It's komkommertijd here in the Netherlands, or cucumber time for those of you who don't speak Dutch. It's journo speak for the fact that stories are thin on the ground at this time of year, when politicians and business types are taking their summer breaks. Traditionally this `silly season' means a drought for journalists looking to fill their column inches, air time or web pages. More often than not it means stories that would normally be thrown to the bin in editorial meetings are given a little bit more space to breathe. For some reason, animals and their antics seem to fill the gap and find themselves making headlines that would normally elude them. So, to keep you up to date with the stories that are, but maybe shouldn't be, making the headlines, here's a digest of some this week's komkommertijd front runners:
It's komkommertijd here in the Netherlands, or cucumber time for those of you who don't speak Dutch. It's journo speak for the fact that stories are thin on the ground at this time of year, when politicians and business types are taking their summer breaks.
Traditionally this `silly season' means a drought for journalists looking to fill their column inches, air time or web pages. More often than not it means stories that would normally be thrown to the bin in editorial meetings are given a little bit more space to breathe.
For some reason, animals and their antics seem to fill the gap and find themselves making headlines that would normally elude them. So, to keep you up to date with the stories that are, but maybe shouldn't be, making the headlines, here's a digest of some this week's komkommertijd front runners:
In many languages, the name for the silly season references cucumbers (or more precisely gherkins): Komkommertijd in Dutch, Norwegian Agurktid, Czech Okurková sezóna, Polish Sezon ogórkowy, Hungarian Uborkaszezon and Hebrew עונת המלפפונים (Onat Ha'melafefonim) all mean "cucumber time" or "cucumber season". The corresponding German term is Sauregurkenzeit ("pickled cucumber season").
