[Romantic Old Bird]

The Island of Rhodes been on the news a lot this past couple of weeks for all the wrong reasons.

What do you think about the current crackdown on 'lewdness' in Faliraki?

SEE SUN ONLINE
ARTICLE HERE

I applaud it, and think it's a great pity that foreign countries have this over-riding opinion of the Brits abroad. Humiliating in the extreme.

A few years back I went to Crete, and stayed in a lovely area. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We hired a car and toured round the island's resorts.

We ventured into Malia one morning to find a ghastly place covered in signs like 'Brits you come, get pissed here very cheap'. One bar was clearing up from the previous night, sweeping up the glass and hosing down the blood splattering the pavement outside. The owner told me they had called the police to move them on and they were all from our glorious Isle.

I know the Islanders make a lot of money this way, but what price our national image.

I have always thought I would like to visit Rhodes, and I am sure most of it is still unspoilt.

This is an island that has seen the Minoans, the Acheans, the Dorians, Alexander the Great, The Romans, St Paul, the Knights templar, the Venetians, Suleiman the Magnificent, the Italians and then for 2 years after WW2 by mandate, the Brits, before unification with Greece.

How will history look back on this period?

Will archaeologists unearth the broken bottles and thongs and fragments of an ancient 'ere we go, " 'ere we go, 'ere we go" emblazoned tea shirt and ponder on the nature of this brutal invasion?