Five researchers known as the Kafka brigade have produced a collection of ‘Kafkaesque situations’ as part of a campaign to rid the country of unnecessary red tape.

The handbook, Kafka in de Polder, looks at cases where people have become hopelessly entangled in rules and regulations and suggests ways to reduce bureaucracy, writes the Volkskrant.
For example, there is Paul who has lost both his legs but has to prove to the council every five years that he is still an invalid and needs a special parking place. ‘They seem to think my legs could have grown back,’ Paul says in the book.
Or there is the case of Martijn who was supposed to get an official declaration that he had not been married during a three-year stay in Brazil so he could legally recognise his child.
The paper says the government gets between 500 and 600 calls for help every year from citizens who no longer know how to get out of the bureaucratic jungle.
The book will not be distributed to civil servants, however. But it will be available online at the end of this year.
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