Also troubling Greeks is the question over what the departure of Tony Blair would mean for the long-running battle to reclaim the Elgin - oops, Parthenon - marbles from the British Museum.

In the corridors of the Greek Culture Ministry, officials are whispering that a new broom in Downing Street may help their cause. The British PM's departure comes only months away from the opening of the long-awaited and, may I add, resplendent, New Acropolis Museum at the foot of the holy hill. The £93m, three-storey behemoth will put 'irresistible' pressure on Gordon Brown to give back the marbles, campaigners say. 'I am sure that the construction of the museum will provide a new, very powerful argument,' said the Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis.