A government commission has recommended a salary increase of at least 30 percent for cabinet ministers. Police in the Netherlands are also demanding more money.
With police workloads at public events like pop concerts and soccer matches growing by ten percent a year, the Home Affairs minister now wants the organizers of such events to pay for policing services. Commentators warn that such a move could create the impression that responsibility for public safety can be bought and police supervision is ‘for sale’. One Dutch newspaper asked, “Will a tax-payer funded police force soon start sending us bills for doing their normal work, like investigating break-ins at homes that weren’t burglar-proof?” The future of Holland’s current soft-drug policy is under debate. ‘Whatever happens, our marijuana policy must change,’ the NRC newspaper wrote. One reason for this is the infiltration of organized crime into cannabis production. The sale and consumption of small quantities of soft drugs is legal in the Netherlands, but not the production. The governing Christian Democrats favor totally outlawing marijuana and hashish, because of a change in the quality of Dutch marijuana. Marijuana’s levels of THC % the substance that makes you high – has increased in the last 3 years and some politicians fear increasing THC concentration will have dangerous effects on people.
Government coalition parties disagreed on what methods should be adopted to discourage illegal aliens from remaining in the Netherlands. The Christian Democrats are calling for a law making it an offence to reside in the country illegally. Parliament began debating a report on integration recently published by a special parliamentary commission and all parties have drafted their own criteria for successful immigrant integration. The Volkskrant editorial argued that, “Brides brought in from abroad must be at least 21-years-old, must be able to read and write, must be prepared to integrate, and must speak Dutch.” Some experts however believe immigrants will integrate better if they learn to appreciate Dutch nature. These experts concluded that immigrants aren’t interested in Dutch forests, because there’s nothing to eat in them. So now special ‘snack’ forests are to be planted where immigrants can gather berries, nuts and apples, as they’re accustomed to doing in their home countries. Columnist Silvano Ephimenco, writing in Trouw, said, “My immigrant heart pounded with joy when I heard of this. Finally, our very own immigrant forest!”
Happily, it’s no longer a case of Medecins Sans Arjam Erkel. The Dutch hostage spent 20 months in captivity after being taken hostage in the Caucasus while working for Medecins Sans Frontières. “It was a difficult time,” Mr Erkel told journalists. “I’m healthy. I lost 18 kilograms but I was treated well.” Animal rights activists in Amsterdam were forced to remove posters comparing mass meat production and consumption with the Holocaust, because the link was found to be offensive to the victims of Nazi persecution. Dutch trailer park residents staged a five-hour traffic blockade of A2 highway at rush hour to protest against the mayor’s zero-tolerance approach to life in Vinkenslag, Holland’s largest trailer park. The 35,000 residents of the Netherlands’ trailer parks have a reputation for tax evasion, illegal cannabis growing, and for being no-go areas for the police. An article in the Volkskrant revealed that high-risk stockswere being sold to mentally disabled people. The paper said a company called Spaar Select, one of the biggest financial advisors in the Netherlands, was selling high-risk stocks to ‘mentally immature clients’. The managing director says it was just one franchise owner who was busy meeting his sales targets by selling “to people who weren’t in a state to make an independent decision”. The paper also extracts from Spaar Select’s employee handbook, which stated that “hiring female managers is a mistake” and that “for many women it’s not possible to survive the masculine culture at Spaar Select”. Elsewhere, Dutch prisons are violating rules against locking up mentally disturbed prisoners with other convicts. This is being done at the expense of the safety of prisoners and guards. Elsewhere, the University of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam mental health service and Interapy, which specializes in psychotherapy via the Internet, have devised a 12-week therapy for dealing with depression. The system, based on cognitive behavioral therapy, involves twice-weekly contact via the web with a therapist. Preliminary tests have shown the method to be as effective as other existing therapies and anti-depressant pills. And finally, a new website of “surprising facts” revealed that Dutchmen handle the family finances in only one-quarter of Dutch households; that it takes young Dutch men an average of 40 driving lessons to get a license and women only 30; that Dutch men own an average of nine pairs of underpants, while women own 12; and that 87% of Dutch men consider their work the most important thing in their lives.
A government commission has recommended a salary increase of at least 30 percent for cabinet ministers. Police in the Netherlands are also demanding more money. With police workloads at public events like pop concerts and soccer matches growing by ten percent a year, the Home Affairs minister now wants the organizers of such events to pay for policing services. Commentators warn that such a move could create the impression that responsibility for public safety can be bought and police supervision is ‘for sale’. One Dutch newspaper asked, “Will a tax-payer funded police force soon start sending us bills for doing their normal work, like investigating break-ins at homes that weren’t burglar-proof?” The future of Holland’s current soft-drug policy is under debate. ‘Whatever happens, our marijuana policy must change,’ the NRC newspaper wrote. One reason for this is the infiltration of organized crime into cannabis production. The sale and consumption of small quantities of soft drugs is legal in the Netherlands, but not the production. The governing Christian Democrats favor totally outlawing marijuana and hashish, because of a change in the quality of Dutch marijuana. Marijuana’s levels of THC % the substance that makes you high – has increased in the last 3 years and some politicians fear increasing THC concentration will have dangerous effects on people.
Government coalition parties disagreed on what methods should be adopted to discourage illegal aliens from remaining in the Netherlands. The Christian Democrats are calling for a law making it an offence to reside in the country illegally. Parliament began debating a report on integration recently published by a special parliamentary commission and all parties have drafted their own criteria for successful immigrant integration. The Volkskrant editorial argued that, “Brides brought in from abroad must be at least 21-years-old, must be able to read and write, must be prepared to integrate, and must speak Dutch.” Some experts however believe immigrants will integrate better if they learn to appreciate Dutch nature. These experts concluded that immigrants aren’t interested in Dutch forests, because there’s nothing to eat in them. So now special ‘snack’ forests are to be planted where immigrants can gather berries, nuts and apples, as they’re accustomed to doing in their home countries. Columnist Silvano Ephimenco, writing in Trouw, said, “My immigrant heart pounded with joy when I heard of this. Finally, our very own immigrant forest!”
Happily, it’s no longer a case of Medecins Sans Arjam Erkel. The Dutch hostage spent 20 months in captivity after being taken hostage in the Caucasus while working for Medecins Sans Frontières. “It was a difficult time,” Mr Erkel told journalists. “I’m healthy. I lost 18 kilograms but I was treated well.” Animal rights activists in Amsterdam were forced to remove posters comparing mass meat production and consumption with the Holocaust, because the link was found to be offensive to the victims of Nazi persecution. Dutch trailer park residents staged a five-hour traffic blockade of A2 highway at rush hour to protest against the mayor’s zero-tolerance approach to life in Vinkenslag, Holland’s largest trailer park. The 35,000 residents of the Netherlands’ trailer parks have a reputation for tax evasion, illegal cannabis growing, and for being no-go areas for the police. An article in the Volkskrant revealed that high-risk stockswere being sold to mentally disabled people. The paper said a company called Spaar Select, one of the biggest financial advisors in the Netherlands, was selling high-risk stocks to ‘mentally immature clients’. The managing director says it was just one franchise owner who was busy meeting his sales targets by selling “to people who weren’t in a state to make an independent decision”. The paper also extracts from Spaar Select’s employee handbook, which stated that “hiring female managers is a mistake” and that “for many women it’s not possible to survive the masculine culture at Spaar Select”. Elsewhere, Dutch prisons are violating rules against locking up mentally disturbed prisoners with other convicts. This is being done at the expense of the safety of prisoners and guards. Elsewhere, the University of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam mental health service and Interapy, which specializes in psychotherapy via the Internet, have devised a 12-week therapy for dealing with depression. The system, based on cognitive behavioral therapy, involves twice-weekly contact via the web with a therapist. Preliminary tests have shown the method to be as effective as other existing therapies and anti-depressant pills. And finally, a new website of “surprising facts” revealed that Dutchmen handle the family finances in only one-quarter of Dutch households; that it takes young Dutch men an average of 40 driving lessons to get a license and women only 30; that Dutch men own an average of nine pairs of underpants, while women own 12; and that 87% of Dutch men consider their work the most important thing in their lives.
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