Finance minister Wouter Bos has been named Netherlander of the Year by opinion weekly Elsevier. The magazine says that the Labour party leader has ‘put his stamp on the year’ like no one else.

Bos fought his way back from a hopeless political position during 2008, says Elsevier. ‘Thanks to the credit crisis, he shook off his negative image for being indecisive to become the rock in uncertain times for many Dutch people,’ the magazine states.
Elsevier began naming a Netherlander of the Year in 2004. Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali was their first choice, followed by ABN Amro CEO Rijman Groenink, the Dutch soldiers in Uruzgan and theatre tycoon Joop van den Ende.