Three parties in need of shock absorbers

New Democracy celebrated its 50th anniversary with a street party, as nostalgia dedicated the need to pick up the original torch - as featured in the conservative party's banner - to serve as a comforting reminder of its roots. Two former prime ministers were absent from the lackluster celebration on Rigillis Street - Antonis Samaras and Kostas Karamanlis - even though they had been personally invited by the prime minister. Kyriakos Mitsotakis took the high road and reached out to them, probably confident in the knowledge that the invitation would be turned down and his magnanimity - for which he is famous, after all - could expose the pettiness of his detractors. The end result was a hobbled party, as the absence of the two former party presidents demonstrated the rift in a fluttering New Democracy - and it's a deep, incurable rift, not some small crack.

The other perennial...