Simon Reeves Greece, another good BBC documentary

[Grandad]

India raised discussions and differences of opinion. Last evening I watched the first of two programs about troubled Greece today, presented by Simon Reeve.

If you didn't see it I recommend a look on iplayer. I like Simons' style of presentation and how on all his travels he gets right with the people. Last night he went from the immigrants arriving precariously on Lesbos; to Athens where he encounters aggression from revolutionary youth; to the affluent area where the well off even dodge paying tax on the pools.

And Horus, there is a good bit where he enlists the help of a drone to spy on the affluent community.

Interesting stuff.

[Horus]

I saw it Grandad and agree it was very good
I must say that the part when he stopped to give the two refugee women a lift who were alone and really struggling in the heat and miles away from the port they were heading towards. He was genuinely concerned for their plight and was taking them to their destination, only for him to be confronted by other family relatives, all male who proceeded to order them out of his vehicle with no real concern for those women other than the fact that they should not be in the car with him unaccompanied. It made me ask myself if people with such entrenched cultural views towards women would ever really be integrated in another society as even if they did claim and receive asylum their entrenched upbringing is never going to allow normal interactions in their adopted new home and I see this as the biggest future problem arising throughout Europe.

It was also very interesting to see the way that most Greeks hated the German domination of their country and many of them still held grudges going back to WW2. I have seen this attitude for myself and can foresee some real problems coming from within the country of Greece as the population starts to baulk against the austerity and the immigration taking place there. It is almost unbelievable though the irresponsible way that the Greek governments and the people behaved financially when they joined the union, almost as if they never realised that it was not all for free, they borrowed freely and spent money like water. Seeing the way that even the poor people seemed to get involved in buying things like cars with loans they could never afford to pay back was astonishing and of course the corruption and avoidance of paying any taxes at all is the root cause of all their current problems. To be honest I blame the Greeks as much as the EU for their current plight and have little sympathy for them.

[Ruby Slippers]

Simon Reeve is a young man who I very much admire and I never miss any of his programmes if I can help it. If he is an example of the type of person who will be running our planet in the future, the world will be a better place.

[Horus]

He is very compassionate

[LovelyLadyLux]

Unfortunately I have seen any of the Steven Reeve productions. Will keep a watch out for him though as what has been written here definitely sounds interesting.

[Ruby Slippers]

He doesn't shy away from the political nitty-gritty of a country, LLL.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Just re-read what I wrote and while I'm sure it was understood what I wrote I have NOT seen his productions (that I'm aware of but I think not).

Wouldn't mind seeing him but sadly our TV seems only influenced for the most part by the USA news.

I appreciate hearing people with different views that are based on first hand knowledge, insight and thought.

[Grandad]

LLL, here is a short clip from the program to give you a flavour of Simon Reeves reporting style. Really nice and compassionate young guy.

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