Greece is closer than ever to leaving the euro

The government in Athens promises bold action but has moved in anti-reform directions during its early days in power

For an expert on game theory, Yanis Varoufakis, the Essex University-trained economics professor turned Greek finance minister, does not seem very good at negotiating. His style reminds me of the old joke about playing chess with a pigeon: it knocks over the pieces, craps on the board and struts about claiming it won.

Mr Varoufakis and his prime ministerial colleague, Alexis Tsipras, have annoyed the Germans, accepted a new four-month bailout and agreed, as they said they would not, to supervision of economic reforms by the same old Troika of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. And yet Mr Tsipras claims that they have won “a battle, not the war”.

It is still just possible that today’s deadline for the Greek