The conservative government in Greece is attempting to change the constitution to allow tuition fees and make studying harder. Proposed changes include time-limit on university studies, an effort to restrict the provision of free academic books, the introduction of managerial positions in the Universities and allowing the police to access university grounds. Because of the students historic resistance to the Military Junta, police is currently prohibited from entering university grounds unless invited. At 3 am on the 17th of November in 1973, tanks crushed down the barricaded gates of the university with the police opening fire on the students who had occupied the university for several days and broadcast over a clandestine self-made radio calls to the population to overthrow the dictator.

Students in over 25 universities in Germany protested against the introduction of tuition fees during the “Action Day for Education” on 30th of November. Demonstrations and street parties were held in Berlin, Bochum, Bonn, Cologne, Darmstadt, Fulda, Hamburg, Freiburg and Oldenburg. In Frankfurt the job centre was stormed by about a thousand students who put up banners and held speeches on its roof and proclaimed solidarity with the unemployed workers movement. The student unions call for a boycott of tuition fees and mass lawsuits by students against the state, as the constitution was modified in 2005 to allow tuition fees.

I have experienced some of the best gigs in Europe, backed by the community station Radio Z, in the punk club, KV in Nuremberg. This subcultural alternative venue is now situated at the Nazi Party Rally Grounds in the former military barracks, which were first built and used by the the SS, and then the US army. Now it is home to artists and community groups. Many declared at first the unsuitability of the building as it was in a bad state with no heating, no toilets and no electricity. But, as usual the punks did not bother and were the first to move in with candlelight leaving the last squatted wooden building – with the legendary hole in the ground as a toilet – behind for destruction and for redevelopment.

The New Year’s or Hogmanay Party in Edinburgh was cancelled this year due to storms. Which is fair enough, especially as the whole city centre is usually cordoned off and only people with passes – either bought, residents or applied for about half a year in advance by writing to the city council – are allowed into the inner city. This get’s me so angry – but then, it is said that otherwise there would be too many people in the inner city squeezing each other to death. One of the problems is surely that fireworks displays are only organised by the council, and not generally available for sale around new year, as they celebrate Guy Fawkes Night on the 5th of November.

It is pretty late for doing my interview for the cultural journalism course assignment, and the planned talk with the ex-ambassador to Uzbekistan has just fallen through. My last hope is a reliable libertarian communist: Stewart Home, unconventional pulp-fiction author, prankster and performance artist is now teaching postgraduates as a writer in residence at Strathclyde University. Stewart expresses happiness with the postgraduate students he teaches. He encourages them to establish personal blogs as imaginary persons on Rupert Murdoch’s MySpace website. “It is amazing when you first make them do something and initially they don’t like it but then are really getting into it.