It’s Denkzettel (I’ll teach you) time in Germany again. 736 seats in the European parliament are up for grabs today and nobody really much cares here, or much understands it.
Well, that’s not quite true. Possibly 50 percent of eligible voters are expected to vote throughout Europe today. But those who do vote won’t be voting for parliamentarians so much as voting against the various political parties they’re pissed off at within their own respective countries. Now that’s democracy or something.
„In vielen Ländern dürften unzufriedene Wähler den Urnengang nutzen, um ihrer jeweiligen Regierung einen Denkzettel zu verpassen.“
Observing Hermann 
In New England, we have NECN (New England Cable News)…a sort of local CNN. The anchor persons are all former anchor persons from Boston’s three network television stations. All of these people were let go by their television stations because they were getting stale and a little long in the tooth. NECN now makes it possible that these former prime-time anchor persons have a second career that will take them well into their sixties, perhaps seventies.
I sort of see the EU parlement as a kind of NECN. Old, stale politicians who are long in the tooth now have an opportunity for a second career in the EU parlement.