Happy New Year! I've got a fresh batch of newspapers spread across my desk but the stories aren't new: the papers are full of mayhem, strikes and the euro crisis. There are also lots of lists of things to watch out for or do in the coming year. The only really new item is the announcement of 2012 as the Year of the Bee!

Mayhem
The mayhem took place on New Year's Eve: "Molotov cocktails, fireworks and rocks: police the target of New Year's Eve violence," bellows De Telegraaf on its front page. "Police officers across the entire country were forced to defend themselves against a shocking outbreak of excessive violence," writes the paper.

AD's front page headline is in a similar vein: "emergency services workers attacked," screams the paper, and continues, "the New Year's Eve celebrations were again marred by violence against police officers, fire crews and ambulance workers; at least 110 attacked." That grim news is juxtaposed with a smaller headline: 2012 is gonna be fun," says AD. I imagine police officers, fire crews and ambulance workers may well argue with that contention.

Elsewhere the paper writes that police had their hands full with "a violent end to the year" and reports that an 11-year-old was shot while setting off fireworks, two people were stabbed to death and by 1 a.m., Rotterdam's specialist eye hospital had already treated as many patients as it had all night long last year.

De Volkskrant opens with the news that New Year's Eve was “celebrated according to tradition” and 1350 people were arrested, an increase of 150 over the year before. The paper adds up the other traditions, which include attacking emergency service workers, serious firework injuries and vandalism.

The paper sadly notes that just two years worth of New Year's Eve celebrations in the Netherlands create as many eye injuries as the total number of eye injuries for the entire US military during operations in Iraq.

The papers all carry photos of people braving the country’s fairly frigid waters to take a dip on New Year's Day; most of the people 'frolicking' in the waves don't look as though they're enjoying the experience; the only person with a really big smile on her face is completely dry and she's running away from the water!

Strikes
Cleaners across the country are starting strike action today; de Volkskrant reports that the FNV union says the strikes will be "the largest in history." Negotiations between contractors and cleaning companies toward a new collective wage agreement have stalled and cleaners have downed brooms.

The paper tells us that the strikes will hit everything from Schiphol airport, train stations and streets to casinos, government ministries and office blocks.

Last year, a similar conflict over wages and conditions led to strike action and rubbish piled up in the streets across the country. However, last year the striking cleaners were badly organised and they didn't really achieve their aims.

Things could be the different this year: a union leader tells Trouw, "We're well organised. In contrast to other unions, membership in the cleaners’ union is on the rise."

The euro
The European single currency is 10 years old but as Trouw points out, "it's a birthday without cake and champagne." Although it was a difficult gestation, birth and infancy, the euro looked pretty strong in its fourth, fifth and sixth years. All hell broke out during the global credit crisis precipitated by the US junk mortgage debacle and the failure of several major US banks.

The euro has been in trouble ever since then and many wonder if it was something that we should even have attempted.

Trouw takes us back to that fateful hour: it’s midnight, 1 January 2002 and bank machines across the euro zone spit out the very first euro notes. Prime ministers, presidents and ministers waved the notes in the air and looked happy. 

It's a very different story today; ministers and presidents are not happy and nobody is waving euros around these days. Oddly enough, none of the other papers mention the euro's birthday.

Things to do
All of the papers print lists of one kind of another; people to watch out for, things to do, things not to do, things that are trendsetters or passé and things one must not miss!

De Volkskrant lists 27 books, festivals and theatre works that must be seen in the coming year and AD gives us 17 people to watch out for in 2012. AD says Willem-Alexander is “ready for the throne,” but doesn’t say whether Beatrix is ready to give up her crown.

For all those who made that ‘lose 5 kilos in 2012’ resolution, de Volkskrant tells us it is “pointless to diet” but AD offers us the opportunity to “lose weight with AD.”
Nrc. next predicts that it will be a bad year for Dutch politics but tells us to "keep laughing despite the crisis and other prophecies of doom." All papers look forward to the 2012 Olympics and there are at least five charts with all the sports and details of Dutch chances of a medal.

Bees
2012 is the Year of the Bee; AD reports that five nature and environment organisations celebrated the start of this sweet year by calling on people to pay more attention to wild bees and honey bees.

The paper writes that activities for the coming year were announced on the TV programme Early Birds and people were asked to do more to protect bees and the environment.

(/as)