For anyone who believes Greece should stick with the euro, her comments were ominous. Christine Lagarde, the boss of the International Monetary Fund, said Greece’s exit from the eurozone is a possibility – but it would not signify an end to the single currency.

Together, these statements show that while a Greek exit is not the preferred option, it is a realistic proposition for which plans have been made.

The force of Lagarde’s statement reveals the weakness of the stance taken by the radical leftist Syriza party, which governs Greece, in negotiations over the past four months.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the arguments over Athens’ debt, and the prospects for growth while that debt weighs on the public finances, the country’s major lenders – of which the IMF is the third largest – have tired of Syriza.

And there is support from unlikely places. Portugal and Ireland, both run by right-of-centre coalitions, want Syriza to emerge empty-handed despite the prospect of cheaper credit that could follow a Brussels rethink.



The governments in Dublin and Lisbon must soon face elections and want to defeat their own versions of Syriza.

Spain is also an enemy of Athens now that the popularity of the People’s party (PP) led by Mariano Rajoy has slumped and he faces defeat in an election later this year.

Lagarde went on to say, in effect, that optimistic speeches by Greek ministers – and finance chief Yanis Varoufakis is a culprit in this instance – are so much hot air.

Speaking at the G7 summit, she obviously felt comfortable issuing the warning, knowing that her supporters remain solid. Syriza’s abject failure in garnering alternative funds – from the Russians in particular – has further weakened Athens’ stance.

It wasn’t always the case. There have been times when senior officials in Brussels and the IMF have shown their sympathy for a country that must spend the next 42 years paying back an average of €10bn (£7bn) a year to the IMF, the European Central Bank, the EU and each EU country that has made loans separately – not to mention the private sector creditors.

They understand that Greece cannot repay loans at this level, especially when they are front-loaded with a €38bn repayment this year.

But Lagarde wants Syriza to adopt her policies of austerity to create a budget surplus and refuses to accept anything less. The doubters in her own ranks appear to have been demoted or cast aside.

In the next few days a capitulation of sorts by Syriza must be the result. With the cupboard bare, prime minister Alexis Tsipras must consider how to pay public sector wages and vital welfare payments.



He will need all his political skill to present his defeat as a victory.

Zero hours + zero bonus for those who flog trainers and themselves





Mike Ashley of Sports Direct. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

If we needed another example of the growing divide between young workers – most of them on short-term, flexible contracts – and those, usually older, who have secured a better deal, then look no further than Sports Direct.

This not a story about the largesse enjoyed by the boss, Mike Ashley, who is well-known for his wealth. This is a more commonplace tale of those with skills and experience taking what is left on the table after the boss has taken his slice.

Sports Direct is now justly infamous for its zero-hour contracts. Most of the 14,800 shop workers on zero-hours terms must accept the minimum wage and few fringe benefits.

None of them will enjoy even a tiny fraction of the £34m bonus pool that will be awarded to Sports Direct staff, it emerged on Thursday. This will go to 3,000 head office staff and shop managers.



To some it will be equivalent to a lottery win. A number of longstanding staff gained £100,000 plus under the previous bonus scheme – the same people who qualify for pensions and sick leave when zero-hours staff do not.



While it is true that many of the workers on zero hours are students who enjoy flexible working, as ministers in this and the last government have emphasised, it is worth saying again that zero hours consigns people with families to a hand-to-mouth existence where credit is more expensive, if not impossible to find.

Ashley has failed to take the hint from countless stories by staff past and present that resentment is rife on the shopfloor. He could probably afford to ignore pleas for greater fairness in a post-crash world of plentiful labour and declining welfare payments.

Finding staff over the next few years should prove more difficult given the tightening labour market, but the next wave of welfare cuts will probably give workers reason to have two or three part-time jobs, not just one.



And this supply of cheap labour will allow him to generate the next batch of bonuses.