Whether Greece does a deal or defaults, the prospects seem equally grim

Agreement appears to be close for the beleaguered country and its creditors - but recession and restructuring seem inevitable whatever happens

As Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his finance minister Yanis Varoufakis have discovered the hard way, international financial deal-making is a world away from the thrill of a barnstorming election campaign.

But with Varoufakis sidelined after a series of less-than-helpful public interventions, Tsipras and his colleagues appear to be in the final stages of agreeing a deal with the country's eurozone creditors and the International Monetary Fund - renamed the "Brussels Group" to assuage the Greek public's hatred of the "troika".

With every day that passes, holidaymakers opt for Ibiza instead of Crete, for fear of being caught out by a Greccident

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