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Guess who's coming to dinner?

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Geert Wilders.

In a story I have not seen in the Engllish language media (yet), but is all over the Dutch media - 'The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in London has ruled that Dutch rightwing politician Geert Wilders should not have been refused entry to the United Kingdom in February'.  Source.  The case was brought by The Birkenhead Society, 'A conservative debating society and political forum for current affairs and a society to encourage free speech'.

Looks like he'll be heading this way again ere long, and quoth he, "[the ruling is] “fantastic news”... “The British government’s political decision has rightly been swept off the table by the British judge. This is a victory for the freedom of expression.”  

Item #1 in Straw in box, perhaps?

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posted by Croydonian

'You'd need a heart of stone' dept

Thursday, August 27, 2009
This, from Dutch site Nis News:

"UTRECHT, 27/08/09 - Subsidised local festivities to promote the integration of immigrants attract very few immigrants. A study by sociologist Ruben Bino reveals that in Utrecht, immigrants were underrepresented at 95 percent of the festivities.

Bino researched how over 300 local street parties organised by residents in 2008 with subsidies totalling 200,000 euros from Utrecht municipality's 'liveability fund' affected a neighbourhood.

The requests for subsidy came almost exclusively from white residents, usually highly educated... Considering the population composition of the neighbourhood, immigrants were under-represented at 95 percent of these street parties".

Doubtless the city of Utrecht meant well, but this does not come as a huge surprise.

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posted by Croydonian

Those wicked Belgians

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
From Dutch Daily NRC Handelsblad:

"King Leopold II of Belgium wanted to invade the Netherlands around 1854, when he was still only crown prince, according to documents discovered in the Royal Archives in Brussels by the Flemish historian and journalist Kris Clerckx. Napoleon III probably prevented the invasion".

The mind boggles. Apparently the Belgians fancied their chances, despite no great history of military prowess in the immedaitely preceding years. One might note that this would have been slap bang in the middle of the Crimean war, when we, our Gallic chums and sundry others were rather preoccupied with matters further east. Further Belgium only gained independence from the Dutch in 1830, having been variously under the Hapsburg and French yokes previously. Had this operation succeeded, doubtless the course of the wars of the 20th century would be very different, and Walloon domination of the Belgian polity would have been unsustainable.

I cannot immediately think of any situation in which a newly independent nation went on to conquer its former masters so soon after, although perhaps something will come to me later or a reader will set me on the right track.

Update

The tale is also being featured in Francophone Belgian daily Le Soir, although it adds little to the Handelsblad report. Reader comments are rather amusing though:

"Think how many World Cups we would have won with their talent and our rigour"

"British propaganda. We know that Léopold II was influenced by British propaganda and so would seek to divert international public opinion from its own colonial exactions by attacking a small nation of Europe".


Isn't it nice to have all that gratitude for dying in our hundreds of thousands to save their Belgian hides?

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posted by Croydonian

Three cheers for the Dutch - they have counted their euro votes

Friday, June 05, 2009
And out the Euro commissariat well and truly in its place:

"The final results of the Europe-wide elections will not be known until Sunday evening, when voting has been completed in all EU member states. Contravening Brussels' preferences, the Netherlands is not witholding the election results until Sunday. The tradition is for the outcome to be published as soon as the votes have been counted. The table below summarises the Dutch results, with 92 percent of the votes counted. Turnout was at 36 percent, slightly below the 40 percent mark of 2004".

And a fair old mix has been returned by our friends from the polders:

Christian Democrats 5
Labour 3
Conservative VVD 3
Social-liberal D66 3
GreenLeft 3
Socialist Party 2
Christian Union/Dutch Reformed Party 2
Freedom Party 4

The Freedom Party is Geert Wilders' lot.

I want the UK's results, and I want them NOW.

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posted by Croydonian

Your chance to tell the Dutch you think the EU 'discombobulating'

Friday, May 29, 2009
NRC Handelsblad, the Dutch business daily is running a Euro-mood meter, and offers the prospects of Euro-moods of, inter alia, 'discombubulating', 'bureaucracy', 'fraud', and for the EU-enthusiast, 'stability', 'solidarity' and so forth. I am NOT making this up - here's the evidence:




Who would turn down a chance like that? Not me... So far 48 people have voted, so there is plenty of scope for skewing the results, although one can only vote once per day, apparently.

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posted by Croydonian

Typo of *the year*

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
This, from the Radio Netherlands site:

All sniggering to one side, this comes from a tale that puts our Dutch friends in a very good light, as it refers to US military graves in the Netherlands:

"An answer can be found at Margraten, where ordinary citizens have forged personal bonds with the graves. All 8,301 graves in Margraten and the 1,700 names of the missing have been ‘adopted', a tradition that began shortly after the end of the war. As of 2009 interest in adopting a grave is greater than ever. There is even a waiting list of people who want to feel responsible for maintaining the remembrance".

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posted by Croydonian

A new frontier for outsourcing

Sunday, May 24, 2009
From Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad:

"The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees".

Good for the Dutch. What are they doing that we are not, and might they offer some hints?

Here, however, is the interesting bit:

Some reprieve might come from a deal with Belgium, which is facing overpopulation in its prisons. The two countries are working out an agreement to house Belgian prisoners in Dutch prisons. Some five-hundred Belgian prisoners could be transferred to the Tilburg prison by 2010.
I had a conversation with another blogger (I forget who) a while back about the prospects of outsourcing gaols to other jurisidictions, and I concluded that considerations over visits by relatives would make this fall at the first hurdle.





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posted by Croydonian

Lacking the courage of one's convictions

Monday, January 05, 2009
Here is a Dutch Socialist MP:



And what he said to Radio Netherlands: "The Socialist Party parliamentarian admits that he called for a new intifada at an anti-violence demonstration in Amsterdam on Saturday, but adds that he meant "civil disobedience and peaceful protest".

I suppose 'civil disobedience, civil disobedience, free Palestine', even rendered in Dutch lacks the snappiness of 'Intifada' etc etc, but perhaps Harry Von Bommel should either be a little more careful in his use of words or else grow a pair and drop this transparent weaseling.

As a footnote, I discover that the 'lady' next to him is the widow of Wim Duisenberg, the first president of the European Central Bank. Looks like the Elders of Zion really screwed up there.

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posted by Croydonian

A Prime Minister with a plan

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Not 'our' one, naturally:

"Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Piet Hein Donner favour a proposal to introduce a flat rate tax in the Netherlands".

Nice one chaps. On the downside, the prospective rate is pretty eye-watering - *37%*.

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posted by Croydonian

Where your money goes - Dutch division

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
From Radio Netherlands:

"...a controversial Socialist Party policy has been introduced by the council in Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. People on low incomes in the Groningen area will now be eligible to receive flatscreen televisions paid for by the council.

The councillors apparently believe that everyone, including minimum earners, should be able to buy flatscreen TVs. They decided grants available to the poor to replace television sets should rise from the present 170 euros to no less than 450 euros".

I make that just over £350, and a nameless online retailer in these parts will sell a famous name 32" LCD for that.

If someone else is paying, I'm having filet mignon.

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posted by Croydonian

Sssshhh - no-on tell the BBC. It will get ideas...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Couldn't happen here. Could it?

"[Dutch] Public broadcaster VARA will shortly launch a debate website intended to encourage 'progressive' views. According to Francisco van Jole, who will coordinate the site. The debate on the Internet is dominated by "right-wing loudmouths."

"There will be progressive opinions on the site," declares Van Jole, without saying how he will achieve this. He does not wish to speak of censorship, but of "editorial policy" that "will have a preventive effect on the right-wing loudmouths," he said in Trouw newspaper. Van Jole declined to say how much of VARA's government subsidy is going to the site".

On the new debating site, "all views are welcome, but not people who screw everything up," Van Jole went on. "Society's debate is now being deliberately killed off with verbal violence by people who are not at all interested in progressive ideas. Sites like Geenstijl.nl have cultivated the open sewer."

A bit of sniffing around discloses that geenstijl.nl looks to be popular, witty and sound. No wonder Van Jole hates it.


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posted by Croydonian

Common sense takes the day off

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Or, as I have remarked before, continues its round the world cruise in a first class cabin, pausing only to harass room service, rather than going back to work.

Anyway, way back lost in the mists of time I noted the following:

"In possibly the silliest proposal by any government in living memory, the Dutch Health Ministry is proposing to ban smoking in the nation's infamous cannabis 'coffee' shops"....One Dutch MP noted that this "would be the same as banning alcohol in pubs".

And yea, it has come to pass. Ish.

"On Monday the owner of a coffee-shop of Amsterdam was caught smoking a joint mixed with tobacco in his bar. This detail did not escape a patrolling police officer, who fined him - not for the spliff itself, still tolerated [under Dutch law], but because of the tobacco, outlawed since July 1. There would not have been a fine if the contravener had rolled a pure grass or hashish joint".

There's little point in re-hashing the pro / con arguments again, but would those who value their lungs etc rather breathe in ambient tobacco smoke, or ambient dope smoke?

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posted by Croydonian

And to think our defence ministers are a shower ...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"Dutch defence minister Eimert van Middelkoop says he is "very happy" he found a legal way to dodge his military service in the 1970s because he has difficulties in coping with authority". Source

It is pretty poor that no-one (to my knowledge) in the higher echelons of the current government has done military service, let alone active service - and no Secretary of State here has served with the colours since Tom King, and none with real moral authority since Gurkha rifles officer John Nott - but that Dutch fellow takes not merely the biscuit, but the packet, the shelf it was on and for all I know the factory where the things are churned out.

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posted by Croydonian

An MP with a past

Friday, August 15, 2008
What about this for 'youthful peccadilloes'?:

"[he] orchestrated threats, violence and intimidation of six top civil servants at the economic affairs ministry in 1985".

The Dutch (for our MP is a a Hollander...) being the way they are, time limitations mean that GroenLinks MP Wijnand Duyvendak cannot be prosecuted. One would think that he would have the sense to keep his head down, but no: "The GroenLinks MP complained on Wednesday he has already been pursued for 10 days by a storm of negative publicity on his activist past".

They don't like it up 'em, do they?

Groenlinks are big on fairy tale economics: "a just distribution of power, knowledge, property, labour and income, within the Netherlands, but also on a world scale". And, as is often the case, our miscreant comes from a good family - he is the son of a preacher man.

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posted by Croydonian

Here come the food police - in full SWAT mode.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
At least on the other side of the North Sea:

"The Netherlands Nutrition Centre wants the brakes put on the growth of snack bars and fast food restaurants. In neighbourhoods with an abundance of such outlets, it wants local authorities to prevent any more being opened. In areas around schools, its demands are even stricter: it wants a complete ban on any business selling fast food".

How long before our very own soi-disante 'liberals' float that idea in these parts, or have they already done so?

I don't suppose there is much point bewailing the death of personal responsibility and that the freedom not to deal with the consequences of one's actions is only for children and gods.

(Blogging, in the time honoured phrase, will be light for a few days as the Futures of Croydonian-kind are visiting)

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posted by Croydonian

The poor little darlings

Monday, July 28, 2008
That I do not have a great deal of time for the Olympics - see repeated references to 'the world's largest outdoor steroid abuse fest' for confirmation - will come as no surprise to those people of impeccable taste who read my jottings on a regular basis.

For all that the kitchen sink is supposedly thrown at athletes to stop them spiking up, pilling up or - for all I know - toad licking, the drug scandals just keep on coming. Those of a cynical disposition will note how the press never wants to believe it of those swathed in our version of the red, white and blue, but that is a story for another day.

Another country which goes in for the same flag colour scheme - and they did get there first - has a sports minister who is concerned about the, cough, human rights of the runners, throwers, jumpers and underwater tiddlywinks players:

"The Netherlands' Deputy Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport, Jet Bussemaker says excessive testing for doping is violating athletes' right to privacy". ..." Although I think doping tests should stay, you must balance them against the rights and freedoms of the athletes, in the knowledge that you can never eliminate doping altogether."

Erm, they are dodging around in outfits that would see them barred in any number of hostelries in these parts and lapidated in some of the more delightful parts of the Middle East, and they are concerned about privacy?

Facetiousness aside, either drop the testing completely and rely on participants to be honourable or allow random testing at any time etc with zero notice. Way back lost in the mists of time I read of a poll that asked the runners, throwers etc whether they would be prepared to take a drug that would guarantee a Gold medal but also in the longer term kill them. The precise wording escapes me, but that was the gist of it. A very clear majority said yes please, and I doubt that opinions among the steroid munchers have changed with the generational advance.

As an aside, Princess Anne was the only competitor in the '72 Olympics who did not have to undergo a sex test. True story.

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posted by Croydonian

Great headlines of our time #382

Thursday, May 15, 2008
"[Dutch] Lower House supports general ban on stilettos". Source

Chiropodists, foot fetishists and most adult women are openly weeping at the news. Furthermore, 'women in sensible shoes' has ceased to have any secondary meaning.

As I have not registered with the site, the tale from NIS cuts out before it settles the question as to whether we are speaking of knives or footwear.

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posted by Croydonian

Finlandisation nouveau

Monday, March 03, 2008
A little unfairly, the act of bending the knee to a powerful neighbour is strongly associated with the Finns, despite that nation's willingness to stand up to the Red Wheel in 1939.

So much for the history lesson. The Christian Democrat head of government of a western democracy, fearing that his country's citizens and economic interests might be in peril, lays the prospective blame not at the door of the rioters, assassins, boycotters and so forth, but on someone who remains at home and is exercising a right for which his co-nationals have been prepared to lay down their lives.

The quisling in question is Jan Peter Balkende of the Netherlands: "If Dutch companies, citizens and interests abroad are hurt following MP Geert Wilders' film on the Koran, there is only one person responsible, according to Prime Minister Balkenende. "At this moment, a great responsibility is resting on Mr. Wilders". Source


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posted by Croydonian

"A tasteless rewriting of history"

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
If I was choosing to be especially euphemistic, that's what I might call this too:

"The distribution in the Netherlands of a free postcard depicting Anne Frank wearing a Palestinian scarf will not be stopped, according to editor-in-chief Pascale Bosboom of Boomerang publishers". Source

Opinions seem to differ as to the precise cultural indicators thrown out by red headscarves (I am pretty sure I read Hamas the other day, but I cannot find the reference ...), but it certainly does not show loyalty to the 'moderates' in Gaza and Judea Samaria. Wiki suggests the PFLP and the rest of the alphabet soup end of PLO leftists, none of which are especially lovable. The EU and the US have designated the PFLP as a terrorist organisation.

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posted by Croydonian

De-colonisation - the modern way

Monday, January 07, 2008
Abstracted from an article about a spat twixt the Netherlands and Aruba, involving debt, sovereignty and a hotel:

"A Freedom Party MP recently called Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles "a den of thieves" and suggested putting the six islands up for sale on the internet".

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posted by Croydonian