Published by UnHerd (7th May, 2021) It is the great political conundrum of our age. Why are the parties of social democracy performing so poorly in many Western […]
Europe / Greece / Immigration / Policy / Turkey / World
Ankara plays pass the asylum-seeker
Published by The i paper (9th March 2020) The scenes of squalor and stories of despair had a sordid sense of familiarity. On Friday night I stood at […]
Europe / Greece / Immigration / Policy / Turkey / World
Greek police beat us, stole our money, phones, even our shoes. Then they dumped us back in Turkey
Published by The Mail on Sunday (8th March, 2020) Having fled one of Syria’s many bloodstained battlegrounds, Muhammad spent years struggling as a refugee in southern Turkey. Last week, […]
Europe / European Union / Greece / Immigration / Policy
Left to rot on Lesbos
Published by The Mail on Sunday (8th July, 2018) I drove past tavernas filled with tourists looking out over fishing boats bobbing on the blue sea, then down […]
Arts / Books / Immigration / Policy
Flawed and frustrating
Published by The Observer (30th July, 2017) Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System by Alexander Betts and Paul Collier (Allen Lane) When the Ottoman empire collapsed almost a […]
Arts / Books / Economics / Europe / European Union / Germany / Greece
To austerity and beyond by Yanis the menace
Published by The Observer (24th April, 2016) And The Weak Suffer What They Must? by Yanis Varoufakis (Bodley Head) It is easy to forget that Yanis Varoufakis spent two […]
Europe / European Union / Greece / Immigration / Policy / Politics / Syria / World
Pope’s humanity puts others to shame
Published by The iPaper (17th April, 2016) Hasan and Nour Essa are both engineers, who fled their besieged, bombed and battered home town in Syria with their young […]
Europe / European Union / Greece
100,000 reasons why the EU is broken (whether Britain is In or Out)
Published by The Mail on Sunday (28th February, 2016) Victoria Square, which took its name from the British Queen who handed Greece back its Ionian islands, was once a haven […]
Europe / Greece / Immigration / Policy
The big society bites back on refugees
Published by The Independent (7th September, 2015) Over the past five years I have spent much of my time covering the story of migration. I have met people […]
Europe / Greece
The British expats helping Syrian refugees
Published by The Mail on Sunday (6th September, 2015) As the inflatable boat overloaded with Syrian refugees neared the rocky Greek island coastline shortly after dawn last week, […]
Europe / Greece / Immigration / Policy / Syria
Delivered from hell to the cauldron of Kos
Published by The Mail on Sunday (17th August, 2015) Helen and Mustafa got married almost a year ago – and like all young couples, had hopes and plans […]
Economics / Europe / Greece
Greeks predict ‘kiss of death’ tax will cripple tourist industry
Published by The Mail on Sunday (19th July, 2015) Greece’s former finance minister has warned that the austerity programme imposed by Europe will be the ‘greatest disaster ever’ […]