Coming home.(High life)(preparing Athens, Greece for the Olympic Games)

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 26-JUN-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

Athens

The birthplace of selective democracy is looking better than it has since the Fifties, when the modernists took over. The ancient capital will be ready on 13 August, the Games will take place, and the American basketball freaks will stay home, which is the best news I've had since Bill Clinton was impeached. (His tedious, longwinded 957-page self-indulgence is typical Clinton. Bill Clinton and Ahmad Chalabi, two of a kind, both desperate to win the title of greatest liar ever.)

The Games are way over budget, but then they always are. Athens has been transformed by them, and in some miraculous way so have the people. Ten years ago I had had enough. The socialists had come to power in 1980 and class revenge was on their...

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