“A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies”

-Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto

Paul Murphy MEP is in Greece this week, campaigning with Syriza in the run-up to Sunday's election. He'll be writing daily reports of his experiences for Politico. The second of these is below, and you can find the first one here.

Paul Murphy MEP is in Greece this week, campaigning with Syriza in the run-up to Sunday's election. He'll be writing daily reports of his experiences; the first of these is below.

For Greece, bargaining is infinitely more sensible than pleading, particularly when the Troika is terribly bad at knowing where its own interests lie. By Yanis Varoufakis.

I would like to thank the party whips and the government for giving me the opportunity to speak today. In relation to my company’s under-declaration of VAT in 2009, M&J Wallace Ltd sold apartments in 2008 and 2009 and the proceeds from the closings of the sales were pledged to the bank. Normally, the business cash flow would have allowed us to deal with the VAT liability but not on this occasion. In early 2008, the company had got the go ahead to build a large project on the North Circular Road, which gave confidence in its potential to go forward.

“God, Kinch, if you and I could only work together we might do something for the island. Hellenise it”

The ESRI working paper withdrawn yesterday suggests that the gap between social protection income and work is not the issue regarding job take-up. What it does show up is the weakness of the Irish welfare state, especially in comparison with other European countries. By Michael Taft.

The hypocrisy of our political class over plans to censure Mick Wallace is quite breathtaking. By Vincent Browne.

Over the years, many of us have become inured to the serial hypocrisy of our political class but every now and again the brazenness of that hypocrisy becomes so breathtaking that our tolerance for it breaks. Now is such a moment and it concerns the plans to censure Mick Wallace.

On Tonight with Vincent Browne, symphysiotomy survivor Teresa Devoy, chairperson of Survivors of Symphysiotomy Marie O’Connor and solicitor Colm McGeehan will discuss the findings of the draft report on symphysiotomy to be published by the Department of Health this week on the misuse of the procedure in Ireland from 1940 to 1980. {jathumbnailoff}

To the misfits of the world, to all of us who do not conform to the closing of humanity:

Now, more than ever, the world looks two ways at once.