The parrot is dead

There's a famous Monty Python sketch from the early 1970s about an argument between a pet shop keeper and a customer complaining about the dead parrot he recently purchased. The shopkeeper refuses to accept the claim even though the bird is obviously dead as a doornail. The classic comedy sketch - a paradigm of British humor - could also loosely serve as a comment on the pedantry of bureaucracy.

Kathimerini's recent front-page story on the effects on the pandemic on the civil service was a catalogue of stories of madness from citizens frustrated in their efforts to get important bureaucratic work done with an underperforming state.

The basic issue seems to be that because of coronavirus-related restrictions, citizens needs to make an appointment by telephone to take care of any business that cannot be conducted online. The problem is that no one at the other end is...