But I'd better check that.

BERLIN--German chancellor Angela Merkel once again gave an exclusive interview to The Onion Tuesday, stating that the publication's undying commitment to journalistic excellence makes it the only newspaper she trusts. "What I like about your organization--no, what I admire and respect about it--is that while The Onion is unerringly fair, it also never lets me off the hook and always holds me accountable for my actions," said Merkel, who then launched, unprompted, into an extended tirade against the Pulitzer Board, referring to its members as "hack journalists" and "scum-sucking sycophants" to whom she would never give the time of day.

Basically they've been trying to find an excuse to stop it since Feb, you may remember I had an "interview" under legal caution over some fraud they thought I was pulling (till they discovered their records were such complete shit they didn't even know I hadn't been claiming at the time). And finally they discovered a question I can't answer, but until I answer it I get no money.

I shall phone them tomorrow and moan, but I suspect I'm gonna get no joy (they aren't configured for mercy). So...anyone got a job ?

keep to the Fen Causeway

What is most refreshing and inspiring about the SlutWalk movement is that people are in motion for women's rights. When people are in motion, much of the bullshit and bigotry is swept aside. The debates will still need to be had, but with thousands of people taking to the streets, those who are in the sex-negative camp are being left out in the cold, and that is a very good thing. The protests have been inclusive, and the impulse to action is definitely there. Feminism is being put back on the agenda in the only way that counts: out on the streets in collective action.

Meanwhile, the greater the isolation of the anti-sex worker, anti-trans wing of the "radical feminist movement", the more they expose the reactionary nature of their political project.

this is a great article about modern feminism

keep to the Fen Causeway

There's only one word that adequately describes the majority of Dutch media reports on Greece right now: a witch hunt. Of all the arrogant stupidity, full of gut feelings of Dutch superiority, De Telegraaf takes the cake. "Boom, kick them out of the eurozone. Our citizens no longer want to pay for these wasteful Greeks," was this newspaper's headline on May 19, following the results of a Telegraaf survey of over 11,000 participants. Or what about the following headline, on May 13th: "Again, billions of euros thrown into a bottomless pit." Apparently this kind of nonsense works. By now, 58 percent of Dutch people are opposed to `giving' even a penny to Greece.

For what it's worth, the average Greek retirement age is nearly 65. Some Greeks that I know who take up their retirement funds early, usually receive between 200 and 600 per month. At that point, sitting on your ass is not even an option. These people have to immediately find employment elsewhere, usually more than one job. After the first round of cuts last year, a high school teacher now earns an average of 800 euros per month. 500 euros of this goes to rent and other fixed costs. You're left with 300 euros to live off.

A draft statement by the conservative Christian Democrats is calling for a radical reform of the German school system. More than anything, the new platform could be a turn away from state control of education in Germany. 

Leaders of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have made public a draft statement that calls for the abolition of Germany's three-tier high school system, a significant change of course in the party's educational policy and federalist ideology.

The 30-page draft is to be approved by party leaders on June 27 and debated at the party's convention in Leipzig in November.

"We currently have too many school forms that confuse parents, pupils and teachers alike," the draft reads. "That is why we are calling for a reduction in school forms and the implementation of a two-way model in all states."

Norwegians finally dragged themselves off their sofas on Wednesday as the country's latest reality television craze came to a close. Viewers were glued to their screens for nearly six days, but it wasn't typical reality-show antics that held their gaze -- it was a cruise ship gliding through the fjords.

Norwegian flags of red, white and blue waved from the banks of Tromsø, where the MS Nordnorge's fans gathered to welcome the new star. Slipping past the shore line, which is dotted by colorful wooden huts, the cruise ship pulled into the port to greet its eager admirers.

Since last week, some 2.5 million Norwegian viewers -- nearly half of the country's population -- have been following scenes like this along the vessel's voyage via live television broadcast. Tromsø was among the MS Nordnorge's last stops before it floated into the port of the northern Norwegian city of Kirkenes, bringing her fantastic journey to an end on Wednesday.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland has scuppered an attempt to tighten European Union carbon emission targets, sparking widespread concern just days before Warsaw is set to take over the EU's six-month rotating presidency.

EU environment ministers met in Luxembourg on Tuesday (21 June) to discuss the European Commission's '2050 Roadmap' towards a greener economy, with all-but-one member states agreeing on the need to do more.

Poland's EU commissioner has questioned the man-made nature of climate change

After the meeting, British energy secretary Chris Huhne summed up the mood by saying: "It is a dark day for Europe's leading role in tackling climate change."

Published in March, the roadmap calls for a 40 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2030, a 60 percent cut by 2040 and a 80 percent cut by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

It also says that a 25 percent cut by 2020 would be the most 'cost-effective' way of achieving these longer-term targets, compared to the EU's current pledge of 20 percent.

On 21 June, Freetown Christiania and the Danish government concluded an agreement that will enable inhabitants of Europe's most famous alternative neighbourhood to buy most of the land on which they live from the state. After eight years of difficult negotiations, the liberal-conservative administration and the residents of the "freetown" have finally agreed on procedures for the purchase of the disused Copenhagen naval base, which has been squatted since the 1970s. As the Danish press explains, the Christianites have created a foundation that will buy the land in their name.

A perfect solution, according to Politiken, which amounts to "pure Buddhism: a synthesis of peace, harmony and emancipation." The deal marks "the capitulation of conservative Denmark," adds the social-liberal daily, which pays homage to the "pragmatism" of the Minister for Finance, liberal Claus Hjort Frederiksen, who put an end to an eight-year ideological battle.

Italy has called for an immediate halt to hostilities in Libya to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, in what is the first sign of a fracture in the Nato coalition.

Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, warned on Tuesday that Nato's credibility was "at risk" following the civilian casualties, and urged it to ensure it was not providing ammunition to Gaddafi's propaganda war.

"We cannot run the risk of killing civilians. This is not good at all," Frattini said at a meeting of European foreign ministers.

Frattini followed up his comments in a speech on Wednesday to the lower house of parliament in Rome.