Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been exposed for deleting all text messages from his phone, on a daily basis, for years.  

For several years now, Rutte has been using an old Nokia phone — yep, one of those brick-like dinosaurs that only store up to 20 messages at a time. 

And how does he overcome the storage issue? Simple! By deleting any messages he himself considers unimportant, the NOS reports.

We all know what it’s like to have an old phone with limited storage — having to delete things all the time to make space for new apps, pictures and messages. But who would have thought that the Prime Minister seems to struggle with the same issues?

Freedom of information in question

The Dutch prime minister has come under stark scrutiny following this discovery.

The first thing that comes into question is Rutte’s time management skills (some have described his habit of deleting texts as being as time-consuming as a part-time job). 

However, the exposure also brings up more serious concerns regarding the Freedom of Information Act (WOB) and transparency in politics.

Only unimportant texts deleted

Rutte has, in his defence, claimed that he only ever deleted unimportant messages — which is in accordance with the rules and regulations of the ministry. 

He has firmly denied that he was deleting messages to cover up or withhold information, but the problem — as critics have pointed out — is that the public will just have to take the prime minister’s word for it. 

There is no easy way of finding out which messages were removed from the surface of the earth and why.

The solution? Reach out to old friends

To comply with a WOB request, Rutte (or perhaps an unfortunate assistant) now has to find his old texts by looking into his former texting partners, who hopefully have phones fancy enough to store more than 20 texts at once. 

Petra de Koning (author of the book Mark Rutte) tells RTL Nieuws that texting is the prime minister’s “trademark.” As a result, it should not be too difficult to get a hold of a decent amount of old text messages. 

The problem, as pointed out by several critics, is rather the lack of knowledge and overview of Rutte’s texting activities — and a lack of a logical explanation for why such a busy man would choose to use a phone that should have been thrown in the recycling bin long ago.  

It’s still not certain whether the prime minister’s peculiar hipster-like behaviour of sticking to old fashioned technology can be marked as a breach of communication and transparency laws — or just a quirk. 

As a result of the controversy, or perhaps out of necessity, Rutte has now been able to scrape together the funds for a new phone (which thankfully does not require daily wipes to function.)

We’re all nostalgic towards that old-school Nokia era, but is Rutte maybe taking it a bit too far? Let us know in the comments below! 

In Hilversum, a city close to Amsterdam, volunteers have started to organise cycling lessons so that Ukrainian refugee children can have an easier time getting to their new schools.

Dutch children arguably come out of the womb with bike pedals on their feet. However, while bikes are also common in Ukraine, the Dutch cycling culture is a whole different beast.

This is why volunteers in Hilversum have decided to organise cycling lessons for 28 Ukrainian refugees aged between 12 to 17 years old, reports RTL Nieuws.

Dutch cycling culture is different

Allard Bentvelsen, a representative of the platform Hilversummers.nl, tells RTL Nieuws: “[Ukrainian] children generally start using their bike only from 14-years onwards. The distances are also different, which makes it less common to use a bike.”

The cycling lessons aim to prepare the children for their daily cycle from Hilversum to their school in Naarden. That’s 11 kilometres each day.

“A considerable distance, even for Dutch standards. At the moment, busses are organised for transportation, but soon they will have to cycle themselves,” says Bentvelsen.

READ MORE | Here’s how you can help Ukraine from the Netherlands

A good time

The first cycling lesson took place last Saturday and proved to be a success, according to Bentvelsen. The kids were taught basic traffic rules, but there was also some fun involved.

How to slalom, race, and break were all points on the agenda. “They found it super cool, you could see it on their faces,” says Bentvelsen. This week, there are two more cycling lessons scheduled.

What do you think of this initiative to help Ukrainian refugees? Tell us in the comments!

The city of Utrecht will catcall men in a new campaign to reverse the roles of street harassment. How? With a woman calling these men from a screen.

The campaign will begin on May 13 and will take place in the centre of Utrecht by the Town Hall Bridge, reports the NOS.

Men walking by will hear a catcall by a woman on a screen. Just like many women regularly experience — with real men. 🤷🏻‍♀️

After a man gets catcalled, employees from the municipality will approach him, explain the campaign, and ask him how he feels about what just happened.

Purpose of the campaign

The municipality of Utrecht explains that they want this interaction to raise awareness about street harassment — and how “uncomfortable and sometimes even threatening” it can be.

A spokesperson for the municipality describes it as a confrontational way to open up the conversation about street harassment with men — since they’re also part of the solution.

He also explains that catcalling can start as something small but can easily escalate later on and hopes that this interaction will encourage men to confront their male friends to stop this behaviour.

Street harassment in the Netherlands

While anyone can get catcalled, most cases in the Netherlands involve women being catcalled by other men.

For example, a 2017 research in Rotterdam showed that 94% of women between 18 and 45 had experienced intimidating street behaviour before.

Even more alarming is that the vast majority of these women had not reported these cases.

According to the municipality of Utrecht, half of all women and girls in the city are also regular victims of street harassment. 🤯

How do you feel about this new campaign? Tell us in the comments below!