If you thought being outside the Eurozone would let us off the bailout hook, think again: they’re simply changing the name.

In the rapid-fire brawl-cum-attempt to show that Labour folks never hit anyone, a few rather more important bits of life have been neglected. Here at Slogger’s Roost, we hope to use today as a catch-up-cum-escape from Gordon’s Ghastly Gargoylism…as we said last night, the rule for a bit (Gordon willing) is ‘Anything But Gordon’.

This means a lesson in Greek I’m afraid – but it may be a salutary one.

You may recall that the man beginning with G came back triumphant from Brussels the week before last to say that we’d been let off Double Bailout. But there are signs afoot that this isn’t the case at all.

Yesterday Germany’s Finance Minister was fingered by Der Spiegel for having costed the bailout for Greece. Der Spiegel is a bit like The Sun only without the laughs – and the Minister ’emphatically denied’ the story. So perhaps we should mind the credibility gap. The problem is that when the numbers emerged, quite a few debt managers in European banks (including one in the ECB) said “Yup, that looks about right”.

The much bigger problem with the numbers from a British viewpoint is that when costed back on a member-by-member basis, they seem to include us.

Segue sideways now to George Papandreou’s comments last Friday and over the weekend about ‘other forms’ of help Greece might get. The sky on this one is beginning to clear, and it goes like this: Greece won’t get a bailout as such…it’ll borrow off the other EU States, but well below the rates a bankrupt nation would normally have to pay.

A Slog fan based in Brussels (and don’t we love you all) has written to suggest that this is indeed what will happen – and this informant insists that UK taxpayers will be coughing up just like everyone else to pay for it. So we rang a person involved in Hellenic affairs.

“The discounted repayment cost option is definitely the favourite” he opined, “It’s a compromise to keep Merkel happy. So when Papandreou says there’ll be no bailout, he’s telling a version of the truth.”

Our source didn’t know whether the UK was included on this voyage of discovery. But if Brussels Sprout was right about the discounts option, then why should that person be wrong about UK involvement?

There is of course a very easy way to quash this scurrilous rumour. Alistair or the Bully who dare not speak his name could simply give a straight answer to a simple question: ‘Will the UK’s funds as EU members outside the Eurozone be used to let the Greeks pay discounted debt rates?’

Over to you, chaps.