Democracy, but only when it suits

The right-wing media in the UK are wetting themselves with excitement at the Greek government's plan to hold a referendum on the latest EU rescue package. According to The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail and others, the will of the people must be heard, not least because those running the EU apparently react to democracy the same way a vampire reacts to garlic. Sample article from today's Telegraph: "Eurocrats: terrified of democracy".

There's a foul stench of hypocrisy here. Back in 2003, more than a million people took to the streets of London to protest against possible UK involvement in the planned invasion of Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair went ahead and did it anyway -- with the full, nay, enthusiastic support of the right-wing media. If memory serves, their position at the time could be summed up as, "governments are elected to govern". It now appears that noble principle doesn't apply when it conflicts with the media's deep-seated prejudices.

Consistency aside -- because hey, who cares about that? -- there's another reason for the Torygraph and others to ease up on the Euro-Schadenfreude. If things really do go horribly wrong in the Eurozone, the consequences for the UK are likely to be severe. No-one is likely to be exempt from the pain -- not even expats sipping tea at their boltholes on the costas, reading about "broken Britain" in the Mail and complaining about the lack of Marmite on the supermarket shelves.