Clean slate
The new Dutch government can finally get down to business and has a pretty clean slate to work on. The fresh-faced ministers are already beginning to make their personalities felt. More >
Monday 15 August 2022
The new Dutch government can finally get down to business and has a pretty clean slate to work on. The fresh-faced ministers are already beginning to make their personalities felt. More >
As a city councilman, Ahmed Aboutaleb, the son of a Moroccan clergyman, helped immigrants find jobs, put their toddlers in school to learn Dutch, and doled out some stern advice: integrate or leave. More >
Dutch liberal attitudes are currently getting caned by The Sun. The British tabloid newspaper is up in arms about the fact that an escaped prisoner from an English jail cannot be extradited from Holland because the Dutch don’t consider escaping a crime. They believe clambering over prison walls is just normal human instinct. More >
Amsterdam city council and its pals at Amsterdam Partners – the people behind the IAmsterdam slogan – have been trying for some time now to improve the city’s image and get away from the sex and drugs reputation that haunts the Dutch capital. More >
Three cheers to the plucky little town council of Alphen aan den Rijn which is taking on the big cities and upping the ante considerably in terms of ‘customer service’. The council has produced a leaflet outlining its service targets, and pretty tough they are too. More than that, if the council fails to deliver on time, it will hand over a five euro token in compensation. Take phone calls for example – if you have to wait any more... More >
It was quite an achievement for late night TV chat show Pauw & Witteman to get all nine outgoing VVD ministers in the studio last night. There was some serious probing – defence minister Henk Kamp in particular was grilled over allegations that Dutch troops had tortured Iraqi prisoners. More >
Prince Claus, the Dutch Queen’s late consort, had what some would call a crazy idea. Right up until his death in 2002, he dreamed of creating an opera in the Sahel; the band of African countries along the southern Sahara stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. More >
A lawyer’s fee of €12m for negotiating the return of art stolen by the Nazis was too high, a Dutch court ruled Friday. More >
If there’s one thing you can’t accuse hard-line integration minister Rita Verdonk of, it’s bowing out of the cabinet gracefully… yesterday the Iron Lady once again showed her mettle by joining Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration PVV party, in calling into question the loyalty of immigrants. More >
About a year before Anne Frank began her diary in June 1942, her father started a writing project of his own. More >
A Dutch-based oil trading company paid $197 million to secure the release of three executives from an Ivory Coast prison and settle claims that it dumped toxic waste that killed at least 10 people in the West African nation More >
PSV Eindhoven has become the first football club in the Netherlands to sign a player from China. A commercial masterstroke, because when Sun Xiang appears on the field as a left-back, some 100 million extra pairs of eyes will be watching the match. More >
‘Let them be free’ is the golden rule for child-rearing in the Netherlands. No wonder Dutch kids have been rated Europe’s most fortunate. More >
Ayaan Hirsi Ali blames Islam for the miseries of the Muslim world. Her new autobiography shows that life is too complex for that. More >
