Rose thou art sick
The centre left is in sharp decline across Europe
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“THEY have disappeared. I don’t even know if they have premises here any more.” In his office overlooking the sun-scorched wharves and cranes of Piraeus, Giorgos Gogos, the head of the dockers’ union, is pondering Pasok, the social-democratic party that for decades dominated the politics of this sprawling Greek port. For years its vote here hovered steadily around 45%. Then came the economic crisis. At the insistence of European institutions the Pasok government agreed to privatise the container terminal at Piraeus. Appalled workers abandoned the party en masse for the far-left and -right, slashing the social-democratic vote to 4% in 2015. Traces of this radicalisation are sprayed across the warehouse walls: hammers and sickles; swastikas; “Piraeus Port Authority in workers’ hands!”. “Why would anyone vote for Pasok now?” asks Kiriakos, a former party activist. “They don’t stand for anything.”
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Rose thou art sick”
Briefing
April 2nd 2016
From the April 2nd 2016 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
The transactional world Donald Trump seeks would harm not help America
Ukraine, Gaza and China will all test his self-interested approach to diplomacy

Donald Trump is a reckless president, but not yet a lawless one
He has yet to flatly defy a court order, which would initiate a constitutional crisis
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America’s military supremacy is in jeopardy
To win future wars it needs new weapons, new suppliers and a new system of procurement
Online scams may already be as big a scourge as illegal drugs
And they are growing fast
Even in India, bureaucracy is being curtailed
Many small steps could make a big difference
Many governments talk about cutting regulation but few manage to
Yet radical deregulation is often a big boost to growth