In 1959 Peter Sellers starred (in all the roles) in a brilliant piece of satire called The Mouse That Roared.
For those of you too young to remember this gem of a film, it was about a tiny Medieval state whose economy was going down the tubes and found itself in possession of a deadly weapon, a new technological invention, alias for a lethal atom bomb. The plan was to invade the US, lose the war and obtain Marshall Aid funds to put the economy right.
Apart from Sellers’ brilliant performances and Kissinger spoof, the joke was that this tiny insignificant country could hold the whole world to ransom because it held this lethal weapon that would have devastating consequences were it to be used by the pip squeak state.
I just couldn’t help remembering this delightful film after the result of our general elections here in Greece. We do have a lethal weapon in our hands as the tiny insignificant little state with economic woes. However, the trouble with this kind of bargaining chip is that if you are pushed into actually using it, you get blown up too with all the rest.
Nevertheless, when you are pushed so far you say “The hell with it! If I have to go I’ll take them with me!” In fact one of the new left wing SYRIZA MPs, Yanis Drakasakis, said on TV yesterday, that a large chunk of their voters were not left wing at all. Many told him, we used to be afraid of the Left, because they would confiscate our houses. But Mr. Venizelos has already done this with his extortion tax on property linked to the electricity bill.
So, the inference, if we’re being blown out of the water by a cruel and utterly failed policy, then we’ll take you with us! We have nothing much left to lose.
All we need now is a Peter Sellers, in the guise of the very wily and highly successful British like Prime Minister.
