When I heard about this disaster I immediately thought of the fire at Schiphol seven years ago. Ministers Piet Hein Donner and Sybilla Dekker weren’t personally responsible but they could be held politically responsible and so they had to go. Even the mayor of Haarlemmermeer resigned.

Fair trade

In Bangladesh no-one is feeling politically responsible. The finance minister said the collapse was an ‘accident’ and that ‘this sort of thing could happen anywhere’. If that is his attitude why should we feel responsible? Because we wear clothing made in Bangladesh?

Big European clothing manufacturers like Hennes & Mauritz, Inditex and Primark do feel it is their duty to take a share of the responsibility. Nearly all clothing manufacturers are members of fair trade organisations like the Fair Wear Foundation, SKC and BSCI which have worked for years to better working conditions in countries like Bangladesh. Their inspectors carry out audits and western companies only do business with factories that have a quality mark.

Not long ago I had a discussion with a number of clients and the directors of two of the fair trade organisations. The clients complained there are too many fair trade organisations and that each is conducting its own audit. Clothing factories which work for more than one western client have to open their doors to a new batch of inspectors and free up people and time for every quality mark.

Single audit

Wouldn’t it be much better if all fair trade organisations were to conduct one single standardised audit? Not possible, said the directors of the organisations. ‘Our organisation uses the definition of the minimum wage as the lowest wage level while the competition uses the subsistence minimum as a criterion,’ one said.

Fair trade organisations should stop nitpicking and use a single standardised audit which also checks the quality of the buildings, and fire safety. This is the standard all buyers should abide by, monitored by the authorities. The clothing industry in Bangladesh doesn’t need more definitions, audits and inspectors. And what is Ploumen going to do with the €9 million? I take it you are sitting down already: she is going to spend it on ‘training for another two hundred inspectors’. 

Annemarie van Gaal is an entrepreneur and director of AM media, She is also a writer and television personality.

A large majority of European leaders agrees this is the result of a policy of hard-hitting austerity measures which are crushing domestic demand. The cutbacks were meant to reduce the deficit and government debt. Have they? No, debt has risen and deficits have remained more or less at the same level. The consequences of this policy are nothing short of dramatic for the EU. International think-tanks also agree the present policy is putting the brakes on the economy when the emphasis should be on revitalisation and putting in place structural reforms.

Grip

Until recently Germany was seen as the powerful motor behind the European austerity drive. Now that it, too, is experiencing limited growth, its obstinate attitude towards government spending is slowly changing. It’s taking its time, however, so much so that the US has felt it necessary to tell Europe to get a grip. Obama’s administration is worried about the state of the global economy and thinks it will only recover if Europe, which accounts for a quarter of the global economy, implements measures to stimulate its own economy sooner rather than later.

The present level of real domestic demand in the eurozone is even lower than it was during the global crisis of 2009. In order to prevent long-term economic stagnation EU member states should agree on a joint stimulation and investment programme to get the economy back on track. The EU must press on towards a banking union which will restore the financial markets’ faith in the European banks and jumpstart credit flow to businesses.

Jobs

The Americans are right. Ever since the crisis made itself felt they opted for stimulation to generate growth. While this caused a considerable hike in the US deficit and government debt, it is expected the extra growth will reduce both over the next few years and create more jobs at the same time.

There are two Western manufacturing countries whose economies are performing well: the United States and Japan. Last year the Japanese decided to copy the American model and it’s working: according to the latest prognoses its ailing economy is expected to grow by more than 2%. Europe can’t afford to hesitate any longer. It’s five to midnight. European leaders must learn from failed policies and adopt the American model while there is still time.

Rick van der Ploeg is professor of economics at Oxford University and adjunct professor of economics at the VU University.

Willem Vermeend is an internet entrepreneur and professor of economics and e-business at the Maastricht School of Management (MSM).

This article was published earlier in the Financial Telegraaf

‘Jos van Rey called the other day,’ Frans sniggered. ‘He wants to put up another big billboard of me along the A2. It’ll be a picture of my head with the slogan "I you can’t hack it, you’ll have to try again!" That was what his old professor used to say and he thought it would be fun. Let’s drink to the Limburg way of doing things!’

I don’t care what people think of me anymore,’ sighed Fred. ‘I used to get nervous every time the NRC dropped on the doormat on a Saturday but now I know it belongs to champagne terrorist Derk Sauer and Egeria, a hedge fund financed by types who earn their dosh by exploiting child slaves in the third world, I’m not so bothered. They got twelve million from the ailing little rag. Should I worry what it writes about me? I don’t think so.’

‘Rumour has it they immediately gave the bonus to hungry workers in Bangladesh and Sauer is investing in Chechen rebels,’ Frans giggled. ‘He’s giving them guns left over from his time in the IRA. They’re still sticky with protestant blood!’

‘I would have put my money on Nutricia,’ Fred offered. ‘They’re making huge profits on their formula milk in China. Their handing of the press is brilliant: they keep pretending they don’t know why the supermarket shelves are empty.’

‘And the last two tins were smuggled out the back door by corrupt staff and sold to the highest bidder at the Chinese takeaway,’ Weekers cried, almost killing himself laughing. ‘Everybody is a Jos van Rey! Samsom rang me about making good on the deal. It’s pay-back time, he said. He saved our backsides and now we have to help him. He said I could persuade Rutte to make illegality no longer punishable by law. I told him: "Diederik, Diederik, don’t you know who you’re talking to? I’m a Limburger! Jos van Rey’s pal! Illegality is never punished by law where we come from!" He didn’t think it was funny.’

‘You know what will happen,’ Fred sighed. ‘If we run out of powdered milk the children will have to go back to the breast. Did you see Paul de Leeuw on Saturday? He had a whole load of hefty Dutch women in, pumping. On tv!’

‘Thumping?’

‘No, pumping, with a P. Pumping. And then Paul pulls the tube out of the milk machine and starts sucking himself. The audience loved it.’

‘I love it too,’ Frans whispered. ‘I love that this is what passes for entertainment now. Next time I want to see him in a box filled with poisonous snakes and hungry rats, as in Killer Karaoke on RTL5. That’s entertainment.’

 ‘We’re closing,’ the bartender said. They quickly had another one, drank to NRC’s profits and gave the bartender a fat tip. The PvdA’s pay back money, they laughed. And then, arm in arm, they stumbled into the night. The streets of The Hague echoed with the sound of I will survive for hours afterwards.

Youp van 't hek is one of the Netherlands' best-loved comedians and writers.

At last the emancipation of women is back on the political agenda, with women’s economic independence as one of the spearheads. Predictably the social media and newspaper comment sections nearly burst their bounds, from the ‘hear hears’ of ‘white, intellectual bitches’ (dixit) to protests from people who ‘really know what emancipation is all about: freedom of choice’.

Balance

This freedom of choice – given that 48% of women are not economically independent -  is exactly what I talked about with many women in the past few months of this year, which happens to be Opzij’s fortieth. After forty years it makes sense to look back and take stock of what has been achieved and what there is still left to do. The abiding question was whether the change demanded by society since the 1970s – a balance between paid and unpaid work – had become a reality.

After four decades of women’s lib in the Netherlands the answer is: no, it hasn’t. Dutch women have stormed the labour market but most are working part-time. As many as three million women are potentially unable to fend for themselves. In case of divorce or job loss by the main breadwinner, things would become decidedly tricky. The statistics tell a clear story: 1 in 3 marriages end in divorce and job loss is an unfortunate reality for a growing number of families.

These are the figures, the familiar mantras surrounding a reality that is as familiar as it is worrying, and yet they are having as much effect as a health warning on a packet of cigarettes. Freedom of choice is hailed as the greatest good but is bandied about so easily as to block any attempt at social change.

Selective feminism

Ego-emancipation – a type of selective feminism adhered to by (mainly) women who say that how they run their lives is up to them, even if it means being a stay-at-home mum - is nothing less than a superficial and egocentric view on an issue that doesn’t only affect individuals but society as a whole. In the Netherlands, a predominant mother culture is also added to the mix. This has made it much more difficult to shed the traditional roles for women, i.e. that of housewife and mother and, at some stage, a carer for ailing parents.

In countries such as Great Britain and the United States women entered the labour market much earlier. The men enlisted during the world wars and the women took their place in the factories. In some countries it took time for prosperity to return and women stayed in the workplace.

Not so in the Netherlands. Relatively few men fought in the war and the build-up to economic prosperity after the war was swift and successful which meant there was no financial need for women to go out to work. Before Dutch women could even have a peek at Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique – the personal stories of housewives which started the second feminist wave in the States – the Netherlands adapted itself to the so-called ‘breadwinner model’. By law women who worked in education, care or as a civil servant had to give up their jobs on marriage. It was the Social Democrats’ way of protecting male employment and a society based on christian family life.

The Netherlands continued on the traditional route until far into the 1970s. Shortages on the labour market didn’t translate into encouraging women to work, as happened in Sweden, but into getting labour from abroad. The man worked, the woman looked after the home and the children. Not surprisingly it took much longer for child care, maternity leave and other facilities to materialise. The effects of the bread winner model can be felt to this day.

Care

In this mother culture care is a woman’s business. Women feel it’s their choice to comply. But by doing so they are failing to contribute to a number of equal rights issues: financial-economic independence facilitating greater choice, a greater influx of women into top jobs and an end to differences in pay between men and women. This cabinet has announced important healthcare cutbacks. People will have to organise their own care. Guess who will be doing the bulk of the caring?

In her emancipation paper minister Bussemaker rightly considers the position of both men and women in the Netherlands. The crisis is teaching us, and the proposed cabinet measures affirm this, that the government will not automatically foot the bill when life takes a turn for the worse.

The minister’s comment a day before Mothering Sunday wasn’t meant as a tongue lashing for women. She was addressing the men as well. This is a wake-up call: it’s time for a social balance. People, politicians included, who can’t deal with that and feel that it’s nobody’s business but your own are really saying you are entitled to choose poverty. Strictly speaking this is true. But it is using freedom of choice to mask an entirely cynical point of view.

Margriet van der Linden is editor of feminist magazine Opzij.

This article appeared earlier in the Volkskrant.

Chang is not alone. A tax on trading, a compulsory minimal holding period for high-frequency traders and more say or dividends for long-term investors: it’s only a small sample of measures proposed to discourage short rides on the stock exchange.

Shares are changing hands ever more rapidly. In the 1960s, American investors would hold on to their shares for an average of eight years. In the first ten years of the new millennium this has shrunk to a mere six months.

Eager 

Critics are using these figures to show that investors are becoming far too eager. They are putting pressure on CEOs to present fat short-term profits even when this is potentially damaging to a company’s long-term perspectives.

Averages are dangerous and that goes for the average purchase periods of shares as well. The high-frequency traders who are performing hundreds of transactions a day with their computerised models are distorting the picture. Institutional investors’ watchdog Eumedion recently looked into the holding periods of six large investors, pension funds ABP and the health sector’s Zorg & Welzijn among them. The figure it came up with was 3.5 years. This sounds like quite a long time but ‘the large majority of Dutch shares, more than 80% of all portfolios, does not move for five years or more’, the report claims. About half is kept for at least ten years.

Small group 

Interestingly enough, the average period of 3.5 years remained stable during the period of Eumedion’s investigation. Big investors are small versions of the stock exchange. The large majority of investors hold on to their shares for years. But a small group of investors have been trading exceptionally frequently. Averages don’t mean much in a case like that.

Contrary to popular opinion, a short holding period is nothing to do with a company’s long-term strategy.

The biggest innovation of the stock exchange model is that it allows companies’ long-term investments to exceed investors’ holding periods. After a company collects the money following the introduction on the stock exchange, it’s up to the shareholders to either buy or sell. How often investors exchange their shares among themselves is irrelevant: the company can continue to plot its long-term course regardless. The capital is already in the bag.

Jan-Maarten Slagter is director of the Dutch Investors' association Vereniging van Effectenbezitters (VEB).

  .

We now know the Bulgarian benefit fraud was at least €95m but this may very well be just be the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what the real figure is. The Bulgarians have given us a wake-up call. Thanks, guys.

Flaw

But are we awake? No, we’re still snoozing. Weekers announced that, from 2014, the tax office may do a preliminary check to see if housing or health benefits are justified.

Imagine this: an entrepreneur discovers a serious flaw in his financial system - for years the discounts on his bills and estimates were too high. He lost lots of money but fortunately he has now spotted the flaw. Do you think for one minute the entrepreneur will send a single bill or estimate that contains the same mistake? Of course not. Any entrepreneur worth his salt would work every hour god sends him to find the source of the flaw and rectify it. He wouldn’t leave it for seven months because by that time he’d be bankrupt.

And what does our government do? Our government announces Measures: we will become stricter and more alert but it is going to take about seven months. Weekers has spent every day since his student days in politics: local councillor, MP and now a junior finance minister. It’s a fine career but not one that features taking decisive action.

Easy

It’s shocking to see how easy it is to claim health benefits. It only took me about two minutes. After I logged in with my DigiD code the tax office only wanted to know two things: do I share my house with others and how much do I earn. Then they wanted a bank account number. Kerching!

Within eight weeks the tax office informed me about the amount I would be receiving and four weeks later the money was in the account. There you are. The whole thing takes twelve weeks. And Weekers claims this is not long enough to check whether the claimant has a right to the benefits or not.

Here’s a simple tip, completely free of charge. Call the computer programmer at the tax office in the morning and tell him to add another question to the list. Ask every claimant to fill in his health insurance number.

Health insurers made a profit of €1,4bn last year, surely they can free up someone to check policy numbers for the tax office. It’s quick, it’s easy: if you don’t live here you don’t have health insurance and are not eligible for health benefits. Bob’s your uncle. And he’s wide awake which is more than I can say of our politicians.

Annemarie van Gaal is an entrepreneur and head of AM Media. She is also a writer and television personality.

Europe is now profiting from a consistent, long-term policy put in place by national regulators: low prices, more transparency and more competitiveness.

But what is a good deal at a fair price today could be obsolete and worthless tomorrow. Competition based on old fashioned earnings models is putting so much pressure on profit margins that investment in fast mobile and internet services is falling by the wayside.

Rickety

The present earnings models, based on calls and text messages, are unsustainable and are being overtaken left and right by free services such as WhatsApp and Skype. Dumping tariffs is no more than bailing out a rickety boat. Charging clients five times as much if they exceed their package is not the answer either. Charge extra and people will leave in droves. Standing still equals going backwards in this sector.

Telecom is the cornerstone of the digital economy. We are on the verge of great social developments which not only depend on the speed, safety and accessibility of the internet but also on the quality of the services on offer.

Without investment the internet will become slower, services inaccessible and innovation an afterthought. Operating behind national frontiers is saddling Europe with a huge competitive disadvantage which is prejudicial to the interests of both businesses and consumers.

27 keys

European businesses and consumers should have the same scale benefits as in the United States or China so they can deliver and buy services without paying for the privilege of crossing national borders. That is the way to stimulate growth in the telecom sector and strengthen competitive and innovative clout. At the same time consumers would get a fair deal. It will stimulate investment and yield an annual extra growth of 0,9 % GDP in Europe.

At the moment Europe has 27 sets of rules and regulations. A company wanting to do business here needs 27 keys to the same door. This is a ridiculous state of affairs.

To govern is to anticipate and we need action before it is too late. The clock is ticking.

We need structural change to make the European telecom market future-proof. It’s simple: either we sink with the ship, taking the passengers – innovative entrepreneurs and consumers – with us or we show some courage and take the necessary steps to establish a strong European telecom market. Let’s make it happen!

Neelie Kroes is Euro commissioner for the Digital Agenda.

Every day in March a thousand people were registered unemployed. The total number reached 8% of the working population, or some 643,000 people. Unemployment reached a level comparable to the 1980s. Youth unemployment hit 15%. And many fear it will be their job next.

Too optimistic

There is every reason to expect the number of unemployed will grow to 750,000 or 800,000 people in the coming years if we are to believe the sombre CPB and EU prognoses for 2013 and 2014. Not that their prognoses are always right. If anything, they are far too optimistic. A good example of this is the Commission Bakker’s 2008 paper on the labour market.

2015 would see a shortage of 375,000 workers, the commission blithely predicted. They were only wrong by about a million and it is, of course, the other way around. There is no shortage. There is a huge surplus and we would do well to realise there is a lot of hidden unemployment among the self-employed and unregistered unemployed as well.

Scarce goods need to be divided fairly. Now that jobs have become scarce it would make sense to divide them equally among those who can and want to work. Let’s start with the next five years. There are many ways in which shorter working hours can be introduced and we must consider the pros and cons of all of them carefully.

Half

The obvious thing to do is to abolish the proposed rise in the pension age. It might be interesting to find out whether people over 55 would consider cutting their number of working hours in half, thus giving a younger person the chance of a job. A shorter working week, say 32 hours, would create jobs for a great many unemployed.

Fewer working hours or years is high on the wish list of many people who are still in paid employment. It creates space for many forms of unpaid work, like voluntary work or care duties.

Onus

The cabinet appointed former CDA MP Mirjam Sterk to be the ‘youth unemployment czar’. On news show Pauw&Witteman she called on young people to ‘improve their chances of a job’, ‘re-train’, ‘broaden their search for work’, and ‘persevere’.

This is putting the onus on the young. It’s typical of what is happening: if you’re unemployed you only have yourself to blame. If you try hard enough you will find work. Social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher says he will do everything in his power to ‘guide people from job to job’.

But minister Asscher: what jobs?

Unemployment is not an individual problem. It’s a structural problem that concerns society as a whole. Our economy is not generating enough work and is destroying jobs at the rate of thousands a month. That is the cause of the present high level of unemployment. There is simply too little paid work to go around. Additional training will only help a small number of people, and so will Asscher’s ‘job to job guidance’.

It is high time we looked at ways of reducing working hours as a means of dividing up the available work fairly.

Wijnand Duyvendak is a former GroenLinks MP.

It was a surprise how many of my hipster friends realized their deep-down reverence for the House of Oranje. Comedians, artists and designers all posted comments of respect and admiration for the royals. My cousin Floor de Goede – aka the cartoonist ‘Flo’ – drew a strip in Het Parool, in which he even admitted humming the new ‘Koningslied’ to himself. Horrors!

When I lived in the UK, I noticed that the counter-cultural hipster types did not hold the British royal family in the highest regard. They seemed to feel more like Johnny Rotten, who sang ‘God save the Queen, the fascist regime,’ for Elizabeth’s Jubilee.

Then, when I got to the Netherlands, I’d expected to see the Dutch royals met with a similar disdain. But when Queens Day came, there they were, decked out in orange just like everyone else. Perhaps Queen Beatrix would be portrayed in some ironic settings, or compromising positions, or with dreadlocks. But the accusations of fascism weren’t there.

I knew there’d been the squatters’ protests in 1980, when she was sworn in. But since then, perhaps the Dutch royals had been doing something really right.

Another contrast to the British monarchy is the paparazzi. British royals don’t dare take off their clothes anywhere for fear of some camera broadcasting their nudity. They can’t leave awkwardly tawdry voice mails without the British KGB listening in. 

But when the Dutch magazine Nieuwe Revu posted unauthorized photos of Princess Amalia in her private life, it backfired terribly. Instead of Dutch royal-watchers blissfully snapping up the snaps like so much horsemeat, they blasted the magazine for violation of Amalia’s privacy. Apparently, the Dutch royals fulfill a role more important than entertainment.

I celebrated the royal investiture in the United States, at the Dutch consulate of Chicago. As a naturalized Dutchman, I was happy to compare notes on the telecast. For non-Dutch, I explained the appeal of the royals. (And I was surprised to hear that many of the Dutch-American community had not bothered to watch the event.)

So for the international community – and some Dutch expats – I’ll introduce my favorite game to play in the States.

It’s a game you can play in any apartment anywhere in the world. It’s called ‘Look around the room & spot what’s Dutch.’

The artwork hanging on your wall. (Mondriaan)
The long-life light bulb in your hall. (Philips)
Your favorite brand of household soap. (Unilever)
Pictures from the microscope. (Leeuwenhoek)
The first operational submarine. (1800s)
The LED lights on your screen. (Philips)
The ones who made the first CD. (Philips)
DJs who invented the style ‘hands-free.’ (Tiesto, Armin v Buren)
The pricey petroleum in your tank. (Shell)
Probably some of the money in your bank (ING)
The ones who discovered New Zealand (Abel Tasman)
The inspiration for James Bond. (Peter Tazelaar)
The fresh cut flowers in your vase. (Aalsmeer)
The bald guy floating up in space. (Andre Kuipers)
Giving your car its silvery tone. (Akzo Nobel)
The ones who sang ‘The Twilight Zone’ (Golden Earring)
Keeping New Orleans safe from the sea. (Royal Haskoning)
That annoying music show on TV. (The Voice)
The little bunny so cute you could eat. (Miffy = Nijntje)
And yes even Zwarte Piet.
Philips, Shell, KLM.
Unilever, Heineken.
Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben,
Anne Frank, Van Halen.
MC Escher, Hieronymous Bosch,
Rembrandt, Vincent Van Gogh.
Erasmus, Spinoza, Rene Descartes.
Johan Cruyff. The guy with the darts. (R. van Barneveld)
Doutzen Kroes, Albert Heijn.
Carice van Houten, Anton Corbijn.
Bailing out Greece, Cyprus, Spain.
Taking out the terrorist on your plane. (Jasper Schuringa vs. ‘The Underwear Bomber’)
How did the Dutch get so inspiring?
What new wonders will they bring?
How can we honor them? Let us sing:
Hail Willem Alexander, the new Dutch King.

And there, completely by accident, is my very own version of the Koningslied.

The recent European Commission report ‘She figures’ shows that only 33% of European researchers are female. And only 20% of those hold a full time professorship. Although things are changing slowly, the number of women who choose a career in science still lags behind. The glass in the glass ceiling continues to be of the multi-layered and bullet-proof variety.

Visible

I recently wrote that I would like female ICT top talent to be more visible, not just to encourage girls to choose ICT as a career but to put the spotlight on the groundbreaking work women are doing in the field. The fact is women don’t like to brag, even if they work in ICT. What we need is inspiring examples. And we have them!

At the Phototonics21 event in Brussels I ran into Jana Huisman. At 15 she became the youngest Dutch Gymnasium student to graduate with honours. Pure curiosity prompted her to study Mathematics and Physics in Bonn. Last week she was asked to become an ambassador for photonics and inspire others to take an interest in the science.

Jana is fascinated by the possibilities of photons: they serve as information carriers, a source of energy and can also be used in medicine. From broadband to scanning equipment, photonics not only offers research opportunities but great career opportunities as well.

Pregnant

Other groundbreaking women are Joelle Frijters and Janneke Niessen, CEO and CIO of Improve Digital. The company helps media companies generate more money from online ads and is very good at it. It’s doing so well that Swiss publisher PubliGroupe bought an 85% interest in the company. This opens the door to a European alternative to Google and other big American players.

It wasn’t easy. Frijters’s started her business at age 23 against all advice while Niessen sold her flat to finance it. When they fell pregnant one after the other, they were asked if they would still be able to lead the company. It’s a question no prospective father would ever have to answer. It happened to me when I was a minister. I said I would only give my answer if my male colleagues were asked the same question. I’m still waiting.

Son

Now that queen Beatrix has abdicated from her position of influence, we need new icons. The talent is there. But we also need a generation of men who want to share parenthood and work on an equal basis. It’s the only hope for change. It’s not only about what you tell your daughter, but also what you teach your son.

And while we are about it, let’s also change the hours of the childcare centres so 6.15pm isn’t the daily deadline for each parent and CEO.

Neelie Kroes is Euro Commissioner for the Digital Agenda.

In history books the attack on the Register’s office has been contributed to Gerrit van der Veen’s leadership. Little known are the names of two people from the Resistance group who joined him: Frieda Belinfante and Willem Arondéus.

Betrayal

Frieda was a lesbian woman, Willem a gay man. Someone betrayed Willem and the Germans arrested him. Moments before they executed him, he spoke his last words to his lawyer, Lau Mazirel. She had to promise him 'to tell people after the War that homosexual people are not less courageous than others.'

Willem Arondéus. Openly gay in a time where his sexual orientation was frowned upon even in artist circles. He gave his life fighting for his ideals. In July 1943 he was executed.

From Willem Arondéus to our time, 70 years later. In the Netherlands much has changed for the better. But from the 193 members states of the United Nations there are still more than 76 that criminalize homosexual conduct.

Pressure

Although no pogroms of gays and lesbians take place – their situation is absolutely not comparable with the ordeal Jewish people had to undergo during the 2nd World War, gay men and lesbian women in those countries live under constant pressure.

Often I need to think about Willem Arondéus last words: homosexual people are not less courageous than others.

In Uganda I met David Kato, the leader of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement. He protested a new law proposal, the anti-Homosexuality Bill, which includes the death penalty.

Courage

David’s picture was printed on the cover of a trashy magazine under the caption: hang them! David showed courage. He sued the magazine, won the Court case, but was murdered soon after.

In Cameroon where homosexual conduct is criminalized, a young student sent a text message to a man: I have fallen in love with you. Someone betrayed him, he was arrested and received a prison sentence of 3 years.

His lawyer, a straight man with wife and kids, received death threats. The police looked the other way: don’t defend gays and you will be fine, was their advice. So a message of love gets you in prison, death threats go unpunished.

Laws

In Russia and Ukraine parliaments are discussing a propaganda bill. It is not allowed to publicly express a favorable opinion about homosexuality.

This speech would be illegal. I can be arrested, and you too, because you are listening to me. But also in these countries there are brave gay men and lesbian women. They show courage by defying these laws. They demonstrate against this violation of freedom of expression, like recently in St. Petersburg or in a few weeks time in Kiev.

Thinking about Willem Arondéus we respect his last words most by showing courage. By resisting injustice.

Every person can be courageous in his or her own way. When you hear discriminatory remarks, say something. It starts with saying no. No to injustice, no to homophobia. In that way we can build the future for which Willem Arondéus gave his life.

The future is not in front of us, it is inside of us.

This speech was made at the Gay Monument in Amsterdam on Remembrance Day, May 4.

Boris Dittrich is a former Dutch MP who initiated the country's ground-breaking same sex marriage and adoption laws. Since 2007 he has worked as advocacy director for Human Rights' Watch's  lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights programme.

And it’s sadder than sad that the New Republican Association oldie and that irritating girl with her placard were arrested by provincial plods because they wanted to do their bit against the monarchy.

But it’s sadder still that that mayor of yours only allowed people to protest if they had a throat condition and were more than 200 metres apart so they couldn’t make eye contact. Of course he knew that any form of protest would be nipped in the bud so he could leave no stone unturned later and send a bunch of flowers to the wrongfully arrested. Joop van den Ende said he wanted the flowers to be delivered by Gaston of the Postcode lottery because, after all, it sponsored most of the party. That mayor of yours is a socialist, isn’t he? Is he backing wobbly Samsom?

And talking of theatre: did you see the socialists singing the Internationale at the end of their conference? That first line did it: Stand up, damned of the earth. I knew then I would never be able to top that on the 30^th. We could do whatever we liked. I quickly emailed my guests to put on as many decorations as they could find. I myself spent hours hunting for my Elfsteden cross. It was a lovely day.

The dinner underneath the Nightwatch was fun, too. I love that about my job: knowing that my disabled subjects can’t take their mobility scooters inside while sharing choice titbits with my colleagues underneath the world’s most expensive painting. Oh, the joys of power. The Japanese crown prince had to leave his wife at home. She’s liable to take a knife to a Vermeer after two drinks. And the Moroccan princess didn’t like my joke about leaving her with the washing-up. But, as I said, the day itself was lovely. That whole thing in the church: wasn’t it delightful? I may be a ceremonial king but it was nice to know Pechtold and his cronies had already been sitting there for two hours before I came in. There I was, the most beautiful woman in the world on my arm and there they were with their boring partners and a sore bum. Lovely.

The boat trip? That was long and cold. It was one of Joop’s bright ideas. I originally suggested the musical boat and the gay boat could be one single boat but he wouldn’t have it. Why we got off the boat? To tell Van Buuren the sound was off. The NOS hadn’t noticed. Joop did it all pro bono. He said so three times. But he did get to promote his Hazes musical on the Museumplein. I have to hand it to him though, because he showed Cyrano on the musical boat and that must surely be the biggest Dutch showbiz flop of all time.

Oh, and did I mention Amalia wants a First Rifle for her next birthday? She thinks she might need it the next time people start rapping at her. All in all I thought it went very well. And Youpie, stop telling people I earn too much. Granted, I get the combined salaries of your VARA friends Paul and Matthijs but I get bigger audiences in an hour than they do in a year. So put a sock in it. It was a great day. Let’s text the mayor and then get drunk.’

Youp van 't Hek is one of the Netherlands'best-loved comedians and writers.

Like Liberation Day, which is becoming less and less about World War II and more about celebrating our democratic freedom, Remembrance Day, too, is moving with the times and commemorates not only those who fell during the war but also those Dutch soldiers who lost their lives since.

Humanism

This shouldn’t be seen as a sign of increasing discrimination or secularisation but as a mark of humanism.

Vuijsje’s argument that the Jewish community ‘feels’ that anti-semitism is on the rise in the Netherlands doesn’t apply. According to CIDI ( Centre for information and Documentation on Israel, DN) the number of anti-semitic incidents has fallen in the last few years. That is not to say one incident isn’t one incident too many. It just doesn’t justify a ‘feeling’.

Part of the problem probably lies with the increasingly vocal protests against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories which are simplistically branded as anti-semitic, for instance by writer Leon de Winter. Some may indeed cloak anti-semitism, but we must be careful not to mistake criticism of a country’s policy for discrimination of a religious group.

The criticism is more likely to come from other religious, particularly Islamic, groups than from the atheist fundamentalists in our country. Many people find Jewish customs, like circumcision, barbaric but this doesn’t equal discrimination of Jews. Likewise, many Jews will shudder at the godless lifestyle of those of us who are not religious. We all have the right to criticise.

Memory

Vuijsje’s statement that public interest for the persecution of the Jews is waning seems to me to be correct. He says the war generation has nearly died out and that other themes are gradually taking its place. Although I wonder if Vuijsje is right to say the Holocaust has become an abstract concept, I do agree with him that the memory of the horrors and the almost unimaginable scale of the suffering must never be forgotten, especially in this country - we all know why.

The feeling of ‘abandonment’ which the Jewish community in the Netherlands is experiencing, must be taken seriously. Fortunately there is a way to meet its needs and maintain the present, humanistic character of the National Remembrance Day. The annual Holocaust Remembrance Day on the last Sunday in January should be given more prominence and could even be turned into a national day of remembrance, with sufficient airtime from the public broadcasters.

The ‘general character’ of May 4 is as it should be. It fits in with the times and it would be difficult to change what it has become. But we must never allow the Holocaust to be forgotten. We must all do our utmost to make sure no one feels abandoned in our society. This too, is what humanism is about.

Martijn Dekker is a political anthropologist and teaches at the University of Amsterdam.

This article appeared earlier in the Volkskrant

Remember the big banner the building sported on the occasion of the royal wedding in 2002? ‘Go for growth’ it said, which wasn’t only a creative reference to the slogan of the stock exchange at the time, but also a slightly too explicit admonition to the couple to produce an heir and a spare, pronto. The banner was removed before the newly-weds could clap eyes on it and ponder the helpful suggestion.

King's Index 

The investiture provided another opportunity for a share in the festivities, but this time the waggish neighbour moderated his tone and minded his own business. Last week NYSE Euronext launched the ‘King’s Index’. The new index is made up of listed companies which are entitled to carry the royal predicate. At the moment there are 17 such companies, from exchange giant Royal Shell to tiny Royal Porcelijne Fles and Royal Brill.

What makes this index even more festive is that, since the investiture of queen Beatrix, its newly combined companies have left the AEX index trailing in its wake. Royal companies have been consistently beating the competition, especially during the last five years. According to the stock exchange this is proof of ‘better-than-average performances by stable companies’.

A more pertinent reason is probably the Royal family’s remarkably astute and prescient decision, made as early as the 19^th century, not to allow financial institutions to carry the royal predicate. This has meant the index was spared the worst of the financial crisis.

Mixed bag

The royals are subject to the same laws as the investors: past results are no guarantee for future success. Is it wise for investors to follow the King’s Index? To be honest, and with respect to the honourable names on the list, it does seem a bit of a mixed bag. Prominent AEX funds like Philips, DSM and Ahold are rubbing shoulders with Midkappers Ten Cate and Wessanen and Alternext fundlet Reesink. ‘High frequency’ fund Douwe Egberts finds itself in the company of troubled Imtech and equally troubled (although for different reasons) Post NL and KPN, while French (Air France) KLM and British Shell also put in an appearance.

Companies like Reesink, Porceleyne Fles and Brill are so small they hardly cause a ripple. The big companies represent a relatively high weight – up to 30% compared to the AEX’s annual reweighting which has a ceiling of 15%. This will make the investors who follow the King’s Index very vulnerable to the performances of Shell in particular, followed at some distance by Philips, Ahold and DSM. The King’s Index is not orange but yellow and red.

A wise investor’s portfolio contains different sectors, countries and individual shares (apart from other investment tools). Looking at it from this point of view, the King’s Index is not a a very safe bet. The big companies simply carry too much weight. All in all, the King’s Index is a nice gimmick and a lot less embarrassing than a banner with an iffy slogan.

Jan Maarten Slagter is director of the Dutch investors' association Vereniging van Effectenbezitters (VEB).

They come back every night, pick up the money and don’t even consider it theft: you keep leaving the door open after all. The money is there for the taking. You still don’t lock the kitchen door. Don’t you care because it’s not your money or your house? Not your responsibility?

Busloads

The same is happening at the tax office. For over a year now, the tax people know that Bulgarian gangs are fraudulently claiming for health and rent benefits for people who don’t work or live here. The money, however, goes straight into their accounts. Now whole busloads of Bulgarians are coming to the Netherlands to see how far ajar the Dutch kitchen door is. At the moment the discussion focuses on whether or not junior minister Frans Weekers knew about the fraud but that is not really what this is about.

I don’t doubt that dozens of tax officials have known about this fraud for years and this is what we should be talking about. How can anyone go home come five o’clock and leave possible fraud and robbery for what they are? Is it too much to ask them to continue working until the kitchen door can be bolted?

Ditch benefits

The spotlight is now on the Bulgarians but for years many Dutch people fraudulently collected child benefits and for decades child benefits went to non-existent children in far-away countries. It’s simple really: where there are benefits, there will be fraud. I think we have let this happen. Benefits are seen as free money, there for the taking. Having a bit more doesn’t do any harm, surely.

This type of benefit is meant to support people on low incomes and this is a good thing. But why do it by way of benefits which feel like presents from the government? It causes some citizens to lose the sense that money must be earned by working hard or taking entrepreneurial risks. Ditch the benefits, including child benefits, and incorporate them into the amount of income tax people on low incomes are paying. In that way people will feel they have worked for the money and are responsible for it. And we can ditch the useless supervisors at the same time.

Annemarie van Gaal is an entrepreneur and head of AM Media. She is also a writer and television personality.