To watch recent news bulletins you would think that Greece has had a quiet summer.

Once the June election passed off without an anti-Euro party taking power in Athens, the media circus moved seamlessly on to Spain and Italy, but what they left behind has been a long, hot summer in which the downward spiral into debt-deflation has continued, possibly even accelerated.

The only bit of good news is that tourism was up slightly; fewer Germans came, but many more visited from the rest of Europe, perhaps out of sympathy, perhaps because its a country at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

The rest of the economic news has been quite dreadful. GDP is likely to shrink by 7% this year, which by the end of next year means the Greek economy will be about a quarter smaller than in was in 2009.