Could Greek mob rule take root on streets of Ireland?

It cannot all be about the shooting of one wretched youth, tragic though that may be.

What, then, we ask ourselves, is the root of this great and destructive rage which consumes so many people -- mostly but not exclusively young, and not by any means all radical anarchists? And further, I ask myself, could this happen in Dublin? And if not, why not?

Well, it has to be said that, in many ways, Greek standards of propriety in politics and public administration make us in Ireland look pretty good, despite our various shortcomings.

It pains me to say it, this being the cradle of democracy, but in some ways Greece retains more than a whiff of the Middle East, or even of the Third World, in its public life.

It is a widespread perception that nepotism and corruption prevail in politics, not only among the ruling New Democracy Party (which has neo-conservative tendencies), but also in its predecessor, the socialist PASOK (despite its creditable record in ridding the country of the junta).

The public services are pervaded with inefficient and self-serving functionaries (Athens garbage collection, for one thing, rivals that of Naples, despite recent outsourcing). And as for the police, they are poorly trained, boorish, and badly paid -- and thus prone to corruption, as well as internal discontent. So we are not just talking about the shooting of one rather foolish lad -- for the record, Alexis Grigoropoulos, 15, son of a bank manager -- who should not have been doing whatever he was doing.

The disaffection goes a lot deeper than that, and it has now, coming up to Christmas, dealt a hammer blow to a Greek economy which was already reeling, as is ours, from foolish building and banking practices, inflation, and the over-extension of credit.

The successful calling of a general strike on Wednesday indicates a more general undercurrent of sympathy with the rioters, appalling though their behaviour has been.

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