The news that British PM David Cameron has fought in Brussels to severely limit Britain's financial exposure to EU funding for the Greek bailout is not good. It is evidence of an historic betrayal. Since at least the time of Byron, Britain has understood the importance of Greece, as classical ideal, and as reality. Millions of British people travel to Greece every year, for holidays in the sun, welcomed by great hospitality, food, natural beauty, and ancient history of extraordinary worth. Modern Greece is not Athens in its golden age. But we owe the idea of Greece a debt worth far more than billions. We owe them our civilisation. It therefore seems sad and petty and ignoble to refuse to come to their rescue, when they need us most.
A poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.

Comments
Thanks for reminding us that there are still many Brits who are Philhellenes--like that other lord who died in (and for) Greece, George Gordon.