Author and proponent of “decluttering”, Marie Kondo, is set to publish a new book she says will clarify recent suggestions that she has abandoned her philosophy based on shedding possessions except those that “bring joy”.

Ms Kondo – author of several books including The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up – said there had been “some truth” in recent news reports suggesting she had reduced her own efforts to “tidy up” in her own life.

“I admit I did slacken off and stopped getting rid of things even if they didn’t bring me joy,” Ms Kondo (main picture) admitted. “My house started to look like a city dump, actually.

“I just found it hard to stick to keeping only things that bring me joy. Let’s face it, if we all kept only those things that bring us joy we’d all have fuckall. Most women would ditch their husbands for starters.”

Ms Kondo said she determined to return to simplifying her life after a US television producer visiting her home asked her to appear in a reality program about hoarders.

“That shocked me into thinking I should go back to decluttering and write a new book to make sure people know where I stand,” she said.

Ms Kondo’s new book Get All This Fucking Shit Out of Here goes on sale next week.

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God has denied responsibility for this week’s massive earthquake that killed thousands of people in Turkey and Syria.

“Don’t look at me sport,” God said when questioned by reporters. “I had nothing to do with it.

“It was tectonic plates or something what done it. Besides, I can’t be everywhere at once to stop something like that or to help save people’s lives when it happens. That’s bullshit.

“So fuck off and leave me alone. Oh, but if you hear of anyone  who survived against the odds get back to me and we’ll talk then.”

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Economists say Australian mortgage holders should be breathing a sigh of relief after nine successive monthly interest rate rises sparked by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decisions to lift its cash rate.

“The statement by RBA Governor Philip Lowe after Tuesday’s decision by the central bank to again lift rates stated unequivocally that more rises are on the way,” one economist told The Bug. “He couldn’t be clearer, so that’s obviously good news for people with home loans struggling to pay them off.”