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Wilders
Last June we had general elections in The Netherlands. With mind-boggling and perplexing results. The political party which till these elections had most seats in parliament ( Christian Democrats) lost half of them. The conservative VVD ( Party for Freedom and Democracy) for the first time in over a century became the largest single part - be it with only 20% of MPs. But the most stunning outcome was the ballot box success of Geert Wilders’ party. It jumped from 9 to 24 seats. Over 15% of the Dutch electorate choose for a program which was mainly anti Islamic* and anti (intellectual) establishment. Overall that meant the “left” ( the progressive, liberal part of the electorate) lost and the “right” won a majority.
The result is this photo on the front-pages a few days ago:
Patriotic Triviality
This is an exceptionally long week-end for us. In The Netherlands we enjoy four days of leisure at a row: Good Friday, Saturday, First Easter Day, Second Easter Day. That is a good reason to indulge in trivial patriotic self-satisfaction.
But there is more on this level. Like “the best job in the world“. Read More
No, thank you.
.
During the euphoria I seem to have said that Europe could do with a politician like Barack Obama. On second thought – and after reading this cover story in one of our weeklies – I realize this is, apart from being nonsensical, also a serious error of judgment.
If he really would be our President elect, we could brace for an overkill of change. He would target some of the gems of our society . Yes, he could.
Of course he would abolish that charming relic of our feudal times, the Kingdom. He is convinced follower of the republican system. So goodbye to our gorgeous Princess Maxima. No more Queen’s day. And no longer our national squads, teams, sportsmen and sportswomen would wear the outstanding traditional orange shirts in international competitions.
Newsflash: Arwin van Buuren is the best there is!
News especially for the young and the young at heart.
Sheer bad luck trance DJ’s don’t compete in an Olympic sport. If that would have been the case, the Netherlands would have had an extra gold and silver medal.Read this:
De Nederlandse Armin van Buuren werd vannacht opnieuw uitgeroepen tot beste dj ter wereld, door de lezers van het Britse tijdschrift DJ Magazine. De trance-dj stond vorig jaar ook al op één. Tiësto, die de prijs in 2002, 2003 en 2004 in de wacht sleepte, werd tweede.
So compatriot Armin van Buuren is declared the best trance DJ of the year. The second year in a row. And the winner of 2002 till 2004,Tiësto, ranks number 2 in this list.
I’m sorry that this flash probably isn’t in time for this invitation: The top 100 DJs afterparty is set to rock London’s Lightbox through the early hours of Thursday Morning! .. Doors open at 3am and won’t close until the last man leaves! And admission is FREE!
Newsflash: Dutch Comfort for Indonesian MP’s?
Most Indonesian citizens seem to think the majority of their politicians are prone to corruption and are useless apart from that. Though without doubt this is doing injustice to some of them, that is what one can see, read and hear about them on TV, in the papers or blogosphere and in conversations with friends and relatives.
Now here is some Dutch comfort for them – coming from the Netherlands indeed. The Dutch Central Agency for Statistics (CBS) in one of it’s surveys found a huge amount of cynicism concerning Dutch politics in the country. It published the results which indicate that almost half of the population (42%) thinks Dutch politicians are after their own interests only. Two thirds of the voters is of the opinion that their representatives don’t represent them properly at all. And over 90% is convinced politicians usually promise a lot more than they actually deliver. In common language that means: they cheat.
So, just like the Indonesian constituents, the Dutch voters are very critical about their politicians. They may not accuse them of corruption, yet they consider them to be almost as untrustworthy and useless as their Indonesian counterparts.
This, I guess, must be of some (Dutch) comfort for Indonesian MP’s.