High life

Under a cloud

Taki

Athens

After three of the happiest weeks of mY. life I'm back in Melina Mercoun country, or, as A.J. Liebling wrote of Loui- siana, among a people whose politics 'is of an intensity and complexity that are match- ed only in the republic of Lebanon.' What think even the miserable Lebanese have not been able to match, however, is the most appalling assault on God-given natural beauty that we Greeks have perpetrated on our land. I don't know why but every visit to Athens fills me with despair about the quality of life. It simply gets worse and worse, and although I live outside the noisy, dusty, smelly, crowded and other- wise ghastly city, its nemesis, in the form of a cloud of pollutants that hangs permanent- ly over the capital, seems to follow me around like the proverbial shadow. 'The nefos', as the Athenians call the cloud,used to hover over the centre of the city. Now it has covered Athens and its environs, and even the top of Mount Penteli, where I run

every day, is at times enveloped in the grey smog. It is enough to make one forget Politics, despite the fact that there, also, the Pollution levels are unmatched by any Mediterranean people, with the obvious ex- ception of the Lebanese.

But politics is what Greek life is all about. The majority of newspapers are now pro- government, which means that for the last

30 years they were pro-opposition. Sudden- ly, all the ills they used to rail against -

things like pollution, corruption, nepotism and all-round dishonesty — have disap- peared as if by magic. Athens is now refer- red to as the city with the lowest sulphur dioxide level in Europe. Now anyone who repeats such a flagrant lie is in my humble °Pinion as big a liar as the person who first

said it, but one is amazed at the amount of soi disant clever people who have repeated

this to me. And if anyone is interested I'll

tell You why the rumour is being spread — slInPly in order to convince whoever needs convincing that the Parthenon and the Acropolis are safe and sound and are not about to collapse because of the polluted air. Which of course they are — about to collapse, that is. . One particular target of the Greek gang III Power at the moment is my old friend Christina Onassis. Before the old

Turk died he made sure that his only

,claughter would not be robbed of his wealth. yerything he left her was in the name of Liberian and Panamanian companies and

the Only assets the Greeks could grab were

two houses south of Athens and his private Island of Scorpios. Well, the old Turk must

have been getting soft in the head, because

he did something very uncharacteristic of ham. He actually left a lot of money in a trust for Greek charities. When someone

does this in Greece it is a green light for the crooks who govern to move in. I know it sounds preposterous but it is true. Just look

what happened. The government realised Christina was not a fighter when the

predatory Jackie K.O. managed to coerce her Into giving her $20 million, against her father's will I might add. They got fur-

ther good news when they saw Christina, who has total control over the charity fund, contribute all of it to . . . charity, an

unheard of event among Greek charities I

might add yet again. Finally, when the latest batch of crooks were voted into office Til 1981 they decided it was time to move in

on her personal fortune. They valued the Iwo houses and Scorpios at an astronomical

amount that once taxed would give the Ali Babas $50 million — which is what the poor Ili_ttle rich girl now has to pay or leave Greece the Way I left it six years ago — on a yacht. n.ight. So, I must admit that Christina is

getting the royal shaft, but if I were she I wouldn't worry. The cloud will soon be °

ver Scorpios too, and who needs a private Island to breathe in fumes. What she should d . ° give the Greeks some of their own amedicine. Put the place to the torch, take t her money out, and make sure the only .hing they get from her is a parting shot of ner ample posterior.