When Greek meets Greek

This was some sort of Latin quip which I apply not to Greek bonds, more of that later, but to the Bucks contest between Bercow and Farage. Both have much in common . In particular both claim to be anti-sleaze but have a lot of questions to answer on the sleazy and vexed subject of their past expenses. Both are blatant unscrupulous political careerists and as such very suitable candidates for a seat once held by Robert Maxwell for Labour, a man who was better at emptying other peoples pension funds than even Gordon Brown. Sadly Mr Maxwell went overboard one night en route to the loo for a pee. Be very careful Messrs Bercow and Farage that a similar fate does not befall either of you. So if an attractive young lady appears offering either of you a freebie on a luxury yacht please realise it may not be good for your health and she is almost certainly from the Sunday Times and has a hidden video camera in her handbag. Stick to whipping up apathy on the Bucks hustings. Its so much safer!

Greece would like to sell another bond denominated in US$ this time but unfortunately the market in Greek bonds is a bit saturated so around $3 bn is the most they can hope to get away. Everyone wants to sell and no one wants to buy Greek paper. Worse they will have to deal with the hated Anglo Saxon hedge funds and even worse than that they will be paying near 8% to these nasty types. Oh Napoleon and Frau Dr Bismark where are you now? Sentiment is not helped by the super wealthy Greeks shifting their money to Switzerland as fast as possible. Well nobody ever stayed rich propping up the Greek government.