About
I act and I write. Occasionally, even for money.
Email: andreoulondon@gmail.com
Acting: http://www.granthamhazeldine.com
Literary: http://www.petersfraserdunlop.com
Alex was born and raised in Mykonos, Greece. He ran away from home at the age of 17 and, having travelled around Europe, settled in Britain when he was 18. He decided, in order to avoid army conscription, he might as well study law and economics and carved himself an accidental, but very promising career, in the civil service.
At the age of 35 a friend asked him to come along to some drama school auditions for moral support. Alex trained as an actor at The Poor School. He has plied his new trade at the National Theatre, Southbank Centre, Manchester Royal Exchange, Liverpool Playhouse, Bath Royal, Theatre Royal Stratford East and many other venues, almost exclusively playing very, very bad people.
In 2011 he started this blog, because he was really quite annoyed at the government. It has attracted millions of readers. He now writes serious things for The Guardian and The New Statesman, funny things for Radio 4 and runs a small critically acclaimed theatre company. He is working on his first novel, detailing his experiences of destitution, homelessness and depression. It is a lot funnier than it sounds.
Alex is in perpetual shock that anybody finds him any good at anything.
Guardian work: http://www.theguardian.com/profile/alex-andreou
New Statesman work: http://www.newstatesman.com/alex-andreou
Blog: http://www.sturdyblog.wordpress.com
I’ll admit I may have seen better days, but I’m still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut. (All About Eve)
sturdyblog 
Great job. As always, great post today.
Thank you for directing me to your blog via facebook. The post was great.
Would you be interested to conduct an interview with me. The main topic will be the protests on the Syntagma square in light of other European protests, and of course the Arab Spring. Further, I would like to talk about the (possible) need to increase direct democracy.
You can contact me at eggert@democracy-international.com
Best,
Vanessa
Dear Vanessa,
That email address is not working.
May we reprint this blog in full in our online newspaper (going to press today Monday June 20, sorry for the pressure!) We too are extremely angered by what the banksters have done since 2007 and worse how they continue to get away with it. Thank you.
As long as you credit this blog and link prominently at the top of the article, absolutely.
Thank you very much and done http://french-news-online.com/wordpress/?p=6464#axzz1Pu2sbif4.
i would like to get in touch with you. short interview possible via skype? i have to publish my article on wednesday evening. contact me pls if you’re interested (asap). thank you so much. kind regards, s
I thank you very much for the article on “Democracy vs Mythology”. I have sent it to ALL my friends. May God bless you!!!!
Beautifully and (for the most part) objectively written — fantastic. It reminds me of the style of writing in “Inside Greece” by Nick Malkoutzis.
A couple of points I disagree with:
a. Nurses and GPs may be in a worse situation nowadays, as are all Greeks, but the practice of asking for money under the table has been going on for so long, that it seems ridiculous they would now blame the crisis.
b. Things in Syntagma are, in fact, quite democratic and impressively so. However, it’s not as ideal as you may imagine it. There’s an abundance of food (apart from the wonderful effort the actual “Indignants” have made to feed –for free– those who stay there), with the presence of hot-dog and souvlaki stands all over the place; and the things people are saying when they take the mike are sentimental and rhetorically fascinating, but rarely bridge theory with practice.
c. Historians’ opinions vary about how bad the Greeks had it during the Ottoman occupation. While I see your point and agree that we are a people who have dealt with dramatic situations in the past and can draw inspiration from them to resist now, the mention of a cultural oppression during that time seems to take away from the validity of your argument.
I hope you realize my suggestions are made in the spirit of improvement.
Again, I thought it was a great article. I wish everyone saw things the way you do.
kalimera apo thessaloniki. sygxaritiria gia tin poly kali douleia! einai ena apo ta blogs pou prow8w stoys non-greeks to give them an idea of what goes on here. eimai actively involved stous ‘aganaktismenous’ tou leukou purgou kai stin epitropi gia logistiko elegxo -tin ele. 8elw na sou milisw gia kapoio 8ema kai 8a protimousa na min afisw edw post alla na ta poume mesw email. kikkerjen@gmail.com Jenny…. :)))
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13773099
Hi again ! Just in case your greek is a bit rusty -I’m writting to you from Thessaloniki and the camp of Los Indignados. Your blog is one of the few I keep forwarding to non-greek parties and I want to thank you for the good job 🙂 I am also part of the Committee that is checking the -or aspires to, Greek Debt. In any case I need to speak to you on something where i think you may be able to help us. i think it’s better if we communicate via email. my email is kikkerjen@gmail.com thanks
Excellent !
Great piece on Greece, the protests and the EU. New Labour were in power for 15 years and did nothing to get the UK out of the EU, and are no better than the Tories or Liberals. Miliband or whoever is PM next will do nothing about it either. Party politics in the UK is deceitful. The false left/right paradigm is the Hegelian Dialectic in action. A wonderful lady called Niki Raapana has analysed this beautifully for us. Naturally, not many people have heard of her, but I recommend her work to all who care about our future. Also Brian Gerrish and the British Constitution Group.
In what has now become a joint project between Golem XIV’s blog and mine, and with the help of very dedicated people in Thessaloniki, we have been able to translate more posts / news-items into Greek. Any help with spreading this in cyber-space is welcome.
http://whistleblower-gr.blogspot.com/
Thank you,
WhistleblowerIRL
Where are you… no wisdom for over 6 weeks… your disciples are waiting (of course, for those who say you’re not the Messiah, I say You are, and I should know. I’ve followed a few) 🙂
brilliantly crafted alex.
Loved these articles
Hi, I’ve recently finished a feature documentary and am looking for new topics that need to be brought to a wide audience – particularly one centred around the current financial crisis. The problem with financial docs is how to make them accessible to the wide audience who need to see and understand them. Are you still in London? Would it be possible to meet for a coffee to discuss and look at how Greece’s problems might be covered in a documentary format?
Great blog, best wishes, Paul
Why would you want to ruin all the good work you’ve done in this blog by admitting to a Spurs season ticket? Are we expected to take you seriously now?
Haha. You were never supposed to take me seriously.
Apparently not. What kind of economic insight can we expect from someone that has decided to waste a significant portion of their disposable income this way? (what is it, 50 years now that you lot have received some kind of proper ROI from your season tickets?).
If ROI is silverware, very little. If it is entertaining matches, quite a bit more than an Arsenal fan during the many George Graham 1-0 years.
Thanks Alex, for great posting this year. Have an excellent Christmas and good luck for an even better 2012.
Hi Alex.
I found your Huffington Post article: “Some Racism, It Seems, Is Acceptable” and then your blog here and felt compelled to comment.
I teach Greek kids at a Frontistirion in Germany and totally agree that these uninformed generalizations have a nasty way of turning into racist comments. And although the taxi driver probably just thought he was being funny, I can totally relate to your reaction. Sometimes there has to be limit.
The Greek schools here are shutting down and now all my kids are having to sort themselves out in the German school system and surprise surprise, they are facing a lot of resistance from the German teachers, who don’t want to let them into their grammar schools, because they assume they won’t be able to handle the workload.
Unfortunately if parents don’t fight for their child, they get sent into the lowest school level and this means many of my extraordinarily clever pupils will not have the chance to go to university, in Germany, or in Greece.
I also get constant uninvited commentary from Germans who want to vent out all their frustration to me and assume that since I’m American I must think the Greeks are lazy too. Then it’s up to me to defend my many friends and acquaintances who hold multiple degrees and multiple language certificates and still are out of work.
So this is long enough now! I just am happy there’s someone else out there arguing much more eloquently than me, to a much larger audience! Keep up the good work!
best,
Rachel
Thank you, Rachel. In the end we have to believe that the truth will out.
i’ve used your evening standard scan in my article on these bye-laws and the ‘global war on camping’. (http://london.indymedia.org/articles/11614) i hope you don’t mind – i DID credit and link you.
i’ve been following and writing about the right to protest, especially around parliament, for many years, and it’s always great to see other people pick up on the subject too. it always surprises me how little people care generally about these rights. i’m sure you’ve heard the one about the boiling frogs!
I like your blog.
Re the lefty bit, you do understand that left and right or rather left versus right is just an artificial Rothschild/Vatican construct, with the sole aim of dividing in order to rule the sheople. The only thing that separates Fascism from Communism is its location – one being national and the other international.
This bald assertion is of no use at all in the necessary task of securing collaboration between people of the “Left” and people of the “Right”. It is an assertion that brands its author as “Right”.
The Truth is always right.
That said, nothing is left.
Left? If it’s not The Truth, it can only be lies and The System (Matrix) is based upon lies – an illusion and the illusion includes the mythical left versus right political game – and used very effectively to keep the deluded proles (voters) occupied.
Hi there 🙂
my friends and I did a film about Greece for the Greek American Association’s 48 hour film festival
we made the finals
and we’re 2nd place for the people’s choice award
i was wondering if you mind clicking like on youtube (that’s how you vote) and then as everyone to vote on it
thank you soo much 🙂
Natalia
Brilliant post about Louise Mensch. It’ll be worth a play in the future.
Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your piece on Cameron’s ‘drowning not waving’ speech. Keep up the good work.
Thank you.
Nice article from you today (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/29/think-you-know-what-debt-is).
Do you have a RSS feed to follow you?
Alex
In the interests of the progressive politics you espouse elsewhere on this site, please correct your economics thinking. Most especially relating to the monetary system & debt.
Your Guardian article, I’m sure well meaning, on 29th July, concerning debt, was +appalling+ & not helpful at all if you wish to challenge the neo-liberal ideology of the last decades.
Professor Bill Mitchell, a co-founder of the MMT school has taken the trouble to correct your piece here:
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=24850
Read and learn….
Best wishes,
Great blog! It seems that so many of us ex-law students ditch the boredom for more creative ventures! Will definitely look into your theatre company.
Hi, loving your blog – spot on stuff delivered with thought and passion. Please boogie over to Fly The Nest forums (yes, we’re all ex Graun people) and make yourself very welcome indeed.
http://flythenest.org
I loved your article on the ‘deflecting our guilt’ about the defensive architecture, really moving stuff and so true to say the least. I am researching currently but start shooting a documentary on homelessness – all about the journey in becoming homeless and its how it portrayed a negative to be homeless rather than a bad turn of circumstances in most cases. Please have a look at my vimeo page and the video titled ‘Life’, this film inspired me to go on and make the documentary I’m currently researching to make by spending as much time as i possibly can sitting and talking with the homeless in and around central London.
Above all, great article! and i would appreciate if i could get an interview from you for the doc maybe…
Regards,
Chris Goodson
Vimeo: vimeo.com/user24210786
Dear Sturdy. I am at a loss. I posted a response to your Clarkson blog yesterday but was perplexed when on pressing the Post button it just disappeared! Now, I don’t always agree with what you have to say but I read your blogs because I enjoy the way you write, which is often, beautifully. So you could call me a fan. Now, the only reason why my post hasn’t materilised is because my email address has been blocked!
If you have blocked my address then perhaps you could explain why? Is it simply because you didn’t like or agree with what I had to say? Is it because you only admit comments that praise you preferring not to permit your readers to read any kind of dissent or counter argument? If it is then it’s a sad day for blogging and open honest debate.
Dear Robert, I have to approve comments. In my three years blogging, I have only blocked spam and three responses which contained what I felt were things which crossed a line of legality – like incitement to hatred. Pre-moderation of comments is just how I have always run my blog.
Sometimes, other commitments mean I am not near a computer. I had a show opening yesterday, so I was in technical, dress rehearsal and then first night. It took me 24 hours to approve your comment. Your reaction seems a little hysterical.
Pleased to have found your articulate and passionate work here. Lots to explore. Regards from Thom at the immortal jukebox (give it a spin)
I appreciate your analysis and I do like your writing. Looking forward to more lines.