Those were the words of a Greek man in the streets of Athens. Surrounding him were rioters who were objecting to what was going on in their country.

Nobody is accusing the Greeks of being bad, whatever bad means in this situation. But the Greeks have demonstrated that they are not realistic and they are definitely hot-heated. They now have murder of three bank employees on their hands as well.

It is unethical for them to blame the government for all their current problems. Corruption and bribery in their country have been systemic for years and it looks as if nobody wondered how all the social benefits enjoyed by its citizens could be sustained.

Did any retiree question the ridiculous pension schemes which permitted hairdressers and musicians to retire at the age of 50 because theirs were professions deemed to be risky?

I was stunned by the 580 job categories that were deemed to be hazardous enough to merit early retirement. Apparently, this applies to 14% of the workforce and includes radio and TV presenters who could catch infection from microphones.

What made the Greeks think that they deserved early retirement while other countries were trying to increase the retirement age?

Were they bad people to want to live an easy life? I don’t think so. Most people wouldn’t say no to extra benefits. But they were greedy and lazy and now they want the rest of the world to dig them out of the mess they created.

Who can blame the Germans for not wanting to bail out these foolish people? Germans should retire at 67 so that Greeks can retire at 50 or 60? This does not make sense to me at all.

Let’s be perfectly honest here. The rest of the world, and Europe in particular, doesn’t give a damn what happens to Greece. It is justifiably worried that the fall of Greece will lead to the fall of Europe and beyond. So Greeks will be bailed out. But they had better face reality and stop protesting about losing benefits that the rest of the world can only dream of having.

Greece should grow up and learn to say thank you. Wake up and smell the coffee and get on with creating an ethical country. You gave us democracy and now live up to your admirable legacy!

It’s a long time since the Fifth Century BC. I can’t imagine that Pericles would applaud the deluded behaviour of Greeks on our TV screens.