Here's a serious story that made me giggle a little:

Transgender MP in toilet fracas

An Italian opposition MP and former showgirl has expressed outrage after meeting a transgender colleague in the parliament's ladies' toilets.

Elisabetta Gardini, spokeswoman for former PM Silvio Berlusconi's party, said she felt ill after the encounter during a break in Friday's session.

They certainly don't do things by halves in Italian politics do they? Surely the show girl must be used to having all sorts of strange sexualities parading around her in dressing rooms, make-up areas and so on?

But it's the compromise suggestion that is the funniest - that there should be a third loo for Ms Luxuria, the pre-op transsexual MP that has apparently caused the outrage for Ms Gardini. Or maybe Ms Gardini should just take some of the chill pills and spliffs her colleagues use to help them through the day.

(For what it's worth, the principle I would go by is that it is the post-transition gender that should generally apply, unless and until she decides she's not going to finish the sex-change. So Ms Luxuria - what a great name too by the way - should in fact be using the ladies. Indeed, unless they do things very differently in Italy than we do here, it's presumably the more private of the two anyway. And that Ms Gardini is indeed being a nasty prejudiced piece of work in raising the issue in such a way. Calling it "sexual violence" is just laughable.)