AP Photo

WANDERING AROUND a part of central Athens, it’s hard not to conclude that one is in a failed state. The signs are everywhere – and it’s not just the evidence of deprived areas and all one finds in such places; it is also the proximity of such places to others that ooze wealth and prosperity. All cities, Irish ones included, have areas of decrepitude and visual evidence of inequality. What strikes one about Athens, or at least struck this observer, is both the scale and depth of the contrast. It is not remotely similar, for instance, to the contrast that exists between, say, the Sandymount and Ballsbridge areas of Dublin, and parts of the inner city, north or southside.