FUNNY, isn’t it, that an outfit that rammed its beloved ‘Human Rights Act’ down the throats of everyone who lives on the continent of Europe has reacted so unfavourably to that most basic of human rights - to participate in democracy. And to vote ‘No’ in a referendum.

To go by the sorrowful reactions of the various talking Euro heads who have popped up on TV since Sunday, you’d have thought the Greeks had decided to eat babies for breakfast, not hold a vote to ensure the nation had its say over the financial unpleasantness ahead.

But why would the hideous, bloated old Euro behemoth find anything to celebrate in the reaction of the Greeks to sustained bullying by Germany and its allies?

The last thing they want is any signs of individuality or local solutions to local problems. What the Eurocrats want is a continent where everybody uses the same money, pays the same rate of tax and toes the Euro line on everything, from the type of lightbulb they buy, to who they decide to allow in the country.

They’ve attempted to slice the continent up into spurious ‘regions’; did you know that the Wessex region (although not, it would appear, Dorset) has been quietly incorporated into something called Arc Manche, a clumping of departments and counties bordering the English Channel?

But if there’s one thing we do know about Europe, it’s that the last time this sort of large-scale bullying was attempted, things went very badly indeed. So badly that hundreds of thousands of people died in a war against it, including many Greeks who suffered horrendously at the hands of the grandparents of the people who are now trying to bully them again.

Maybe the Eurocrats don’t understand this but when you’ve had five years of grinding austerity you have very little to lose and that’s why they said no. Greece can’t treat people in its hospitals. Pensioners have seen their incomes cut by 60 per cent. Many Greeks feel that cheap foreign labour has seen off their prospects of getting work yet still Greek people generously take in the refugees that the rest of Europe has washed its guilty hands of.

Yes, they’ve not run their finances as they should and yes, they will have to pay a large chunk of their borrowings back. It’s only fair.

But if Greece’s finances were as rickety as the portico on the Parthenon then why didn’t their fiscal tormentors point this out when they were first invited to join the Euro? After all, it’s not as if Greece was ever a byword for financial efficiency, was it?

I’m writing this before any decision is made but as it is I hope they DO leave the Euro because I think that after the initial bump they will flourish.

And if the great Euro experiment really is about helping each other – rather than providing a cushy environment for big business, big bureaucracy and thieving bankers to rip even more money off the rest of us – then they will find a way to help Greece, too. Won’t they?

Why isn't David Cameron tackling issue of IS? 

TEN years after the 7/7 bombings we’re told in a newspaper survey that a possible one in 11 Brits now has a ‘positive’ view of Islamic State.

Presumably that means they approve of the practice of raping women and murdering children, then? And strapping suicide bombs to people with learning disabilities and chucking men off the top of high buildings because they are gay. And putting people in cages and setting fire to them. And machine-gunning British tourists on beaches. And it goes without saying they surely approve of innocent folk being blown up on London’s Underground and its buses?

These IS apologists do not live in far-off lands. They live in this country.

And it would be really helpful to know if our government has any plans to do anything about them. Because, as things stand, it seems that rather than tackle THE issue of our times, David Cameron is more interested in... reintroducing fox-hunting.

Reason I'm all aglow 

A MATE congratulated me on how well I looked after my Italian holiday. Seeing as I managed to miss all of Glasto, half of Wimbo and the Women’s World Cup, why wouldn’t I?

PS Memo to all those who complained about empty seats during Andy Murray’s Vasek Pospisll match: no one cares. Wimbledon – in my opinion - is about money. Not tennis. And it’s about time someone broke it to the fans.

Cutbacks at the BBC 

YES, George Osborne’s financial raid on the BBC could result in the closure of a TV channel. Or a radio station. Or the mass sacking of journalists. But seeing as the Beeb’s answer to almost any call to curtail its spending is to spitefully sack hacks, how can anyone tell?

Of course they could cut back by trimming the wages of their most pointless managerial staff - at the last count 107 people were coining more than £150,000 a year for doing jobs as vital as ‘Director of Homepage and My BBC’ and ‘Director of Audiences’.

It won’t be a vast amount in the grand scheme of things. But every little helps. As probably no one has ever said at the BBC.

Wills, Kate and THAT pram 

WHY did Kate and William parade Princess Charlotte in THAT pram before her baptism on Sunday?

Because, I suspect, they know very well that the only reason she will live a life of untold privilege and security is because all the people looking on – her brother and her daddy’s future subjects – are content for it to happen.

And they will only remain content if they are treated like guests at the party, not like the common herd.

Note: This piece by Faith is an opinion piece and not a news report. You can contact Faith by tweeting @HerFaithness