from the prying eyes of tax inspectors. But the real news was that he managed to earn so much offering such a bad service. After all, if he were any good at predicting the future, he would have seen the taxman coming.

The snaring of an astrologer is usually about as titillating as tax-related matters can get, but it’s been an action-packed few weeks for members of the financial crimes squad (SDOE) and the newly formed Financial Police. They nabbed academics at the University of Ioannina who allegedly denied state coffers 700,000 euros, they caught 31 tourism-related businesses hiding their profits and the new hotline for citizens to register suspicions of tax evasion has reportedly been doing roaring business.